Arbor Acre Breed

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SandyM
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Arbor Acre Breed

Post by SandyM » Mon Mar 28, 2016 10:02 pm

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Once upon a time there was a competition. The goal was for a farmer to develop the biggest chicken, with the most white meat and flavour to be desired by consumers. With this, several hundred eggs were submitted for the contest. Eggs were hatched, raised, slaughtered and judged.

And the winners are...Arbor Acres White Rocks chickens and Vantress Hatchery’s Red Cornish crosses. Those two winning breeds were crossed, creating the Arbor Acre breed. This breed is most likely the grandma of most commercial meat chickens raised throughout the world today.

Selective breeding brought us desired characteristics such as broader breasts, thinner feathering for easier plucking, a better feed-to-meat ratio for lower costs and a more docile bird for handling.

Today's meat chickens require approximately 2lbs of feed per every lb of meat they yield. That conversion is slightly half the feed-to-meat ratio of a 1945 chicken. A farmer can also grow a 5lb bird in just 6 weeks, also half the time it took 50 years ago.

The enormous changes in genetic and farming practices are not without their faults. The chickens have massive amounts of stress on their bodies and heart problems to just name a few.

Think our chicken suits our needs with these dramatic changes? Think again. We are 'building' a better, more heat resistant chicken. Why? Climate change of course. Scientists at the University of Delaware are mapping out the chicken and figuring out how to selectively breed heat-resistance traits into a commercially viable broiler. Scientists believe that chickens grown south of the equator are successful in the extreme heat because they have featherless/naked necks.

This project is taking place under a five-year, $4.7 M climate change grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

So my smart ass comment is, Jeese, give some of us on the forum 4.7M, we'll breed you some naked-neck juicy fatties and we will be on vacation in 2 years, mission accomplished.

Sidebar: I always wondered why we refer to them as boilers or broilers.
Bantam: A diminutive breed of domestic fowl
Boiler: A chicken 6 to 9 months old.
Broiler: A cockerel of 2 or 3 pounds, at 8 to 12 weeks old.
Cock: A male chicken, also called a rooster.
Cockerel: A young rooster, under 1 year old.
Fryer: A chicken of 3 to 4 pounds, at 12 to 14 weeks old.
Hen: A female chicken.
Nest Egg: Literally, a china or wooden egg placed into the nest to encourage laying; figuratively, something set aside as security.
Point-of-lay Pullet: A young female, just about to lay, near 5 months old.
Pullet: A young female chicken, under 1 year old.
Roaster: A chicken of 4 to 6 pounds, over 12 to 14 weeks old.
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SandyM
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Arbor Acre Breed

Post by SandyM » Mon Mar 28, 2016 10:03 pm

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Robbie
Head Chicken
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Arbor Acre Breed

Post by Robbie » Tue Mar 29, 2016 8:31 am

The Israelis developed a totally naked chicken for hot climates but it wasn't a success. The gene for completely featherless is a naturally occuring recessive gene, bare chickens pop up from time to time, just like hairless dogs.
http://www.worldpoultry.net/PageFiles/3 ... 947D01.pdf
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kenya
Henny Penny
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Arbor Acre Breed

Post by kenya » Tue Mar 29, 2016 12:28 pm

Ah talk about sun burn, I wouldn't want to have to buy sunscreen for my chickens too! Ha! Ha!
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