Author Topic: Broiler Breeder Project (Read 33216 times)

Kimbo · « **Reply #60 on:** August 19, 2015, 12:30:41 pm »

She's my largest and best Buff Sussex and I want to breed some other Berthas from her so if she's too fat Id better address it

Clansman · « **Reply #61 on:** September 02, 2015, 12:02:35 pm »

Weighed the first dozen chicks hatched at 14 days and they're all over 450g (1lb) so just about bang on the Ross guidelines

Q · « **Reply #62 on:** September 02, 2015, 05:09:02 pm »

with that growth rate you should be careful they dont end up eating you!

Clansman · « **Reply #63 on:** September 02, 2015, 09:36:06 pm »

They're certainly shifting the feed, quite glad I haven't got a few hundred of them!

Stereo · « **Reply #64 on:** September 03, 2015, 04:43:22 pm »

Out of interest has anyone done a proper feed conversion comparison between breeds. That is how much feed it takes a Ross / a Hubbard or other more 'natural' meat bird / a dual purpose bird like a Marans of good strain to get to kill weight. Obviously the Marans is going to take 18-24 weeks but the Ross is going to get through more feed per day for it's shorter life.

It would be interesting to measure feed intake vs carcass weight. It might be fairer to joint the bird and so remove any excess bone. For example, a 2Kg Marans may have less meat than a 2Kg Ross.

I've sort of done this with dual purpose and I reckon somewhere in the region of £5-6 to get a cockerel to 24 weeks with feed at £6 per 20kg.

Anyone got any figures for Ross / Hubbard etc. ?

Clansman · « **Reply #65 on:** September 03, 2015, 05:17:39 pm »

Quote from: Stereo on September 03, 2015, 04:43:22 pm

I've sort of done this with dual purpose and I reckon somewhere in the region of £5-6 to get a cockerel to 24 weeks with feed at £6 per 20kg.

Seems very low, 20Kg in 24 weeks is averaging around 120g per day.

A decent meat bird could eat twice that in a temperature controlled environment and a lot more again if reared outside just to maintain body heat.

I'm hoping for a 2:1 feed conversion for these, the commercial guys are getting 1.9:1 regularly and i will probably still have mine under heat when I kill them,

planning to kill the pullets at 2Kg (hopefully around 40 days) and males at 3Kg (hopefully around 50 days) and use no more than 5Kg feed per pullet and 7Kg per cock.

Dave C · « **Reply #66 on:** October 03, 2015, 08:01:01 pm »

Quote from: Clansman on March 02, 2015, 12:06:14 pm

Day 20

managed to sell a few more on over the weekend so i'm almost down to a manageable level

Some people are taking a few hens to cross with other breeds, La Bresse, Maran, Scots Grey, Wyandotte and even a Jersey Giant so that should give us a few interesting crosses to look at.

They are getting seriously chunky now, putting on lots of weight and their legs are massive.

I'm hopefully moving them outside tonight into their future home so i'll get some pics up once they're all settled.

Still have a few spare if anyone would like to try some.

Hi Clansman how's the project going ?

Did you ever hear back from any of the people who took breeder cockerels to cross over there DP birds ?

Clansman · « **Reply #67 on:** October 08, 2015, 02:24:27 pm »

was just coming to post on here!

My fist batch of chicks were culled last weekend at just over 8 weeks old, weights were between 2.6 and 4Kg.

Most of the females were 2.6 - 2.8Kg the males are anything from 3.2 - 4Kg

I should have killed the females 2 weeks ago, they've not put a great lot on since then and have just been chomping through the feed.

Males were pretty good, i only had one that started to show a bit of reluctance to walk around, not lame, just wanted to stand or sit rather than walk.

I've got some hens in with a Scots Grey cockerel and have some eggs in the incubator so will see how those go.

I'm using AI on mine now twice a week to help the fertility as the males didn't seem to be covering all the females so i've got pretty much 90% fertility now.

Will get in touch with a few of the other people, they were actually going to use pure breed cocks over the breeder hens as the breeder males are very large so will let you know how they've got on.

I have spoken to a couple of them who have just eaten their birds though, they got too heavy probably getting too much feed and started going off their legs.

Dave C · « **Reply #68 on:** October 10, 2015, 04:55:06 pm »

Some nice weights there mate.

Do you keep all the meat yourself or sell some. ?

Will be very interested to hear how the crosses turn out, are you looking to try and breed for a more sustainable table bird ?

Clansman · « **Reply #69 on:** October 11, 2015, 10:09:17 am »

Don't sell anything, it's not worth it for me to get setup properly to do it so everything goes in the freezer.

I'm going to breed a few and see what I end up with, even if I end up with a smaller and slower growing bird it should still be good

Dave C · « **Reply #70 on:** October 11, 2015, 11:07:39 am »

I guess that's where most of the brown ranger types come from.

I kept a Poulet Galouise hen back to breed with my IG next year to see what I get.
But your breeder stock should be a better starting point.