Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: spud on January 13, 2010, 14:03
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Hi folks,
Yet another year has passed and I'm no closer to finding my perfect meat bird ... I was wondering if anyone has tried Indian game rooster on Ross cobb or similar meat hen? If so what was the results like? Or will anyone have hatching eggs from the breeding above?
TIA
:)
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Which ones have you tried? Are you looking for slow growing? or a combination of meat/laying birds
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Several months ago I purchased from Poulet Anglais the UKs only parent breeding stock of Hubbard Mastergris. I will be selling fertile eggs come spring.
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We don't talk about selling on the forum cluckingnuts, but Good luck with the Mastergris, it was from them that we had our 18lb cockerel last year! Nice birds!!! I'll be in touch soon!
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Sorry GrannieAnnie, I've given myself a slap on the wrist.
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Which ones have you tried? Are you looking for slow growing? or a combination of meat/laying birds
Locally its all Cobb's that are available and I've used them for years and tried different pure breeds like LS etc
I wanted a bird that put on lots of breast meat, was good on free range and not too slow to get to the table. I've read about the Indian cross but have been unable to get proper details of the results.
Cheers
:)
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Several months ago I purchased from Poulet Anglais the UKs only parent breeding stock of Hubbard Mastergris. I will be selling fertile eggs come spring.
Have you raised these before? got any pics or info on how they done for you?
TIA
:)
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I have a ixworth cockerel, that i,m going to cross with some indian game hens.Although they take about 22 weeks to finish, its well worth it. :)
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Several months ago I purchased from Poulet Anglais the UKs only parent breeding stock of Hubbard Mastergris. I will be selling fertile eggs come spring.
Have you raised these before? got any pics or info on how they done for you?
TIA
Hi Spud,
Grannie Annie has some photos of Mastergris chicks on her gallery page.
I have, and are, rearing chicks at the moment. I don't intensively rear them, they are all free ranging. They reach the table faster than traditional breeds but not so fast as to suffer leg problems. The parent cocks are IG derived.
Mark
:)
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PM sent
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no other takers? I was hoping to learn from others experiences of raising different meat birds. I've been told that Hobbard breeds are very soft skinned and tear easily in the plucking, any truth in that?
Cheers
;)
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we've found with the hubbards that they can tear easily, but now my Brian tells me to put how ever many we are going to cull the next day into the brooder shed and withhold feed overnight, then take their water away in the morning. that not only means the insides are cleaner, but seems to make the skin less tearable. Don't know if its connected at all or just coincidence.
Here's a couple of last year's Mastergris at 16 weeks. the week we culled them!! We were a bit late that time! These ones look similar to Light Sussex, but some of them have a lot more grey in them. Lovely birds!!
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Thank you GA ... certainly good looking fowl. Have you raised any other breeds you think are better at the job?
Oh and pics are always welcome, thanks.
Cheers
:)
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Have you looked at faverolles spud? They are a traditional french tablebird, very slow growing though compared to the commercial strains available. :)
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but they are pretty to look at whilst waiting for them to grow big enough :D
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If I remember correctly Munty mentioned these, but I had no joy in tracking them down over here.
I really don't want something that is too slow at getting to the table either, a nice blend of new and traditional .. I'm quite sure I'm not the first, but its difficult finding the research ;)
Cheers
:)
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In that case spud you could look at crosses.
The best cross for meat is with an indian game cock over a traditional dual purpose bird -one that has a long back(with width if possible) and deep keel (breastbone) is important. this will compliment the large frame of the Indian game bird and give you more breast meat. This cross will also deliver a faster growing bird. These conmbinations were commonly used in the 1930's with great success!
The most successful meat cross with Indian Game are: Dorking, Faverolles and Orpingtons. You could also use Sussex (go for width here) and Australorps.
If you go down this route have a look around for good utility strains, avoid ebay!! and try and source from established breeders. :)
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To add onto what Foxy has mentioned regarding traits. If possible set up different lines for each trait, it is easier to fix one trait per line than get them all into one line only.
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Thanks Foxy, have you tried any of these crosses? I'd be interested in hearing your experience with them, please.
And that sort of gets me back to where the thread started ... I guess I'll have to pay my money and take my chances.
Its a problem getting good fowl over here, just because it looks like a Sussex it is one ... thats what I come up against, no breeding to improve things, just breed. I'm not saying its the case with every breeder, but most Ive come across.
I think I'll probably try a few mastergris's next month.
Thanks again everyone.
Cheers
:)
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Spud, I haven't tried those crosses, but I do have a utility strain of faverolles I raise alongside the exhibition ones. They are lovely and the flavour is sublime, they come in at a useful weight at 20+ weeks
The information I posted is a result of chatting to an old timer recently, these crosses were common practice at that time.
If you would like to try some hatching eggs from the utility strain I have just let me know ;)
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Thanks Foxy thats a very decent offer, I'll probably take you up on that. Have you got any pics handy?
Cheers
:)
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Heh im not sure if this has been mentioned in previous topics, but Hugh in the first season of river cottage did some trials on the best meat bird.
He ended up with an Indian Game crossed with somthing else as the best - i forget what but if you flick through the first season on Channel 4OD you should be able to find it hehe
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Thanks Foxy thats a very decent offer, I'll probably take you up on that. Have you got any pics handy?
Cheers
:)
spud, have a look across at the globe thingy (on the left under my avatar) that will take you to my website ;)
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I'll try that Lewjam, thanks
Cheers
:)
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Heh im not sure if this has been mentioned in previous topics, but Hugh in the first season of river cottage did some trials on the best meat bird.
He ended up with an Indian Game crossed with somthing else as the best - i forget what but if you flick through the first season on Channel 4OD you should be able to find it hehe
IG x Dorking. Very nice, as are Faverolles & Ixworth, that's why I keep them.