The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Carl f k on December 10, 2013, 06:55:00 pm
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I will be having a go at breeding these for eggs and table in the new year anyone got advise on the breed please.. Nobody local to me can get any so I may end up supplying people from my breeding pair
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I'm going to have a go with these next year as well. Have a Cockerel I got from a mixed batch of hatching eggs from Southyeo farm east. He is huge. Was bigger than my indian game at 6 months. Very friendly boy. Hatched two days early.
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Great dual purpose breed in my opinion.
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Well in the November sale there were lots of these north of Scotland the sale was at dingwall .I will keep my eye out for eggs as I get about a bit .Be good to have some on here for you're breeding plans.
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Thanks VF mine will be from Devon at it is the only place I have found them.. None at all in the midlands, some in Yorkshire so I'm hopefully going to be an outlet in the midlands if all goes to plan
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I'm going to have a go with these next year as well. Have a Cockerel I got from a mixed batch of hatching eggs from Southyeo farm east. He is huge. Was bigger than my indian game at 6 months. Very friendly boy. Hatched two days early.
how his he noise wise? Something I have go control not to upset neighbours, may have lock him up at nite in a soundproof room lol
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I'm going to have a go with these next year as well. Have a Cockerel I got from a mixed batch of hatching eggs from Southyeo farm east. He is huge. Was bigger than my indian game at 6 months. Very friendly boy. Hatched two days early.
how his he noise wise? Something I have go control not to upset neighbours, may have lock him up at nite in a soundproof room lol
that reminds me VF - how are the neighbours now with the noise???
i always fancied the ixworth too, there is a breeder near me but he is adding blood from a sussex to improve it, so i guess they will just be a white hen... :thinking:
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I bought half a dozen eggs at Mildenhall auction in the spring - got one cockerel who is a lovely big boy so will be looking to find/hatch some girls for him next spring.
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We've kept Ixworths for a few years. They're nice easy to keep birds and do make a fairly decent dinner. I haven't found them to be as good a layer as they're made out to be though. They lay a nice egg and fertility has always been excellent but I also didn't find the eggs to be as saleable as some of the other breeds we've kept, despite their fairly frequent appearances in the media.
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why are they not saleable? is it the colour or size?
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Nothing wrong with the eggs it's just that they didn't sell very well. I'm talking about hatching eggs btw not eating eggs. I've found the likes of RIR and Sussex to be far more popular.
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He is fairly loud. Also started crowing very young, but we have four other boys for him to shout at!:-)
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Is there a market for POL Ixworth hens? I'm interested in buying some eggs next year primarily for the cockerels for the freezer but it seems sacrilege to kill a laying hen, not sure why. I suppose as every other time, we moan about how many cockerels we get! I was looking at hatching about 100 to give me 50 or so freezer birds and keep maybe 10 of the best pullets to look at breeding stock in future years.
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Well I had a month with out a cockaral and the 1 of the young crows .So with it dark till 7.30 no problem .It will get going spring time .
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Mine crow in the middle of the night! ;D
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I've kept them and they're pretty good layers and pretty good for eating but without being brilliant at either. Having said that, I don't think that there's a utility breed that is.
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More meat than a copper marans?
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Going by my experience of fattening Marans, I'd say that they are a huge improvement. :chook:
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I've found Ixworths were better for eating than Sussex, RIR, Marans, and Jersey Giants. The latter being the biggest dissapointment. However our Light Sussex, and particularly our RIR, beat them hands down for egg quantities. I've decided to concentrate on just one breed from next year and there's been no trouble deciding which it's to be. I want to keep pure bred birds and I want good laying performance with excellent fertility for breeding. Not particularly bothered about eating them.Having tried many, I'm going with Rhode Island Reds.
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Although i'm a big fan of the Ixworth i think Hughesy if you can find a good utilty strain of the RIR they are great. I only keep a few bantam RIR now just for my own eggs but wouldn't mind some more L/F. Once all the hybrids i got retire i shall consider getting some.
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Fowlman the Rhodies I've got are a good bit better than any of the other breeds I've kept over the last few years. I plan to breed them selectively to try and increase their laying abilities overall. As I said I'm not too bothered about meat but they do make a reasonable dinner.
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Wouldn't mind some hatching eggs when you get going Hughesy :innocent:
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Wouldn't mind some hatching eggs when you get going Hughesy :innocent:
No probs I'll post on here when I've got some available.
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Cheers :thumbsup:
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If your on facebook there is a breeders group- trying to preserve the breed correct to the breed standard and dual purpous.
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Here's an interesting article about Ixworths for you to have a look at. :chook:
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2013/apr/18/chickens-ixworth-dual-purpose (http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2013/apr/18/chickens-ixworth-dual-purpose)