[Clansman]

Sorry to be pedantic but i'm getting old and grumpy so bear with me! 

I keep seeing mention on this and other forums of the "Ross Cobb" broiler (meat bird)

Ross and Cobb are two completely separate poultry companies who produce meat chickens.

Ross Poultry (now Aviagen) produce the Ross Broiler which comes in different strains.

Ross 308 (most commonly used)
Ross 708
Ross PM3

http://en.aviagen.com/ross/




Cobb Poultry do exactly the same but the birds are essentially a completely different breed to the Ross version.

Cobb's most recognised broiler is the Cobb 500



http://www.cobb-vantress.com/products/products-overview

They look very similar but they are as different from each other as any other breed of chicken is and anyone who has worked with them would easily be able to tell whether the birds are Ross or Cobb

So they are either Ross OR Cobb, not both.

I suspect someone at some point on one of the mainstream forums, maybe River Cottage or the like once described them as Ross Cobbs when they really meant Ross/Cobb and it stuck.

Anyway, now you all know and i'm happy again! 

Please just put this down as your "learn something new every day" for today 

[bloomer]

you mean not all white meat chickens aren't the same 


THAT IS A JOKE BEFORE ANYONE MOANS!!!

[Rosemary]

That's VERY interesting. Thank you.

What would be the differences between them? I ask because we had "Ross Cobbs" last year ( in "" for teh reasons you give) - we bought as day-old and reared outside once off heat but we didn't find them very hardy. We've had Hubbards previously that seemed hardier but with the small numbers we raise each year, it's difficult to draw any conclusions that would be statistically significant.

[Harebell]

Thanks for clearing that up - similar to what Rosemary says.  Do you have any information/reviews on the different strains of these kinds of meat bird that might be useful for the smallholder?  For example is there one or a couple of different strains or breeds that are particularly good/cost effective for someone wanting to keep 50 or less on their outdoor smallholding?

[bigchicken]

Yes these birds are all indoor birds and therefore not very hardy although Ross were developing a brown broiler for the free range market which might be a little hardier. I personally would not free range this type of bird.

[manian]

we free ranged them. we bought them for £1 at age 10-12 weeks (the others were going off to wherever) they were very timid initially but soon loved free ranging etc - we only have 12 at a time as we only have them for our own consumption.
they dust bathed and we even had the last couple laying eggs
M

[sabrina]

is there anyone in Aberdeenshire who breeds meat birds.

[Clansman]

That's VERY interesting. Thank you.

What would be the differences between them? I ask because we had "Ross Cobbs" last year ( in "" for teh reasons you give) - we bought as day-old and reared outside once off heat but we didn't find them very hardy. We've had Hubbards previously that seemed hardier but with the small numbers we raise each year, it's difficult to draw any conclusions that would be statistically significant.

Very little between them performance wise Rosemary, they seem to run pretty much neck and neck in that department.

Cobb birds are prone to some colouring amongst them, day old chicks often carry black mottling and a small percentage of the birds when older will have grey/brown feathering to some degree.

I always reckon the Cobb bird is a more rounded bird to look at, both Cobb and Ross bird strains are heavily influenced by the white wyandotte.

Thanks for clearing that up - similar to what Rosemary says.  Do you have any information/reviews on the different strains of these kinds of meat bird that might be useful for the smallholder?  For example is there one or a couple of different strains or breeds that are particularly good/cost effective for someone wanting to keep 50 or less on their outdoor smallholding?

As already mentioned these strains are not ideal for outside rearing, they are bred specifically to be reared in a controlled environment at a steady 21C under strict lighting programs etc so they will not do anywhere near as well performance wise when being reared outside.

However any of these strains will grow well outside and easily outstrip any of the pure breeds in terms of weight gain but in terms of cost effectiveness you probably should be looking to kill them around 2 months of age, if they are allowed to grow bigger and older they will start to show serious leg and skeletal problems.

Remember these strains have been created by selecting the birds that grow as big as possible as fast as possible, they are designed to do that in a matter of weeks, commercially most are killed between 30 and 50 days of age.

By design they are not intended to grow older/bigger than that, therefore they will start to give problems if kept longer/bigger.

Cobb certainly have the Sasso strain which is a coloured slower growing bird aimed at free range market, as do Hubbard but sourcing them may be the problem.

http://www.cobb-vantress.com/products/cobbsasso

The hatcheries I used to work in did sell small amounts to the public for a long time but that has changed and they no longer sell to private individuals.

[Rosemary]

We've had Hubbards that were coloured - the batch was a mix o white, grey and brown, I think.

I had forgotten about Sasso - so they are intended for outdoors.

Ours don't free range as such - they are in a pen that's moved everyday a la Joel Salatin. We aim to kill at 12 weeks - we've never had any go off their legs but had a few keel over with what I thought were probably heart problems, as the combs went blue-ish then over they went.

At 12 weeks, they are between 4 and 6kg oven ready. We tend to do all-in all out - I couldn't face killing a few every weekend for several weeks as they reach the desired weight. I prefer to just get it over and done with.