Rhode Island Reds for meat birds

[chicken_lady_amanda]

I love my Rhode Island Reds as a breed--hardy for the cold Minnesota climate, friendly, good egg layers. So far I've only used them for eggs, but want to start breeding for meat this year. It's important to me to stick to heritage breeds, both for preservation and because I don't want to buy chicks or eggs every year. I enjoy hatching the chicks, and had good luck last year hatching my own, so want to continue that.

For those of you who raise them for meat, how long do they take to grow to ideal butchering size? How large can I expect them to get? How is the meat quality? Any tips for this breed that the general online articles are unlikely to include?

Thank you so much for any responses!

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

I'm sure others more experienced than I will be able to answer your whole question, but I just wanted to ask, where did you source your RIRs from? To my understanding, most hatchery RIRs are more bred for egg laying than meat, so if you got them from somewhere like TSC they might not get as meaty as you are wanting. However, I'm sure there are hatcheries that do have a true dual purpose. And there are for sure breeders who offer that.

 

[Mwhit]

I have a RR rooster about 2 years old now. He’s on the small side at 6.7 lbs. At 16 weeks he was only around 4lbs, and after that it took forever for him to gain weight. This is my limited experience with them. Keep in mind that when you butcher you should expect that your dressed weights will be roughly 3/4 what they are live. To me, it’s not cost efficient to have a bird that takes that long to get to weight.

If you’re looking to keep heritage breeds for meat , I’d highly recommend the Rhode Island’s chunky cousin, the New Hampshire Reds from freedom ranger. I just weighed my largest rooster and he’s 5 lbs 11oz at 10 weeks. The hens are in the 4lb range. They’re very hardy birds and super friendly as well.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Someone already mentioned the NH Reds from Freedom Ranger, which always get great reviews on here. These Deleware Enhanced Broilers from McMurray Hatchery have always caught my eye, although I don't know anyone who has tried them. Good reviews on the site though. I'm not trying to pull you away from the RIRs, but just wanted to give some other options I know of. I think some people also use Brahmas or Australorps (bred for true dual purpose, not egg laying), which are cold hardy as well.

I also found this. These are sold out but this sounds like the exact RIRs you are looking for! They are a true heritage type. Maybe they could be found elsewhere or you could call this hatchery to see when they will be back in stock.

I wish you luck and you should keep us updated if you can. I'm a future dual purpose flock dreamer (can't right now because we have a rooster restriction in our current city) and love hearing which types of birds do well for people.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Look at Niederrheiner. Large friendly birds. I butchers two 14 week cockerels that dressed 4-4.5 lbs—perfect for our needs. Hens get big and lay xl eggs consistently.
Don’t get from McM. pm me for more info.

 

[NatJ]

I enjoy hatching the chicks, and had good luck last year hatching my own, so want to continue that.

Did you butcher any of them last year?

Butchering a few cockerels at different ages can tell you a lot about how your birds produce, and about what you personally like. Weighing them at a variety of ages is also helpful, so you learn how those specific birds grow.

For those of you who raise them for meat, how long do they take to grow to ideal butchering size?

Ideal butchering size depends on who you ask. If you like them nice and tender for frying, you have to butcher them young, so they are somewhat small. If you want them bigger, you let them grow longer, but then they are not as tender, so you roast them, or if they are older yet you stew them. For each person, there is some balance point that is "best."

Chickens of any breed tend to grow fastest in the first few weeks, and get the best ratio of feed to meat gain. Then the rate of growth slows down as they get older, and eventually stops.

How large can I expect them to get?

Since you have a breeding flock of adults, start by weighing some of them. That is the maximum size they will reach if they grow up all the way. If you butcher them younger, they may be 1/2 of mature weight, or 3/4 of mature weight, or something like that.

Even within a single breed, some strains of chickens grow bigger and faster than others. So weighing your own chickens will be more accurate than getting weights from someone else's chickens.

And if your fully grown hens and rooster are not big enough for your purposes, their chicks probably will not be either, so you might want to try a different breed, or a different strain of the same breed.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What traits do you want in a meat bird? To you, what makes a good meat bird? Is it purely size? Do you have a preference for light meat or dark? How do you want to cook them, age at butcher can have a big influence on how you cook them. Early maturing might help with this. How will you feed them? Will you pen them and provide nothing but commercial feed (which commercial feed?) or will they be expected to forage for some of their food? Will they be housed with your layers. How important is feed to meat conversion? If you are buying their feed it could be very important, if they forage for a lot of their feed maybe not so much. Will you be eating only the boys or both boys and girls?

We all have different ideas for the "perfect" meat bird. For some people size is all important, but for some of us size is not the most important criteria. For some the cost to produce them is a top priority. I personally like to hatch and raise my own. Meat quality is very much a personal preference. That is tied to the age of the bird more than anything else. The older they are when you butcher, especially the boys, the more texture and flavor they have. Some of us like that flavor and texture, some hate it.

Something else already mentioned is that different strains of the same breed can vary dramatically in how well they lay or how big they grow. If the person selecting which chickens get to breed selects those chickens by how well the hens lay, fairly soon you will have a flock that lays better than one where the selection criteria is for meat production. If they select for hens that go broody then the flock will eventually contain more hens that go broody than otherwise.

How important is preservation to you and what does that mean? The Livestock Conservancy has come up with their definition of what heritage chickens means. To me, their definition combines raising them to be show quality plus certain ideals on how they should be raised. Some people are quite passionate about that definition but that ideal is very hard to achieve. For example, you can get RIR's from almost any hatchery and many people have flocks of RIR's. Many people raise RIR's for show, yet they fail at meeting this full heritage definition. While there are RIR's everywhere you turn the Livestock Conservancy considers them to be on the threatened list. If you plan to follow this definition you have your work cut out for you. One of the big reasons why there are only a small handful of "heritage" RIR flocks in the US is how hard it is. That's true for any heritage breed.

Here is a link to The Livestock Conservancy definition.

https://livestockconservancy.org/heritage-chicken-definition/

I don't want to discourage you. I think hatching and raising your own meat birds is a great goal. I really enjoy it. But I just can't answer your questions other than to say, it depends.

 

[Vata Raven]

According to the SOP book, a male RIR cock should be 8.5 pounds.

If you want that, you'd need to get them from a breeder vs a hatchery.

 

[chicken_lady_amanda]

What traits do you want in a meat bird? To you, what makes a good meat bird? Is it purely size? Do you have a preference for light meat or dark? How do you want to cook them, age at butcher can have a big influence on how you cook them. Early maturing might help with this. How will you feed them? Will you pen them and provide nothing but commercial feed (which commercial feed?) or will they be expected to forage for some of their food? Will they be housed with your layers. How important is feed to meat conversion? If you are buying their feed it could be very important, if they forage for a lot of their feed maybe not so much. Will you be eating only the boys or both boys and girls?

We all have different ideas for the "perfect" meat bird. For some people size is all important, but for some of us size is not the most important criteria. For some the cost to produce them is a top priority. I personally like to hatch and raise my own. Meat quality is very much a personal preference. That is tied to the age of the bird more than anything else. The older they are when you butcher, especially the boys, the more texture and flavor they have. Some of us like that flavor and texture, some hate it.

Something else already mentioned is that different strains of the same breed can vary dramatically in how well they lay or how big they grow. If the person selecting which chickens get to breed selects those chickens by how well the hens lay, fairly soon you will have a flock that lays better than one where the selection criteria is for meat production. If they select for hens that go broody then the flock will eventually contain more hens that go broody than otherwise.

How important is preservation to you and what does that mean? The Livestock Conservancy has come up with their definition of what heritage chickens means. To me, their definition combines raising them to be show quality plus certain ideals on how they should be raised. Some people are quite passionate about that definition but that ideal is very hard to achieve. For example, you can get RIR's from almost any hatchery and many people have flocks of RIR's. Many people raise RIR's for show, yet they fail at meeting this full heritage definition. While there are RIR's everywhere you turn the Livestock Conservancy considers them to be on the threatened list. If you plan to follow this definition you have your work cut out for you. One of the big reasons why there are only a small handful of "heritage" RIR flocks in the US is how hard it is. That's true for any heritage breed.

Here is a link to The Livestock Conservancy definition.

https://livestockconservancy.org/heritage-chicken-definition/

I don't want to discourage you. I think hatching and raising your own meat birds is a great goal. I really enjoy it. But I just can't answer your questions other than to say, it depends.

First, I love your response.

"It depends" is honestly exactly how I would respond if it was a topic that I know as much about as you clearly do about chickens. While I've done plenty of online research, I still feel like I don't know enough to even ask the right questions!

For a little background, we have only had chickens for the last couple years, and are just beginning to learn. Our goal is to have a self sustaining homestead, well, as self sustaining as is possible.

When it comes to heritage breeds, after reading your link, perhaps I should worry more about the rules surrounding that at a later date

I'd like to have up to half a dozen hens (who continue to lay somewhat over the brutal MN winter) and a rooster or two, then hatch and raise as many meat chickens as possible over the summer to butcher every fall. While I love my RIR's... After reading the comments on my post, I'm open to another friendly breed that is a better fit for our needs.

So far, we supply as much feed as they like, but free range as much as possible. We also give them leftover produce and stale bread products from our kitchen. They cluck so happily when we do, and for any chickens we have, I want them to live happy lives while they are with us!

I have use for chickens at all stages, for frying, slow cooking, soups and broth, making homemade dog food... I've never butchered my own, though friends of ours can help us with the butchering, and we have space between us to store as many chickens as we can raise. They've previously only butchered turkeys, though, so the details of raising chickens are new to them.

Thoughts?

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

First, I love your response.

"It depends" is honestly exactly how I would respond if it was a topic that I know as much about as you clearly do about chickens. While I've done plenty of online research, I still feel like I don't know enough to even ask the right questions!

For a little background, we have only had chickens for the last couple years, and are just beginning to learn. Our goal is to have a self sustaining homestead, well, as self sustaining as is possible.

When it comes to heritage breeds, after reading your link, perhaps I should worry more about the rules surrounding that at a later date

I'd like to have up to half a dozen hens (who continue to lay somewhat over the brutal MN winter) and a rooster or two, then hatch and raise as many meat chickens as possible over the summer to butcher every fall. While I love my RIR's... After reading the comments on my post, I'm open to another friendly breed that is a better fit for our needs.

So far, we supply as much feed as they like, but free range as much as possible. We also give them leftover produce and stale bread products from our kitchen. They cluck so happily when we do, and for any chickens we have, I want them to live happy lives while they are with us!

I have use for chickens at all stages, for frying, slow cooking, soups and broth, making homemade dog food... I've never butchered my own, though friends of ours can help us with the butchering, and we have space between us to store as many chickens as we can raise. They've previously only butchered turkeys, though, so the details of raising chickens are new to them.

Thoughts?

From what I'm gathering, since you say you just want to keep 6 hens and a couple roosters, then raise a big batch of meat birds every summer, I wonder if you might want to consider just getting a big batch of Cornish X or Red Rangers. That way you wouldn't even have to bother with roosters if you only want meat once a year anyway.

It is less "sustainable" though, as you have to buy the chicks each time. But they do usually get larger than dual purpose breeds and their feed conversion is usually better, so it may be more cost-efficient for you. It also seems you'd be wasting some really good laying hens by eating them before they get to lay eggs for you. In most dual-purpose flocks, the hens are usually kept until their laying slows. The roosters are eaten once they get to maturity.

But if that doesn't interest you, I think your plan is possible. You'd be working with a smaller gene pool than what I think most people with dual-purpose flocks have, and I think some hens would go to waste imo. But if that doesn't bother you, then I'd say go for it. I'm no expert though.

You said you're open to friendlier breeds. Maybe since you like the RIRs so much, the New Hampshires would be a good alternative. They are similar to the RIRs, but are supposed to be less aggressive (roosters).

I don't personally have a dual-purpose flock but I have raised broilers (Cornish X). So others who have dual purpose experience can weigh in on this too and probably be more helpful than me. Just wanted to give my thoughts. I wish you luck on your project!