Kuchinsky anniversary chickens. Meat chickens. Egg breeds of chickens

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Poultry farming has been extremely popular with our peasants since ancient times. Chickens and ducks required little care, in the summer they found food on their own, and the eggs and meat received from them were a valuable source of protein, which was so necessary in a difficult rural lifestyle.

Unlike other branches of the national economy, poultry farming is a universal solution. Most breeds of the same chickens can equally well provide you with meat and eggs. This is largely due to centuries-old selection, since most people at all times needed exactly universality.

Which chickens to choose?

Unfortunately, in our time it is difficult to find a breed of chickens that would fully meet this simple requirement. Despite the fact that in Soviet times, livestock specialists in all other branches of animal husbandry were aimed precisely at breeding breeds with universal characteristics, in poultry farming, preference was given exclusively to laying hens. Remember the "blue hens" on the shelvesstores? Their extremely low palatability was largely associated with the "non-core" direction of the bird.

Fortunately, there are wonderful Kuchin jubilee chickens, whose breed characteristics are extremely high. Their characteristic red eggs immediately catch the eye already in the incubator, and later the Kuchin chickens show themselves only from the best side.

A little about the percentage of hatchability

Practically all breeders claim that what is written in books about "75% hatching of chickens" is not worth believing. As a rule, in the incubator and under the chicken, this figure rarely exceeds 50%. However, this feature is perfectly compensated by the characteristics of the young animals themselves: the chickens are large, mobile and strong.

Unlike other chickens, chicks start hatching not from the blunt end of the egg, but from the sharp one. And even in general - from the very middle. Important! At almost every hatch, there are chickens in which the yolk cord is wrapped around the paw. If the Kuchinsky jubilee chickens are bred under a laying hen, then there are no problems: the mother hen will eliminate the problem herself. In the case when an incubator acts as a hen, you will have to carefully monitor the hatching chickens in order to prevent death in the very first hours.

Other Features

Don't get scared when you look into the incubator! It is as if a beige sea appears before you, in which it is virtually impossible to find two identical chickens. The variety of beige-brown shades is simply beyond description! "Chipmunks" are common, which have threeparallel black stripes. In general, only one “rule” is clearly observed: this breed does not have uniform chickens at all.

Why did this happen?

The thing is that Kuchinsky jubilee chickens are a kind of "alloy" of several breeds of meat and egg birds at once, so that in infancy, all the abundance of genes that the chickens inherited from their ancestors is manifested. Yes, and adults can be quite different in color: their plumage can be yellow or almost red. For this reason, the Kuchinsky jubilee breed of chickens is very often mistaken even by experienced poultry farmers for other birds.

Only by the age of one month, the chickens begin to somehow “sort”, as systemic differences appear. So, chickens will always be smaller, and feathers will appear on their backs, edged with a black border. Cockerels have a reddish back, with a slight reddish tint.

Raising young animals

Do not think that such a diverse "audience" requires a reverent attitude. Kuchinsky jubilee chickens are incredibly good, if only because their young are very easy and pleasant to care for. Again, differentiating themselves from other "stupid chickens", these babies are extremely smart.

Already on the third day, chickens perfectly associate your hand not with a terrible beast that invaded their nest, but with a source of food. Thus, all your offerings will be immediately tested for edibility. In general, the problem of transferring to "adult" food is completely absent.

Other nice features

In addition, there are no stresses associated with adaptation when transferring to another room. So, if chickens of other breeds get used to a new poultry house for a very long time, sometimes even after a week they are panicky afraid to move away from it, then the Kuchinsky anniversary breed of chickens is extremely bold: young birds get used to the room after a few hours, calmly begin to go for a walk and look for food.

The main difference from common breeds is the fact that this bird almost never gives unpleasant surprises to its owner. So, laying hens lay eggs only in a strictly defined place, and do not scatter them all over the chicken coop; they always sleep on perches, without deforming the keel bones by spending the night on the floor. Of course, you will be required to provide them with these same perches.

By the way, what happens if a hen of the same Russian white breed decides to lay an egg in the same nest as her companion? There will be a serious brawl, during which the birds may well break both eggs. And the Kuchinsky anniversary breed of chickens is so peaceful that two laying hens can sit in one nest without making any attempts to peck each other.

When to deposit?

At about three months, we strongly advise you to remove all extra cockerels. The fact is that they simply interfere with the chickens to eat. If you add more food, then the birds will overeat, and this will have an extremely negative effect on the ability to lay eggs. As a result, you will get overfed hens that are not able to rush, and the same number of "lush" roosters,who will not be suitable as "landscapers".

If you grow them separately, then at the age of seven months, roosters can be slaughtered: their meat is soft and tender, and the skeleton is compact and thin enough. He althy hens can start laying as early as six months.

A little about egg-laying

The eggs of these chickens (as we have already said) are large, red in color, with a very strong and dense shell. There are references in the literature that one laying hen is capable of producing up to 180 eggs per year. In practice, an indicator of 220-240 pieces is more common. Important: in the first two molts, the Kuchinsky anniversary chickens (whose photos are in the article) continue to rush perfectly. Only at the age of two or three years, egg-laying stops at this time.

Even if the hens were "hatched" by an incubator, the maternal instinct in them is strong: more than half of the birds remain to incubate the eggs. Hens are extremely responsible, so periodically drive them off the eggs so that the hens do not forget to eat. Even in a cold spring, one hen can easily raise up to three dozen chickens, and in summer this figure can grow even more.

It is very important not to overfeed birds, especially closer to three years. Individuals grow fat extremely quickly, begin to rush badly. In addition, a case may begin due to diseases. So these chickens need to be fed without getting carried away with portion sizes.

Meat breeds of chickens

However, do not underestimate the meat breeds of chickens. With photos that are in ourarticle, you can get a general idea about them. What are the main differences between these birds? Firstly, they grow rapidly, and almost all the food consumed is spent on building muscle mass. Of course, some meat-bred hens can lay a relatively decent number of eggs per year, but still their volume is insignificant.

Their appearance is also quite easy to recognize. Chickens of meat breeds have a powerful chest, short legs and a general roughness of the exterior. Cochinchin chickens are very good. Their appearance is very remarkable: short and powerful legs, plumage, more like black wool. However, red-haired individuals are also often found. Chickens and cockerels grow very quickly, gaining a large amount of meat mass. Weighing 5-6 kg, great for growing broilers.

Brahma

This breed is an excellent example of how beautiful and productive birds can be turned into decorative toys. Once upon a time, Brahma cockerels reached a mass of 7 kilos in just six months! Unfortunately, the main selection (contrary to common sense) was only along the line of breeding beautiful birds. As a result, Brahma are still considered meat chickens, but their weight rarely exceeds 3-4 kilograms.

However, there is one positive feature: unlike other meat breeds, the chicken of this breed lays up to 120 eggs a year. They are large and have excellent taste. In addition to these two breeds, in our country there is practically no meat-oriented chickens. However, with egg breeds, the situation is farbetter.

Egg chickens

Russian White. One of the oldest selective lines, the breeding of which actually began at the end of the 18th century, but the breed was officially approved only in 1953. Hens and roosters are pure white with bright red combs. The constitution of the birds is rather dry, the legs are long. They begin to rush at the age of 160 days, about 200 eggs are laid per year.

Leggorn

Practically all egg breeds of chickens in our country were formed under the influence of these birds. The formation of the leggorns themselves took place several centuries in a row, in Italy. From there, over time, they moved to the United States, where the further formation of the breed took place. In 1925, birds were brought to our country.

The breed is good because laying hens lay 300 eggs a year. Birds weigh about 2 kg, they begin to rush at the age of only 140 days.

Loman Brown

Of course, the Brown chicken breed is not very common in our country, but every year these birds are becoming more and more popular. In fact, this is not even a breed in the classical sense of the word, but a cross. That is, they are obtained by crossing other varieties. At home, it is impossible to breed chickens with the desired characteristics in an incubator, and therefore you have to buy new individuals every time.

The characteristics of Browns are unique: their eggs are large, cream-colored, with a dense shell. During the productive period, the laying hen lays more than 330 eggs per year! Laying begins at approximately 140 days.

We hope that the description of chicken breeds given in our article will help you make the right choice.