Which would you choose for a Dual Purpose meat bird

I got pics on my profile if anyones curious.

SJ said:

I went Delaware roo over Buff Orp hens. The broodiness has been passed on. The F1's make great/amazing dual purpose birds.

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I'm interested in any weights you have on that cross. Were these hatchery birds or breeder stock? It's a good cross as the Orp would supply the larger frame and Delaware better meat on it. Traditionally the frame was provided by sire. For example the classic Plymouth Rock over New Hampshire cross in 50's meat industry. Sports from that exact cross is where the Delaware came from.

With first generation of crossing you experience "hybrid vigor" where the offspring can outsize either of the parent stock.

Egghead_Jr said:

I'm interested in any weights you have on that cross. Were these hatchery birds or breeder stock? It's a good cross as the Orp would supply the larger frame and Delaware better meat on it. Traditionally the frame was provided by sire. For example the classic Plymouth Rock over New Hampshire cross in 50's meat industry. Sports from that exact cross is where the Delaware came from.

With first generation of crossing you experience "hybrid vigor" where the offspring can outsize either of the parent stock.

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Originally all hatchery stock but improved conformation has occured. Theres blood from multiple pure lines in my Delawares and Orpingtons.Lets just say what I'm hatching now days are my own "line". Breeders...well I guess they would have to be. I have select for overall comformation and size. Size come second the better bird breeds. I have culled some big birds and breed the best to standard. Hybrid vigor only works if you have good pure stock to select from.

So in the case of the DelxOrp I am actually breeding for a Layer hen. It just happens to make for a good meat bird too. The breeder Delaware over the Orpington pullets. A pullet has to proof her laying qualities besides being of good comformation before pure stock is produced. The F1 DelxOrp pullet will lay as good as any other dual purpose brown layer pure or hybrid.

This fall 150 day weights averaged just shy of 7 3/4lbs with the biggest being 8 3/4 & smallest being 7lbs. Pastured and scratch grain. cracked corn, BOSS, & oats

The biggest cockerel of 2015 was actually a F2 SLWxDel(hen) X Delaware(roo) weighing in a 8.883 on the digital produce scale. He was a deep, wide bodied, heavy boned bird.

The F1 DelxOrp growth rate performance is compareable to the Black Jeresy Giants I raised this year. The giants I let them go for another 2 months. Probably didn't need the full two months but they all got over 8 lbs and produced a very meaty carcass. The additional time is needed for these bigger birds to really fill out but the F1 DelxOrp makes a decent meat (fryer) bird in around 14 weeks and better meat bird (roaster) around 21 weeks.

I have alot of old posts about previous years mixing the genes up. If your curious.

How long would it take for a Buff Orpington to fully mature? I have two Buff Orpingtons that I purchased in October and they are smaller than my Red Stars. My Barred Rocks and Jersey Giants are much bigger than the Buff Orpingtons. Is this typical?

There are actually several issues here. Red Star tells me nothing other than they should be red sex links. It’s just a marketing name; it does not define a breed or tell you anything about them other than the pullets should be red. They may be made by crossing two dual purpose breeds, a RIR or New Hampshire rooster over a White Rock, Delaware, or Silver Laced Wyandotte hen are typical. These will be the same size as dual purpose birds, just like their parents. Some Red Stars are based on the commercial egg laying hybrids and should be about the size of as a Leghorn. The term Red Star does not give a good scale, but I suspect yours are probably made by crossing two dual purpose birds.

You get a lot of encouragement on this forum to think that every chicken of a certain breed is identical in appearance, size, behavior, and productivity of every other chicken of that same breed. That is not even close to true. Each established flock is unique. Each hatchery has different people selecting the birds that get to breed. They all have different criteria, expertise, and personal preference. There is even more variation in what different breeders are breeding for and their levels of expertise. You can get quite a big difference in size, behavior, many things for Buff Orpingtons from one flock of purebred Buff Orpingtons to another flock of purebred Buff Orpingtons.

There is another issue. Even in the same flock you can get quite a bit of difference in size and maturity rate between individuals. Some just grow up faster than others, some grow bigger. Do you have enough of any of those for the averages to mean much?

According to Henderson’s Breed Chart a mature Buff Orpington hen (8 Pounds) should be bigger than a Barred Rock hen (7.5 pounds) by a half pound, a Jersey Giant hen (10 pounds) should be 2 pounds heavier but Jersey Giants mature slower. While yours are not mature, that general difference should in an ideal world be evident. But the reality is that you are not in an ideal world. Differences as you describe them are perfectly normal in the real world.

gatrapper said:

How long would it take for a Buff Orpington to fully mature? I have two Buff Orpingtons that I purchased in October and they are smaller than my Red Stars. My Barred Rocks and Jersey Giants are much bigger than the Buff Orpingtons. Is this typical?

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IME the BO is not as aggressive as these other breeds in confined feed models and therefore don't compete for feed as well as other breed if mixed with other breeds. If ample feeder space is given or pastured freely the BO is compareable to the Rock in growth rate. The giants will get bigger as they continue to grow. Red stars exhibit hybrid vigor (faster growth,ect) but lack uniformity so its had to say what is typical with them other than they should be excellent layers.