To get fast dietary meat, poultry breeders breed broilers. One of the best meat hybrids is considered a cross called Cobb-700. Characteristics and nuances of the breed content will be discussed in this article.
Selection
Cross Cobb-700 is a hybrid line, obtained by crossing similar breeds according to genetic characteristics. Authorship belongs to the world leader in the poultry industry, the company "COBB-Vantress", which has more than a century of history.
The British company cooperates with leading institutions and breeders of the world. When creating Cobb, such breeds as Plymouth, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Cornish and others were used.
Did you know? The symbol of the state of Delaware, USA, is a blue breed rooster.
External features and physique
Broilers chickens are distinguished by a massive body, their breasts are especially wide. Cobb has a strong, long neck, straight back, short, upturned tail. The wings of the bird are tightly pressed to the body, in relation to it are disproportionately small, the paws are powerful, non-feathering.
We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the best breeds of broilers, as well as learn how to properly feed and feed them, how to grow the Hubbard broiler breed (Isa F-15), the broiler crosses ROSS-708 and ROSS-308.
The straight comb, earrings and leathery area around the eyes are bright red, the eyes are yellow, the beak is strong, slightly curved. Chickens have yellow plumage, which with the growth becomes snow-white. Interspersing other colors in color is a reason for culling an individual.
Productivity
The productivity of the breed is estimated in two directions: meat and egg. The main for the Cobb-700 is considered meat, but the cross-country breeds also cope with egg production.
Precocity and taste of meat
At the age of one and a half months, broilers can be slaughtered, their weight at this point is 2.5 kg in females, 3 kg in roosters. Experienced breeders prefer to wait for the peak weight gain, which falls on the age of 2.5 months: the weight of the rooster at this time - from 5 kg, chicken - from 4 kg. There are such taste characteristics of meat: juicy, soft, with a pleasant yellow skin.
Egg production
Sexual maturity of females begins at the age of six months. The average weight of the first eggs is 52 grams, later, as the hen grows, the egg reaches 70 grams of weight.
Learn more about how to increase egg production in chickens in winter.
The productivity of the hen lasts up to two years, for this it is transferred to grain nutrition. Chicken will sweep about once every three to four days.
Egg Incubation
Eggs from Cobb's parents will not give offspring with the same characteristics, since the breed is hybrid. For breeding, they take eggs at poultry farms and breed them in an incubator: chickens do not have maternal instinct, laying eggs does not make sense.
You will probably be interested to get acquainted with the rules of chick breeding using an incubator, as well as learn how to choose the incubator for the house and how to lay the eggs in the incubator.
Purchased from serious manufacturers, certified eggs have already passed all stages of rejection, each has a seal of quality on the shell. Before the incubator, the material is placed in a kind of storage with a temperature content of 25 degrees Celsius.
Then put in an incubator where the air temperature is 37 degrees. The subsequent stages are carried out in accordance with the operating conditions of the model of the incubation device. You need to carefully monitor the parameters, turn the eggs.
Video: incubating chicken eggs After hatching, the babies are allowed to dry out at a temperature of 33-35 degrees, then sent to an equipped box for further maintenance. The temperature of the content as they grow decreases.
Feeding ration
To bring out broilers, you should purchase production fodder, designed specifically for the needs and characteristics of meat breeds. For feeding without compound feeds, special knowledge, special additives, mixes, calculation of the balance of all nutrients are needed.
Industrial feed for broilers give the following scheme:
- up to ten days - starting;
- up to 22 days - growth;
- before slaughter - finish.
We advise you to read about how to feed broiler chickens correctly, how and when to feed nettles to chickens for broilers, and also why broilers chickens die and how to treat infectious and non-infectious diseases of broilers.
Important! Birds must have constant access to water, fresh and clean, as the need to quench their thirst is high.
Content Features
Broiler breeds do not need walking, their content is limited to a cage or a house with litter.
In the house
The bird house must meet the norms of the density of the population of the bird - 12 individuals per square meter. A few days before the poultry settlement, the room undergoes a complete disinfection volume, a deep bedding of sawdust and straw is laid. It should be dry and loose.
It will be useful for you to read about how to choose a chicken coop when buying, how to make a chicken coop and an aviary for chickens with your own hands, how to equip a chicken coop for the winter, and also how to make ventilation in a chicken coop.
The temperature of the content under the condition of measurement on the litter should not be below 27 degrees, from one month to slaughter - 14 degrees. Humidity from the first days of 65%, after successful adaptation rises to 70%. The room must be ventilated, musty air is an ideal breeding ground for bacteria. The first two weeks of chickens kept around the clock in the light, at two weeks of age, reduce daylight hours to eighteen hours.
In cages
Temperature conditions and humidity at the cellular content remain the same as in the house.
Read the instructions for making a cage for broilers with your own hands, as well as the pros and cons of keeping chickens in cages.
Cells allow you to save space, because they can be arranged in tiers, save on litter material. The density of a single cell with a floor size of 0.5 m2 will be ten individuals.
Important! The advantages of cell content are cleaner conditions for sanitation, the disadvantage is that it is necessary to maintain the same temperature in all tiers: the lower and the upper.
Cobb 700 difference from Cobb 500
The characteristics of both crosses are almost identical, but some differences are still present:
Characteristic | Cobb-500 | Cobb 700 |
Structure | Larger legs | Wider breast |
Weight in 1.5 months | 2.5 kg | 3 kg |
Puberty | Six months | Seven months |
Feeding | Maybe any | Recommended by industrial feed |
Find out what should be included in the veterinary first aid kit for broiler chickens.
Pros and cons of cross
Among the advantages of cross:
- high meat productivity;
- tender taste of meat;
- the rapid growth of chickens;
- a large percentage of young animals survival;
- unpretentious content.
The downside is the difficulty of acquiring eggs for breeding. Cobb-700 crosses can be grown not only in a poultry farm or a large farm, these chickens feel great in small households.
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The only thing that is desirable to take into account when growing - they need industrial, balanced feed, then the growth and productivity of the breed will manifest itself in full force.