I’m so sorry to hear about your husband. I hope he has recovered fully. Just discovered your channel today. I will be subscribed. Thanks for the tips trying to figure out this genetics myself.
I wouldn't call that a failure just a learning experience. Genetics are tricky and you gave good advice to buy heritage breeds if you want to breed true. I have some easter eggers that get huge and they can be dual purpose too. Breeding projects are so interesting! Great job on the homestead!
My wife had a stroke at 22 she lost the use of her left arm and about half of her left leg. I hope your husband fully recovers. I am raising a custom cross breed myself of jersey giant, light Brahma and Breese. I am separating my chicken into 4 different flocks and using spiral breeding to maybe some day have a distinctive breed of chicken on my farm.
I'm sorry to hear about your wife. My husband was lucky and only has memory and word issues. He had heart surgery a few weeks ago to prevent further strokes. I haven't heard of spiral breeding, but I'm intrigued. Another option to research. Thank you!
Hey Christine, I too am a first generation homesteader. I'm 61 this year, been gardening and raising chickens for years . I loved the video and all the info you shared. Im learning so much just from watching other homesteaders like you. Thanks for sharing what you're learning..it's much appreciated!! I sell eggs, and laying hens as well as some young roosters but I thinking more about processing the older girls and the roosters for our family, I know how they are taken care of, dont know about the store bought ones. I enjoy your videos, will be praying for your husbands recovery. Thanks again, keep up your great work.
Repurposing the trailer was a great idea. Chicken coops can be so expensive and I think that was a great way to make a secure place for the birds without breaking the bank. 👍 And it’s mobile! So sorry to hear of your husband’s medical issue. I hope everything is on the upswing from here!
Your drake is in eclipse plumage. He will moult into his breeding plumage in late summer. Only the gray or gray type plumage does that. Its a carry over from their Mallard heritage. Its called the gray pattern. Ive had chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, guineas, peafowl, rabbits, pigeons and doves. My knowledge on chicken and ducks are pretty good genetically speaking.
you want dominique chickens---they are the perfect dual purpose breed for homesteaders. Super cold hardy, AMAZING foragers, predator savvy, good layers. You can't go wrong with them!
My dream dual purpose chicken is the American Bresse. They produce a lot of eggs, grow a little faster then most other chickens, start producing eggs a little sooner then most other chickens, and are said to be the best tasting meat chicken.
Thank you for this information.. We started doing duel breeds two years ago.. We also have our "fun chickens" that are not with our egg layers. (sumatras and polish).. Somehow when I hatched out the sumatra eggs we ended up with a show girl naked neck?.. Not sure how that happened but I'm thrilled !.. LOL
Awesome lesson in genetics and color dominance. Those hybrids could literally all have white birds behind them if the color black is completely dominant in a cross between a black bird and white bird. Also, the breeder could pull out the occasional chick that doesn’t match. If the unexpressed recessive gene (white, for example) present in each hybrid bird (but not visible) fall together in the breeding, the white color will be expressed. That is why they say “recessives are forever”. They can hide a long time until they link with the same recessive in another bird. Making a pure breed from hybrids requires many many generations of culling whenever the recessive gene expresses itself. And color is only one trait. Every single trait will behave this way, and most of them are much harder to observe. You also have to consider “hybrid vigor”. The offspring can be better stronger bigger more disease resistant than either pure bred parent. Trying to form a pure breed with the added vigor from the hybrids is rarely successful. That is why this breeder does not want people to know the cross he is making. Because anyone could make that cross; keep the two purebred strains pure and repeatedly make the same cross between the two absolutely purebred strains. It would be easy to do if all the roosters are one breed and all the hens were the other breed. That is my guess as to what they are doing. hybrid vigor. It is fascinating and powerful. It is what keeps people coming back to this breeder, because you can’t get hybrid vigor by crossing two of his hybrids. It is also why seeds are often hybrids and can’t reproduce their likeness.
I raise meat birds, and we separate some to not grow as fast (not as much feed to fatten). Those birds are placed in with my leghorns (+rooster). FF-egg laying time, I collected eggs for hatching, and 40% hatch brown and black patches, but still are meat birds themselves. They are a slower growing, but we have some that got to weight at 3months. Processed yesterday with 10 Peking ducks.
🥚🐣🐥🐓🍗 Just found you, by way of this video… very informative! BTW, I had a stroke at 35 years old, due to an atrial septal defect. I’ll be 59 in 2 days and wouldn’t trade this lifestyle for anything else in the world! I’ll be praying for you and your husband! I’m off to watch more of your content and subscribe to your channel! ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you! My husband also had an ASD and thankfully had it repaired last month. He is healing great and only has minor side effects from the stroke. Thank you for watching!
One of the reasons dual-purpose breeds are so popular is they can be sexed when they are hatched, an example being New Hampshire reds or Rhode Island reds (both meat birds) when crossed with an efficient "flighty" egg bird leghorn will give you the best of both worlds! (The cockerels are nearly all white) Barred rocks or black austrolorps (heavy meat birds) when crossed with an egg layer (usually leghorns) also creates some of the same F1 crosses. These mutt crossbreeds are also much less apt to go broody during the summer months as opposed to a straight bred heavy meat bird which often show signs of broodiness during summer months. The genetics in cattle are much the same way. A hereford bull when crossed on angus cows will give a rather uniform set of nearly all "black baldy" calves. This cross when bred back to a full Hereford OR Angus also gives a diverse mixture of genes and does not breed true or consistent, the good thing is you do get what is called hybrid vigor. The same is true in dogs and other animals that are genetically compatible. S. Carolina
How are the chicks from Sunnyside Hatchery overall? Looks like they are quality stock overall. I will keep you and your husband in my prayers that the future improves for you. I just subscribed to your channel. It is a very informative and great channel. Kevin
@@kl1958 Thank you! We are very happy with Sunnyside chicks. We've experienced a lot less transport issues since they are in our state and we have a dealer nearby.
I clicked on this video because I breed RIR to Colombia Rocks for a bird they call a Rhode Rock. The plan is to grow the roosters out for meat and keep the hens for eggs. Luckily I only have one rooster rooster so I don't have to worry about BYM. But the Rhode Rocks, I believe, are a good multi purpose Bird.
For dual I like Delawares(got some mystery pullets, felt blessed when they grew up enough to figure out the breed) and Orpingtons. My Delawares grew a lot faster than the other breeds the same age as them. So looking into their history, they were the big ones before cornish cross existed, I think they’re wonderful birds. Hatching eggs is way too fun and addictive… whenever I get new hens I always hatch their first eggs out, never know what kind of rooster they were with before. I’m wanting to try too many projects, blue/black/splashes and lavendar/isabels. Oh and next year hoping to cross a blue egger cockerel to my brown eggers for olives. Way too much fun… We had an ISA brown go broody(thought that wasn’t supposed to happen but it did) so my rooster who had only ever had black and birchen chicks, threw random white and tan babies at us. Yay hybrids surprise! That was a random shock to see and learn about. Meanwhile our white rooster only seems to have whites with his white hen and never the other hens. Don’t worry if you aren’t looking directly at the cam, you’re doing great! People should understand, on a homestead chan. Especially when outside(there could be glaring bright sun) having animals and kids around. There’s a lot going on you have to always pay attention to also.
Thanks so much for your informative failure, especially with the time span required! 🎉When I try my very first breeding with my 3 new cockerels next spring, I will know what you have learned ❤ I only have one purebred heritage Black Copper Marans roo, but am interested in what my 2 more hybrid boys have in their genes, too. I will breed them with my purest heritage gals so things will hopefully be more obvious. But still give a shot with my super-layer BlackStar cross?
Have you ever had Black Copper Marans? I have heard from some resources that they're good dual purpose, but honestly have no experience in this. Thanks for sharing your project results. I have only done one generation of BCMS breeding.
Meyer Hatchery's Marans grow fast and are gorgeous. We just processed a few at 16 weeks. We ate one and it was actually pretty good. Little breast meat but legs were meaty. He was the smartest roo of the bunch, hench the cull.
It could be like my mother had a canary which we thought was a male as it sang but then started to lay eggs which was strange.. I hope your Husband is getting better... Last clip of your farm looked cold but nice in the cold weather creaping in... Look lovely should have a fireplace as the coldness coming in... It must be freezing in winter...😂❤😂❤😂❤
We had a 2 year old hen who started crowing one year. Grew spurs and everything! That's what got me researching the ducks' coloring. 😅 That last clip is from last fall before we butchered and yes, it gets quite cold here. We have a great cookstove for the farmhouse and love it. Thank you for watching!
Rhode Island Reds are supposed to be a good dual-purpose chicken. I raised some. Their meat is awful, but they do lay good eggs. I’m now raising Wyandottes and will cull in September. I also just purchased baby Black Jersey Giants. We hope the predation isn’t so bad with these new baby chicks (once they grow up, of course!)
Excellent video. I need this topic. Next spring, I'm hoping to have meat/egg chickens & slaughter a month's worth at a time (not "a whole year" as many podcasters do). So, Im thinking to keep a flock of 30 and slaughter 4-5 monthly. I'm from farm people on all sides but personally never raised in a farm and don't have experience. So, trying to work out the process, numbers, and plan.
There are a lot of benefits to choosing dual purpose, one being the flexibility of butcher dates that you don't get with cornish cross. I'm so happy this video was helpful to you! Thanks for watching.
They say to have 1 month of separation to be sure of no prior mixing, so it's more an inconclusive result than a fail. (Even heard of a few that wait 2 months, but the biology I've heard is 2 to 3 weeks backlog on fertilization with the possibility of internal incubation and a late lay on the tail end. Like when your eggs hatch 2-3 days early even when you collected them right away... Speaking of, I'm hearing a cheaper 3 days early right now). As to red, if they are not already exclusively black and white only, they are already a red type vs silver type. And if there is any brown red or gold, then for sure its a red type. Black is usually a red type with the solid and 1 or 2 darkening genes, (or also fibro melanism if you have any if those) and double absence of the dilution gene. You might get a silver type to do it sometimes, but the assumption is that it's a red type if it's all black because that's the original natural color of a red type with black tail feathers, and that is the original jungle chicken colors. If you are trying for solids, avoid anything with dominant barring or mottling genes as you'll have to find the double recessive quarters to get them back out. However, I choose to have my barnyard flock have those and none of my breeding projects with them so I can see right away if they got mixed. The roosters are opposite of people and have 2 of the same sex gene on the male, so they're the ones you have to make sure are not heterogenous for what you want, as they have more hidden genes and color patterns. (Eg. Choose a rooster you know the line of, you can only tell what it is for a lot of things by watching it's Mom and daughters 2 generations out. The picking that you do on your own that's easy to do is with the hens you pick for desirable traits to breed). As to heritage breeds, if you don't mind black marks where the pin feathers are and a double type of feather coat (which is harder to pluck, but might be good for the cold where you are), I like my Barnvelders as a great meat and egg bird that thrives even in heavy hawk and coyote threat. Them and the Rhode Island Reds are the closest I have to my Bresse as meat birds. For hot weather here in Texas, Welsummers are the easiest dual purpose, but not that meaty. My favorite chicken right now is a Barnvelder Welsummer cross, that looks like a Barnvelder hen with a body like a Bresse, she lays jumbo size eggs, and has the most beautiful iridescent almost red and orange flames around it's neck on a black and gold double laced backdrop for the rest of her. (Barnvelders almost always show beetling iridescence in blue or green, not just in the boys). But to your point on hybrids, they're all hybrids. Purebreds are just hybrids that always breed true (and can easily buy more, to try again if you mess up). The standard for one type might make allowances another does not permit and you get the same breeding problems. Consider, breed breeders often cull (as in not breed) 90pct or more of their hatches for years before they have established a line. That's a lot that weren't good enough, even though they were technically as much of the starting breeds as each other. Also, not that it's talked about with chickens much, but there is a difference between pureblood and purebred. Hatcheries sell purebred, which really means 75pct of their ancestors were of the breed. Pureblood would be 100pct, though I've never heard it used for chickens, even by people who use it for other animals. So, working with what you have over time to get exactly what you want out of them is always part of the process for chickens.
Hi from Manitoba, Canada. Just found your channel and subscribed. I bought Jersey Giants (dual purpose heritage) and some heritage egg layers. Trying to build a good over winter building, any ideas? Note that we go from plus 40'C in summer to minus 40'C, yes, a hundred degree shift. Any feedback would be appreciated.
Ventilation is key in winter. You need a way for air to flow so that humidity can escape. However, it should not be at the height of the roosts but rather up near the peak. Do not keep water in the coop if you can help it. We use a heated water in a covered area outdoors. It also gets very cold here in the winter and we don't use additional heat. Deep litter method will keep them warm, flat roosts help their feet because they can cover them (a 2x4 works great), and larger bodied birds will do best. I'd be happy to help if you have any more questions, but hopefully that can help get you started.
We tried the Bresse chickens. They did everything .... poorly. They laid small eggs, irregularly and they were dumb. Killed themselves by accident dumb. Finally, their meat was just not very good. So dual purpose for that breed was that they did 2 things poorly. We sold them off
Hybrid chickens aren’t good for reproducing. You don’t get the same thing. You need a specific breed . Heritage breeds . Take a little longer. But breed true
I am disappointed that a biology major didn’t understand what the outcome of random hybrid breeding would be. It takes generations of inbreeding and cross breeding to establish a consistent bird. She crossbred hybrids with a totally different variety and thought the outcome would be a consistently good bird? Also, does she not understand the the hybrids she bought we F1 specimens and their breeding would revert to the inferior parents?
@barneymiller4088 My hope was that the 2 original breeds were close enough in traits to get a usable stock for our own meat supply. I do understand genetics and talk about this in my video a year ago when we started this project. It was really fun to teach our kids and show them how genetics work in hybrid cases, especially with such a wildly different outcome. We've been discussing this with them especially in terms of heirloom seeds vs hybrid. Take a look through the comments and you will see this was a valuable experiment that helped people unfamiliar with genetics learn a few things. We are a channel aimed at education and helping people get started.
@@ScottFamilyFarmhand in the intro section mostly. It's like when someone is looking at your nose or cheek instead of your eyes during a conversation. Do what you want, it was meant as a friendly heads up to help. Great response to make someone not tune on again though 😕
I promise I was looking at the camera, but I'm sorry it made you anxious. Tone is hard to read online, but FYI, it didn't come off as friendly. I'm just a mom making videos on the side to help people get started homesteading and if that isn't for you, that's okay.
I did notice that, too. She’s got big, beautiful blue eyes, so maybe it’s just that it looks like she’s not quite looking directly at the camera. 🤷♀️ I also get super distracted when it seems like people are reading when looking in the direction of the camera. (I totally get that is just a “me” problem, not them.) But I’ll catch myself staring at their eyes and be like, “AHA! I saw it again!” 😂
Wishing your husband a quick recovery
I am impressed with your knowledge. Thank you for sharing. I hope your husband is healing. Blessings.
I’m so sorry to hear about your husband. I hope he has recovered fully. Just discovered your channel today. I will be subscribed. Thanks for the tips trying to figure out this genetics myself.
I wouldn't call that a failure just a learning experience. Genetics are tricky and you gave good advice to buy heritage breeds if you want to breed true. I have some easter eggers that get huge and they can be dual purpose too. Breeding projects are so interesting! Great job on the homestead!
@@ginnyzoo Thank you!
Very kind post. ❤️
My wife had a stroke at 22 she lost the use of her left arm and about half of her left leg. I hope your husband fully recovers. I am raising a custom cross breed myself of jersey giant, light Brahma and Breese. I am separating my chicken into 4 different flocks and using spiral breeding to maybe some day have a distinctive breed of chicken on my farm.
I'm sorry to hear about your wife. My husband was lucky and only has memory and word issues. He had heart surgery a few weeks ago to prevent further strokes.
I haven't heard of spiral breeding, but I'm intrigued. Another option to research. Thank you!
Hey Christine, I too am a first generation homesteader. I'm 61 this year, been gardening and raising chickens for years . I loved the video and all the info you shared. Im learning so much just from watching other homesteaders like you. Thanks for sharing what you're learning..it's much appreciated!! I sell eggs, and laying hens as well as some young roosters but I thinking more about processing the older girls and the roosters for our family, I know how they are taken care of, dont know about the store bought ones. I enjoy your videos, will be praying for your husbands recovery. Thanks again, keep up your great work.
Thank you for watching! We appreciate you too!
Repurposing the trailer was a great idea. Chicken coops can be so expensive and I think that was a great way to make a secure place for the birds without breaking the bank. 👍 And it’s mobile!
So sorry to hear of your husband’s medical issue. I hope everything is on the upswing from here!
Thank you! My husband had heart surgery and is recovering well. Thanks for watching!
Your drake is in eclipse plumage. He will moult into his breeding plumage in late summer. Only the gray or gray type plumage does that. Its a carry over from their Mallard heritage. Its called the gray pattern. Ive had chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, guineas, peafowl, rabbits, pigeons and doves. My knowledge on chicken and ducks are pretty good genetically speaking.
you want dominique chickens---they are the perfect dual purpose breed for homesteaders. Super cold hardy, AMAZING foragers, predator savvy, good layers. You can't go wrong with them!
My dream dual purpose chicken is the American Bresse. They produce a lot of eggs, grow a little faster then most other chickens, start producing eggs a little sooner then most other chickens, and are said to be the best tasting meat chicken.
I'm looking into this breed. Thank you for the suggestion! I definitely plan to try again.
We are raising Americans Bresse chickens now, next year we're going back to Cornish Cross.
This is my second year with ABC. We really like them!
@@williamgreen6889 Did you not like the bresse? Please elaborate!
Thank you for this information.. We started doing duel breeds two years ago.. We also have our "fun chickens" that are not with our egg layers. (sumatras and polish).. Somehow when I hatched out the sumatra eggs we ended up with a show girl naked neck?.. Not sure how that happened but I'm thrilled !.. LOL
Awesome lesson in genetics and color dominance. Those hybrids could literally all have white birds behind them if the color black is completely dominant in a cross between a black bird and white bird. Also, the breeder could pull out the occasional chick that doesn’t match. If the unexpressed recessive gene (white, for example) present in each hybrid bird (but not visible) fall together in the breeding, the white color will be expressed. That is why they say “recessives are forever”. They can hide a long time until they link with the same recessive in another bird. Making a pure breed from hybrids requires many many generations of culling whenever the recessive gene expresses itself. And color is only one trait. Every single trait will behave this way, and most of them are much harder to observe.
You also have to consider “hybrid vigor”. The offspring can be better stronger bigger more disease resistant than either pure bred parent. Trying to form a pure breed with the added vigor from the hybrids is rarely successful. That is why this breeder does not want people to know the cross he is making. Because anyone could make that cross; keep the two purebred strains pure and repeatedly make the same cross between the two absolutely purebred strains. It would be easy to do if all the roosters are one breed and all the hens were the other breed. That is my guess as to what they are doing. hybrid vigor. It is fascinating and powerful. It is what keeps people coming back to this breeder, because you can’t get hybrid vigor by crossing two of his hybrids. It is also why seeds are often hybrids and can’t reproduce their likeness.
I too, thought 2 weeks was enough, so thankyou for that heads up. Eclipse coloring is an interesting duck trait.
Very interesting, I didn’t know that. Thank you! Never stop learning
I raise meat birds, and we separate some to not grow as fast (not as much feed to fatten). Those birds are placed in with my leghorns (+rooster). FF-egg laying time, I collected eggs for hatching, and 40% hatch brown and black patches, but still are meat birds themselves. They are a slower growing, but we have some that got to weight at 3months. Processed yesterday with 10 Peking ducks.
Best wishes for the health of your family.
Thank you 😊
🥚🐣🐥🐓🍗 Just found you, by way of this video… very informative! BTW, I had a stroke at 35 years old, due to an atrial septal defect. I’ll be 59 in 2 days and wouldn’t trade this lifestyle for anything else in the world! I’ll be praying for you and your husband! I’m off to watch more of your content and subscribe to your channel! ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you! My husband also had an ASD and thankfully had it repaired last month. He is healing great and only has minor side effects from the stroke. Thank you for watching!
i need to stop commenting before the video ends!...lol
One of the reasons dual-purpose breeds are so popular is they can be sexed when they are hatched, an example being New Hampshire reds or Rhode Island reds (both meat birds) when crossed with an efficient "flighty" egg bird leghorn will give you the best of both worlds! (The cockerels are nearly all white) Barred rocks or black austrolorps (heavy meat birds) when crossed with an egg layer (usually leghorns) also creates some of the same F1 crosses. These mutt crossbreeds are also much less apt to go broody during the summer months as opposed to a straight bred heavy meat bird which often show signs of broodiness during summer months.
The genetics in cattle are much the same way. A hereford bull when crossed on angus cows will give a rather uniform set of nearly all "black baldy" calves. This cross when bred back to a full Hereford OR Angus also gives a diverse mixture of genes and does not breed true or consistent, the good thing is you do get what is called hybrid vigor. The same is true in dogs and other animals that are genetically compatible. S. Carolina
How are the chicks from Sunnyside Hatchery overall? Looks like they are quality stock overall. I will keep you and your husband in my prayers that the future improves for you. I just subscribed to your channel. It is a very informative and great channel. Kevin
@@kl1958 Thank you! We are very happy with Sunnyside chicks. We've experienced a lot less transport issues since they are in our state and we have a dealer nearby.
@@scottfamilyhomestead Sounds great...thanks...best wishes!
To make this whole thing even crazier, hens have the ability to reject up to 80% of the sperm from a rooster they don't want to have babies with.
American Bresse are a very good dual purpose Bird recreational Homestead. It's got a great genetic line. They are also on UA-cam.
I clicked on this video because I breed RIR to Colombia Rocks for a bird they call a Rhode Rock. The plan is to grow the roosters out for meat and keep the hens for eggs. Luckily I only have one rooster rooster so I don't have to worry about BYM. But the Rhode Rocks, I believe, are a good multi purpose Bird.
For dual I like Delawares(got some mystery pullets, felt blessed when they grew up enough to figure out the breed) and Orpingtons. My Delawares grew a lot faster than the other breeds the same age as them. So looking into their history, they were the big ones before cornish cross existed, I think they’re wonderful birds.
Hatching eggs is way too fun and addictive… whenever I get new hens I always hatch their first eggs out, never know what kind of rooster they were with before.
I’m wanting to try too many projects, blue/black/splashes and lavendar/isabels. Oh and next year hoping to cross a blue egger cockerel to my brown eggers for olives. Way too much fun…
We had an ISA brown go broody(thought that wasn’t supposed to happen but it did) so my rooster who had only ever had black and birchen chicks, threw random white and tan babies at us. Yay hybrids surprise! That was a random shock to see and learn about. Meanwhile our white rooster only seems to have whites with his white hen and never the other hens.
Don’t worry if you aren’t looking directly at the cam, you’re doing great! People should understand, on a homestead chan. Especially when outside(there could be glaring bright sun) having animals and kids around. There’s a lot going on you have to always pay attention to also.
Thanks so much for your informative failure, especially with the time span required! 🎉When I try my very first breeding with my 3 new cockerels next spring, I will know what you have learned ❤
I only have one purebred heritage Black Copper Marans roo, but am interested in what my 2 more hybrid boys have in their genes, too. I will breed them with my purest heritage gals so things will hopefully be more obvious. But still give a shot with my super-layer BlackStar cross?
Have you ever had Black Copper Marans? I have heard from some resources that they're good dual purpose, but honestly have no experience in this. Thanks for sharing your project results. I have only done one generation of BCMS breeding.
We have a couple of maran hens new to us this year. I have also heard they could be a good option.
Meyer Hatchery's Marans grow fast and are gorgeous. We just processed a few at 16 weeks. We ate one and it was actually pretty good. Little breast meat but legs were meaty. He was the smartest roo of the bunch, hench the cull.
Americanas are the most colorful breed of bird you can get, you’ll never know what color they will come out
Coucou malinres. Theyre definitely my favorite, hard to find but theyre classed as a gourmet chicken from Belgium
Lots of birds change their colouring to drabber tones when not breeding
The loon looks like a completely different bird
It could be like my mother had a canary which we thought was a male as it sang but then started to lay eggs which was strange..
I hope your Husband is getting better...
Last clip of your farm looked cold but nice in the cold weather creaping in...
Look lovely should have a fireplace as the coldness coming in...
It must be freezing in winter...😂❤😂❤😂❤
We had a 2 year old hen who started crowing one year. Grew spurs and everything! That's what got me researching the ducks' coloring. 😅
That last clip is from last fall before we butchered and yes, it gets quite cold here. We have a great cookstove for the farmhouse and love it.
Thank you for watching!
Rhode Island Reds are supposed to be a good dual-purpose chicken. I raised some. Their meat is awful, but they do lay good eggs. I’m now raising Wyandottes and will cull in September. I also just purchased baby Black Jersey Giants. We hope the predation isn’t so bad with these new baby chicks (once they grow up, of course!)
I’m interested in how the Wyandottes turn out, I’d like to try them next year. We are raising Barnevelders for the first time this year.
Just found your channel, and just subbed.
Awesome, thank you!
Excellent video. I need this topic. Next spring, I'm hoping to have meat/egg chickens & slaughter a month's worth at a time (not "a whole year" as many podcasters do). So, Im thinking to keep a flock of 30 and slaughter 4-5 monthly. I'm from farm people on all sides but personally never raised in a farm and don't have experience. So, trying to work out the process, numbers, and plan.
There are a lot of benefits to choosing dual purpose, one being the flexibility of butcher dates that you don't get with cornish cross. I'm so happy this video was helpful to you! Thanks for watching.
They say to have 1 month of separation to be sure of no prior mixing, so it's more an inconclusive result than a fail. (Even heard of a few that wait 2 months, but the biology I've heard is 2 to 3 weeks backlog on fertilization with the possibility of internal incubation and a late lay on the tail end. Like when your eggs hatch 2-3 days early even when you collected them right away... Speaking of, I'm hearing a cheaper 3 days early right now). As to red, if they are not already exclusively black and white only, they are already a red type vs silver type. And if there is any brown red or gold, then for sure its a red type. Black is usually a red type with the solid and 1 or 2 darkening genes, (or also fibro melanism if you have any if those) and double absence of the dilution gene. You might get a silver type to do it sometimes, but the assumption is that it's a red type if it's all black because that's the original natural color of a red type with black tail feathers, and that is the original jungle chicken colors. If you are trying for solids, avoid anything with dominant barring or mottling genes as you'll have to find the double recessive quarters to get them back out. However, I choose to have my barnyard flock have those and none of my breeding projects with them so I can see right away if they got mixed. The roosters are opposite of people and have 2 of the same sex gene on the male, so they're the ones you have to make sure are not heterogenous for what you want, as they have more hidden genes and color patterns. (Eg. Choose a rooster you know the line of, you can only tell what it is for a lot of things by watching it's Mom and daughters 2 generations out. The picking that you do on your own that's easy to do is with the hens you pick for desirable traits to breed). As to heritage breeds, if you don't mind black marks where the pin feathers are and a double type of feather coat (which is harder to pluck, but might be good for the cold where you are), I like my Barnvelders as a great meat and egg bird that thrives even in heavy hawk and coyote threat. Them and the Rhode Island Reds are the closest I have to my Bresse as meat birds. For hot weather here in Texas, Welsummers are the easiest dual purpose, but not that meaty. My favorite chicken right now is a Barnvelder Welsummer cross, that looks like a Barnvelder hen with a body like a Bresse, she lays jumbo size eggs, and has the most beautiful iridescent almost red and orange flames around it's neck on a black and gold double laced backdrop for the rest of her. (Barnvelders almost always show beetling iridescence in blue or green, not just in the boys). But to your point on hybrids, they're all hybrids. Purebreds are just hybrids that always breed true (and can easily buy more, to try again if you mess up). The standard for one type might make allowances another does not permit and you get the same breeding problems. Consider, breed breeders often cull (as in not breed) 90pct or more of their hatches for years before they have established a line. That's a lot that weren't good enough, even though they were technically as much of the starting breeds as each other. Also, not that it's talked about with chickens much, but there is a difference between pureblood and purebred. Hatcheries sell purebred, which really means 75pct of their ancestors were of the breed. Pureblood would be 100pct, though I've never heard it used for chickens, even by people who use it for other animals. So, working with what you have over time to get exactly what you want out of them is always part of the process for chickens.
Thank you for sharing this insight! Lots of great information.
Hi from Manitoba, Canada.
Just found your channel and subscribed.
I bought Jersey Giants (dual purpose heritage) and some heritage egg layers.
Trying to build a good over winter building, any ideas? Note that we go from plus 40'C in summer to minus 40'C, yes, a hundred degree shift.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Ventilation is key in winter. You need a way for air to flow so that humidity can escape. However, it should not be at the height of the roosts but rather up near the peak. Do not keep water in the coop if you can help it. We use a heated water in a covered area outdoors.
It also gets very cold here in the winter and we don't use additional heat. Deep litter method will keep them warm, flat roosts help their feet because they can cover them (a 2x4 works great), and larger bodied birds will do best.
I'd be happy to help if you have any more questions, but hopefully that can help get you started.
Have you checked Backyard Chickens forum? I bet they know what the mix might be
They had some guesses on the forum, but I didn't find anything definitive. Thanks for the suggestion though! They are helpful over there.
We tried the Bresse chickens. They did everything .... poorly. They laid small eggs, irregularly and they were dumb. Killed themselves by accident dumb. Finally, their meat was just not very good. So dual purpose for that breed was that they did 2 things poorly. We sold them off
Thank you for the feedback! These are the reviews I need. 😄
I have heritage barred rocks and they are dual purpose.
Barred rocks are a breed we've been considering for next year's breeding project. Thanks for the suggestion!
Barred Rocks have replaced the Buff Orpington as our favorite! They’re super friendly, dual-purpose, and much braver than the Buffs. And so pretty 🤩
Me too! I love my barred rocks. I was able to find someone with a lovely standard bred flock locally and purchase hatching eggs to start my flock.
Black Australorp
This is not a complete sentence, and I have no idea what you are saying. Let us know what your complete thought was.
@@caseypiton9146 That’s a breed of chickens. Heritage breed
Hybrid chickens aren’t good for reproducing. You don’t get the same thing. You need a specific breed . Heritage breeds . Take a little longer. But breed true
Yes, lesson learned! I'm going to take some of these breed suggestions in the comments and try again next year. Thank you!
I am disappointed that a biology major didn’t understand what the outcome of random hybrid breeding would be. It takes generations of inbreeding and cross breeding to establish a consistent bird. She crossbred hybrids with a totally different variety and thought the outcome would be a consistently good bird? Also, does she not understand the the hybrids she bought we F1 specimens and their breeding would revert to the inferior parents?
@barneymiller4088 My hope was that the 2 original breeds were close enough in traits to get a usable stock for our own meat supply. I do understand genetics and talk about this in my video a year ago when we started this project. It was really fun to teach our kids and show them how genetics work in hybrid cases, especially with such a wildly different outcome. We've been discussing this with them especially in terms of heirloom seeds vs hybrid. Take a look through the comments and you will see this was a valuable experiment that helped people unfamiliar with genetics learn a few things. We are a channel aimed at education and helping people get started.
A transgender duck lol.. I love your duck
Hah! Some failure!
FYI you're not looking at the audience... You're likely looking at the screen, not the lens. It's pretty close, but disconcertingly off 😜
Are we watching the same video? 😅
If this is 'disconcerting' to you, maybe take a break from UA-cam... 👋
@@ScottFamilyFarmhand in the intro section mostly. It's like when someone is looking at your nose or cheek instead of your eyes during a conversation. Do what you want, it was meant as a friendly heads up to help. Great response to make someone not tune on again though 😕
I promise I was looking at the camera, but I'm sorry it made you anxious. Tone is hard to read online, but FYI, it didn't come off as friendly. I'm just a mom making videos on the side to help people get started homesteading and if that isn't for you, that's okay.
I never knew about eclipse colouring in ducks..isn't nature fascinating with the little tricks she built in 😅
I did notice that, too. She’s got big, beautiful blue eyes, so maybe it’s just that it looks like she’s not quite looking directly at the camera. 🤷♀️ I also get super distracted when it seems like people are reading when looking in the direction of the camera. (I totally get that is just a “me” problem, not them.) But I’ll catch myself staring at their eyes and be like, “AHA! I saw it again!” 😂