What really happened is that you created an F2 generation. Then you stopped because you don't understand chicken breeding. This is why you got different sized birds. F2 is the first step toward creating an inbred line. F2's also exhibit the best mix of parental traits and each bird will have it's own outcome of traits. The f2 generation is your best selection generation when looking for mixed traits between the parent stock. Select the f2 birds that best resemble what you are looking for and inbreed them. Keep doing this through consecutive generations. F2xF2=F3 | F3xF3=F4 | F4xF4=F5 and so on. Keep selecting the birds that best fit your selection criteria and eventually you will get what you are looking for if you use proper selection. Sometimes you have to back step and use a different rooster and hens etc. Good luck. If you want to learn more about breeding chickens check out the chicken breeding playlist at my RU-vid channel. Also it's ok to cross like f5 to f2 etc. if you want to go back and scoop something back up you lost from a particular generation. Good luck
This is an outstanding video. 😊 Ive been looking to start my own meatbird line. Most hatcheries wont name the brreds used to make these meatbird hybrids but I'll keep experimenting until i find the proprietary secret. My first try was with asian multipurpose birds. I got long legged, small breasted dark meat. Nothing goes to waste though.
Hey thanks for this video. I’m looking at doing the same thing. Up here in Canada they want $4 a chick and then they gouge you on the feed making it a break even thing or more expensive than buying chicken from the store.
Something you might consider: The Brahma was generally considered the leading meat breed for the period of time from the mid-1850’s through about 1930 - some 70 plus years. As broilers, Brahma chicks were killed quite young, about 8-10 weeks of age. They made a most profitable roaster at 8 months, later than many breeds, but it was found that virgin cockerels were still tender as roasters at 12-13 months - making them competitive against capons. As a family fowl they were unequaled, and a large Brahma could feed a moderate-sized family.-Livestock Conservatory. I got mine from Mt. Healthy and they gained size fairly quickly and probably consumed less feed than your "mutt meat chickens". Mine are laying a large egg, but it is stated they are only 200 eggs a year.
i was going to type about the brahmas i love my light brahmas i also love feeding black fly larva its free food with huge growth,,,,,, i know it sounds gross but a road killed rabbit thrown in the larva bin no longer is a waste and has no smell food waste chicken carcass coffee grounds canning scraps its all amazing food helpers
@@lynettesheddenchaapel5643 When you mow your lawn, they love that to eat that as well(mine is Orchard grass, White and Red Clover, Dandelion and even some thistles). During summer, when the garden is going good, mine like cucumbers, summer squash, and ripe tomatoes. I also have comfrey plants. I also give them leftover kitchen scraps. From spring to fall, the feed bill drastically reduces.
I can barely hear your vlog.The sound got a little better later in the video. We always go the Cornish Cross route and we put them in the chicken tractor like you do.We harvest them at 8 weeks, getting 41/2 to 6 pound chickens. Thanks for sharing your content on breeding chickens. It's always interesting to see how other people experiment.
Breeding Meat birds is guarded industry secret. An old chap I know uses a Cornish Rooster on to Jersey Giant hens. It produced a big bird with a large breast carcass like a broiler but with good legs. Maybe you need an out cross? Just a thought. Love the experiment, thanks for sharing.
Good video ,I see a lot of folks talking about meat chickens but you the first one I seen document a cross all the way through. And honest about it. I got some Delawares, Sussex, Dark Cornish, Barred rock, And New Hampshire reds this year I am going to breed from this year for a meat bird cross. The old game cock breeders say a hen passes on her traits to the male and a rooster passes on to the pullet, so i'm going to test that out with the 2 best breeds I like the best for each cross. Going to look at them hard at 12-14 weeks for size and what age the pullets lay. I havnt messed with the hybreds in many years, I like a pure a chicken as I can get to start out nd then look for best results in4-5 generations. Same way I breed my hunting dogs. Going to give it a try. Good luck with your chickens.
If you want to have the best results, you must keep track of the weight for the chicks, say every two weeks, weight them and band their legs to identify who is who, then at the end of 3 to 4 months, compare roosters to roosters, and hens to hens, to see which ones gained the most weight while eating the same diet, and make sure the final weight takes place before the hens start to lay eggs. Once you have selected the heaviest birds, use them for the breeding program, and if the birds weight less than the parents did at the same age, then cross the offspring to the heaviest members of the parent flock, but if the offspring are heavier than what the parents were at the same age, then only breed the offspring with offspring. In other words, only breed the heaviest birds with the heaviest birds, if size is what's important, after that, then look amongst the heavy hens which ones are the best layers, and focus on those to produce your own line of meat birds.
Since these breeds are mixed genetically, you could cull the smaller birds from the breeding herd and only breed the largest ones to isolate and increase that gene and trait for the offspring.
One observation that I made, is that you allowed your meat chickens to free range, which will cause them to waste too much energy if they are to be used strictly for meat purposes. If you want your birds to gain the most weight the quickest, you must keep them enclosed in the chicken tractor, providing water and feed at all times, and in selecting the feed, I would suggest the meat bird feed, which makes the chickens gain more weight faster than the regular chick starter. BUT, if you want to raise them for reproduction, then raise them the way you did, so they will remain active and healthy weight wise.
Watch our video on how to free range these meat birds. Our average dressed weight at 11 weeks were 6lbs for hens and 7 lbs for roosters. Thanks for watching.
If you are willing to try again, I would suggest trying out the Murray's Big Red Broilers. And if you are willing to go even further, then get a few Cornish Cross roosters, and raise them by restricting their diet severely, so they will not die from overweight issues, then cross that Cornish Cross rooster to the big hens you may have, and see what happens with those chicks.
Honestly, the birds you started with seem way undersized. They also have oddly normal looking legs rather than the expected Cornish legs. The Rooster seems somewhat okay in width, but he's about the size of two or my 15 week old Freedom Ranger hens that I'm going to breed. The hens are the ones that mater for bringing forward the growth genes. I'm actually going to use American Bresse roosters, not a hybrid meat bird.
All good meat chicken crosses start with a full Cornish rooster…I got 10 of them coming next month along with 2 each of 6 other dual purpose type birds , I’ll keep the best roosters to breed with each type of hen and see first hand what gives me the best results for my purposes… and yes I got white rock hens the order…
I just put my first batch of eggs in the incubator yesterday finally, my meat breeding pen has 2 dark Cornish roosters with a few different hens- mostly white rocks, barred rock, beilefelder, dark Cornish, New Hampshire, and a couple surviving Ginger Broilers from McMurray hatchery.
your results are a bit puzzling. I have been hatching from Freedom Ranger type meatbirds for several years. I grow out literally hundred of chicks that I hatched, each year. The only difference between the chicks I hatch and those from the hatchery is that roughly 1/2 of the daughters are short legged (bantam gene) and tend to dress out at just under 4 pounds and are much fatter. The rest are normal size and range from 5-6 (hens) and 6-8 lbs (males). I start harvesting the larger males at 9-10 weeks, then the smaller males and larger females at 11-12 weeks, and then the balance at 13-14 weeks. Back to the smaller short legged females. It is caused by a sex link recessive bantam gene they inherited from their dad. Your boy meaty looks a bit lighter in body size and feather colour than I'm used to seeing. If you didn't get any short legged smaller females, that would be a clear indicator that something isn't normal with Meaty's genetics. To be clear, I have no experience with the Rudd Ranger and know nothing about them. My comments are purely based upon my experience with other Freedom ranger type of lines. Your attempt to hatch your own meatbirds was very sound logic and can be a very rewarding exercise. maybe just with a different source of parent stock. Especially for those that do their own processing and can stagger the harvest over several weeks. I earn a reasonable living from pastured poultry and have no need or desire to grow the whites.
You should buy Red Rangers from the hatchery and time it so that your chicks hatch from the incubator at the same time your chicks arrive from the hatchery so that they can grow up side by side...
1st! New to your channel. I love the time lapse of the video and the details. What do you think the determining factors are with them being smaller? Moving forward what will you do differently? Thank you for the great content.
Thanks for watching B! So Rangers are a crossbred chicken. These were 2nd generation which obviously lacked the growth speed. Moving forward we can either continue to buy Ranger chicks or find out which two breeds make up the Ranger chicken.
Cool channel! Any of your commercial crosses are going to have various throw backs and not neccicarily breed true. There was at one point big money in poultry genetics but alot of those lines are inbred and cull for almost clones. The line gets a name and " A+B=C" each hatchery has a few versions. The red rangers aren't as inbred as most and there are a couple hatchery variations, but from what I've read, they're supposed to grow a little slower. I haven't worked with them directly but got the feeling they were a more solid bird than, what I endearingly refer to as "frankenchickens".
Yea we love the Rangers for meat birds. Only takes 2 more weeks before butchering. But we just wanted to experiment with these birds. Thanks for watching Tony!
Great video! I was thinking how i could breed my Hiline Reds. But as they are already cross breed for egg laying I don't think their eggs would be fertile?
Good video, you never know until you give it a try. We are just getting back into raising chickens, I have 10 ISA brown, 10 Wyandotte Golden, and I hatch some easter Eggers out as well. Check us out at Kentucky Chickens and Homestead. Thanks.
Do you not have a need to breed an improved line of your own or is it not much of a savings over buying chicks started? I mean maybe you could improve a couple ounces/12 weeks each generation, right? It would be interesting to raise a dozen of your chicks next to a dozen bought rangers. It would be different if they weren't layers as well. (And I realize that I may not be as interested if I was toting the water) I would like to hear your thoughts on it either way.
Thanks for watching Dan! No I don’t think it would be worth it. Now if I do some research and find out what 2 breeds make up the Rangers, I could breed that way and be successful.
Thanks for watching Broken Dolly! Yea a couple people have complained about being able to hear. Everything sounds good on our end. I think YT has glitches sometimes. These birds were Rudd Rangers from Hoovers Hatchery.
