2006-Jan-11 - Interesting article on Chickens...
I found this over at www.acresusa.com today.......thought it was interesting.....;)
Walk among the breeding pens on our farm and you will see a chicken breed or two commonly referred to as “dual-purpose varieties.” I have always felt about this usage of the term dual-purpose much the same way my banker feels about the term “the check is in the mail.”
Yes, all chickens lay eggs, and sooner or later, nearly all growing chickens get big enough to fry. To expect one breed or line to do both of these well, however, may be asking just a tad more than Mother Nature can or will easily bring forth from an egg and wrap in feathers.
Begin breeding for improved egg production, and noticable changes in bird type and size will follow. As laying improved in our one line of Wyandottes, the hens became a bit smaller, and there were some subtle shifts in frame size and outline. To improve growth and meat yield you will likewise select for different factors, including frame size, growth rate and muscle yield. Cornish and Giants do not lay like Leghorns, nor should they be expected to do so.
With selective breeding, virtually any trait can be made better within a breed or line, but just as they canÂ’t design a vehicle suitable for both moving couches and racing at Indy, you are not going to find birds that can fry at six weeks and begin laying 300 eggs a year at 20 weeks of age.
A decade and more in the field of public works has taught me that any job is done best only when done with the right tool. If you want eggs, select breeds and lines bred for egg production. If you want poultry meat, select breeds and lines bred for growth and yield. If you have a strong market for both, then you should seriously consider maintaining two seperate flocks. It would be inefficient and less than optimum production if the small farmer were to do otherwise.
Yes, I know I am incurring the wrath of supporters of some breeds and trouncing on the idyllic beliefs of others. Still, a businesslike approach must be brought to poultry keeping, just as to any other venture on the farm.
With a purebred flock of chickens you can reasonably expect to produce six cockerels for every four pullets hatched. Depending upon breed, young males will reach a handy, dressable weight at somewhere between 12 and 16 weeks of age. They won’t outdo Cornish-X broilers, but then the bird to do that will have to be sewn together on Dr. Frankenstein’s lab table. These purebreds should grow into some quite nice roasters and may present the alternative for those wanting a change from turkey. My grandmother’s choice for frying chickens was young Leghorn roosters harvested from the spring crop as summer’s warm days grew to an end. They didn’t yield by the “bucketful,” but they still tasted mighty good.
A two-flock farm need not have birds by the hundreds parceled out from here to breakfast, either. Actually, a meat-breed flock can produce huhdreds of chicks from a relative handful of breeding birds. A one-rooster flock should be more than adequate for most producers of a thousand or less range broilers each year. I say one rooster, but be sure to winter enough birds to insure a viable breeding flock for the next year. You donÂ’t want even a small flock of hens standing around because your only rooster gave up the ghost.
Many in the chick-production field will sell their breeding flocks at the end of each hatching season (generally May or June) and hold back young of the year for next seasonÂ’s breeding flocks. It is a practice that certainly reduces maintenance costs and winter chores.
Still, I would be very reluctant to let go of birds of exceptional merit. Being too exacting in paring numbers can sometimes result in future losses and setbacks, as well. I have a friend who put substantial time and effort into assembling a flock of rare White Langshans. All was going well until he lost all four of his breeding males in the space of a single week (such losses can be caused by illness, storm damage, predation and other factors). His flock then stood unproductive for many weeks while he scrambled to find even one breeding-age male of good quality.
Pure breeds with real potential as meat birds would include White Rocks, Delawares, New Hampshire Reds, White Giants, Standard Cornish, Buckeyes and White Wyandottes. Continental breeds such as the Sussex, Dorking and Orpington have long histories as table fowl abroad, although they lack the yellow skin and feet so favored by American consumers. There are also many other colors in which Rocks and Wyandottes are bred. Another friend of mine is beginning a Giant breeding program to develop a meat-breed strain with size that will go head-to-head with the domestic turkey.
Your choice of meat breed can then be paired with one of the egg laying breeds to give your family farm a true one-two punch when it comes to poultry production. Laying breeds run a wide gamut, from the legendary production of the Leghorn and Ancona to the rarest of the rare such as the Welsummer and LaFleche. Those interested in breed preservation work might wish to consider varieties like the Exchequer or Red Leghorn.
Fulfilling two economic needs with one bird would truly be an ideal, but not a very realistic one. Dual-purpose breeds have been touted in many different livestock species, but at best they have been compromises — and they could and did compromise farm production in far too many instances.
It appears that fast approaching is a new era in family farm poultry keeping. The heritage breeds are being returned to their traditional role of production fowl working in range and open-housed environments. It is a role not at odds with exhibition breeding, but it will have many producers more strongly emphasizing those factors most associated with improved economic performance.
Hybridization to increase performance was the tool of the vertigal integrators, but it was made so complicated in its structure as to be carried out only by the largest and most complex of corporate producers. They thus have a most solid lock on that course of production. With purebreds, the independent producers retain the greatest control possible over their flocks, their farms and their future direction. Through selective breeding, simple applied genetics, they can exercise a great level of control and produce birds to the most exacting needs of their home farms and local, directly served markets.
They can use the variability to be found in the remaining pure breeds to create working flocks that will produce eggs, or broilers and roasters, in a most efficient manner. It is made efficient by selecting the breeds most suited for the production needs at hand.
Kelly Klober specializes in raising livestock using natural methods and is a frequent contributor to Acres U.S.A. He has written a comprehensive new guide to natural hog care, which is scheduled for publication in spring 2006. More information will appear in upcoming issues of Acres U.S.A.
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