For those interested in meat birds and or La Bresse and Indian Game, I thought that I'd share my experience with my project so far. I would have put it up sooner but illness had got the better of me so this is where I am as from now.
The chicken tractor in the photo was what I used 20 years ago for my exhibition OEG. When I went to uni and stopped mucking around with my birds to pursue birds of a new sort, my old man put it in the woods. I dragged it out recently and it was completely overgrown. I've done some minor repair work for the time being but ultimately the sides up to 1m will have windbreaker mesh and half the roof of the run section will been covered with tin. It's about 40ft x 10ft including the accommodation. Chicks go there from 36 days. I'm working out how long for because they need to reach a size where the Kites won't get them out in an open pen, approximately 4weeks.
Chicks start in a brooder hut. I try to follow the La Bresse protocol as much as I can for rearing them but I have adapted methods to suit my local environment. EG mine get mainly wheat and barely as maize costs a fortune over here and there's no local stuff readily available. I shall not be employing the epinettes method as I feel it is cruel and kind of goes against the whole concept of free ranging. However, a few weeks prior to slaughter, birds will be put into smaller fattening pens and the sheep barn, when not in use.
My aim is to do 100 to sell as stock fowl and a 100 to sell oven ready at 16 weeks, 20 weeks and 24 weeks, the latter being for own consumption to experiment to see if extra time makes any difference to size and flavour.
The fowl in the photos are some dark IG, LB and LBX Jubilee IG. Lavender markings seem to have been bred in from the IG when crossed. The cocks take on the IG but hens take on LB, even the legs, which is why I missed them as I originally thought the blue leg was a weak gene so went to flesh coloured like in the males when crossed.
Robin
