Has anyone here mixed the genetics of meat birds with layers?

[Mama Rachel]

We butchered some roosters we had and they had basically zero fat. Fully free range, so maybe that's the reason, but they were cochin / olive egger mix.
We were thinking maybe we should introduce a meat bird rooster with the layers since we don't want to have a completely separate flock of just meat birds.
Has anyone done this and what were the results with the meat? The chicks raised up from them will be exclusively meat birds for us.
Would it just be best to have a meat bird flock?

 

[Molpet]

I kept a CX pullet in 2016. Put some of her eggs under a broody that fall. hatched one pullet who laid double yolk. Used 2 of 3 cockerels for breeding. Most of my flock are out of them. Most Cockerels dress out over 5lbs at 16 wks.

 

[Molpet]

A guy inspired me to try. He's no longer on Byc or has poultry.
Thread 'Toad Raising.' https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/toad-raising.1152440/

 

[Ridgerunner]

We butchered some roosters we had and they had basically zero fat. Fully free range, so maybe that's the reason, but they were cochin / olive egger mix.

Before a pullet or hen starts to lay she builds up a lot of extra fat. Most of this is in a fat pad in the pelvic region but you can get some fat on organs and in the body cavity. The cockerels and roosters don't do that. I've butchered enough pullets, hens, cockerels, and roosters to see a tremendous difference. I suspect this is one reason they were low in fat.

How did you feed them? If they mostly forage for their food or you don't use a pretty high protein feed they won't be as fat. With the exercise they get, especially active cockerels, they are not going to get very fat either. I suspect it is a combination.

We were thinking maybe we should introduce a meat bird rooster with the layers since we don't want to have a completely separate flock of just meat birds.
Has anyone done this and what were the results with the meat? The chicks raised up from them will be exclusively meat birds for us.
Would it just be best to have a meat bird flock?

A very common dilemma. How do you improve a flock for meat. People try a lot of different ways. As Molpet did, some keep CX to cross. That's hard because they want to eat themselves to death. It works better if you can restrict their feed which is hard if they are with the regular flock. People are generally more successful if they try to keep pullets, not cockerels.

Others try this with Rangers. Rangers don't grow as fast as CX so they are easier but they can still have their issues. And it is again usually more successful to keep pullets instead of a cockerel. If I were to try this it is the way I'd go.

Others use selective breeding with dual purpose breeds to gradually improve the meat bird qualities. It's the route I chose. You can get some results in a few generations but it won't be as dramatic as using a CX or Ranger. I did it by selecting a new rooster every year to keep improving the offspring.

 

[Geena]

In my experience meat bird roosters are really hard on hens. They are big, bulky and lacking in breeding finesse.
If you want to breed your own meat birds I would pick and follow one of @Ridgerunner plans above.
I have been breeding my own meat mutts for years now. Although it's worked out well for us and I very much enjoy the breeding aspect of it, I've found it's actually a lot more work and more expensive than just buying broiler chicks each year.

Here's some of my broiler crosses. They are pretty hefty

 

[Mama Rachel]

Before a pullet or hen starts to lay she builds up a lot of extra fat. Most of this is in a fat pad in the pelvic region but you can get some fat on organs and in the body cavity. The cockerels and roosters don't do that. I've butchered enough pullets, hens, cockerels, and roosters to see a tremendous difference. I suspect this is one reason they were low in fat.

How did you feed them? If they mostly forage for their food or you don't use a pretty high protein feed they won't be as fat. With the exercise they get, especially active cockerels, they are not going to get very fat either. I suspect it is a combination.


A very common dilemma. How do you improve a flock for meat. People try a lot of different ways. As Molpet did, some keep CX to cross. That's hard because they want to eat themselves to death. It works better if you can restrict their feed which is hard if they are with the regular flock. People are generally more successful if they try to keep pullets, not cockerels.

Others try this with Rangers. Rangers don't grow as fast as CX so they are easier but they can still have their issues. And it is again usually more successful to keep pullets instead of a cockerel. If I were to try this it is the way I'd go.

Others use selective breeding with dual purpose breeds to gradually improve the meat bird qualities. It's the route I chose. You can get some results in a few generations but it won't be as dramatic as using a CX or Ranger. I did it by selecting a new rooster every year to keep improving the offspring.

Thank you for all of the info. I hadn't thought about the fat situation with hens vs roosters. We feed them all layer feed because they were raised by an egg layer and we kept them within the egg laying flock. Once we found out we had several roosters, we just decided we should eat them.
We have been interested in Rangers. The roosters were from a cochin and olive egger.
What breeds have you used for your selective breeding?

 

[Mama Rachel]

I kept a CX pullet in 2016. Put some of her eggs under a broody that fall. hatched one pullet who laid double yolk. Used 2 of 3 cockerels for breeding. Most of my flock are out of them. Most Cockerels dress out over 5lbs at 16 wks.

what breed have you bred the CX with?

 

[Ridgerunner]

What breeds have you used for your selective breeding?

It's been pretty random and I don't recommend any specific breed over another. And my goals changed. In addition to meat I wanted green eggs, hens that often went broody, and certain colors/patterns. The breeds involved were Speckled Sussex, Buff Orpington, Black Australorp, Delaware, Buff Rock, and Ameraucana to get the green eggs. The Ameraucana were smaller than I'd have liked but I figure I overcame that in a couple of generations.

The more goals you have the more challenging it is. If my only goal had been meat I'd have used only one or two breeds and been careful where I got my starting stock, from breeders specializing in meat birds instead of egg laying and certainly not hatchery stock. But even hatchery stock can be improved by selective breeding.

 

[Molpet]

what breed have you bred the CX with?

The CX pullet was bred to a random roo off FB. The sons were bred to barred rock, black jersey giants and a buff Orpington. The original CX pullet quit laying in September and never started again before she died at around a year.
2 of the original sons died at 18 months and 2 years. The 3rd son my hens didn't like so I butchered at 2 and half years.
The black jersey giants offspring took longer to grow out than the barred rock. All These offsprings started dieing at 18 months, heart problems

A couple years later I got a lavender Orpington rooster in the mix. He didn't help with size or growth rate, but they lived longer.
Then a standard dark Cornish rooster, which gives a nice breast and a healthy bird. Also doesn't help with growth rate.

I recommend using breeder quality barred rock and standard Cornish if you can find them.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I have a few sons from an Asian Black male (massive breed) over naked necks and a Calico Princess (commercial sexlink). 1 is almost as large as dad, 1 is scrawny and 1 is medium out if the NN hen, and the Calico Mix is about medium as well.