Meat birds and egg birds? or meat/egg birds?

[Desertprep]

I am curious...after reading my posts here, some people raise birds for meat only...some for eggs only....and some find a dual purpose bird. Why? Is the reasoning economic? time?

 

[NagemTX]

With dual if you keep a flock that replenishes its self your culls are better eating.

 

[nuthatched]

Meat birds such as Cornish cross are bred to put on meat to hit harvest weight in 3-4ish months. They don't typically live long enough to lay. Egg birds such as leghorns don't have a lot of meat as that energy gets put into eggs.
Dual purpose birds can be used for both, pullets for eggs, extra cocks for meat.

 

[Desertprep]

With dual if you keep a flock that replenishes its self your culls are better eating.

Can you tell me more please?

 

[NagemTX]

So an egg laying only flock that replenishes its self is going to produce lean birds. They will not yield much meat if you cull. Even when you cull young cockerells. Their main purpose is producing eggs.

A meat bird flock will have issues replenishing its self because they dont produce a lot of eggs or live long enough. As long as its not the cornish cross commercial bird they would probably reproduce enough and be able to live with out artificial restrictions for a family tho.

With dual you get both at a median. Not super large meat birds or crazy egg producers. You get something that might be more sustainable as a closed flock to put both eggs and meat on the table. Something a homesteader would want if we didn't have the convenience of large hatcheries and shipping.

It depends on your goals what you would want. Or if you look toward the future and see yourself being self sufficient and not relying on the conveniences we currently have.