So I have decided to do Black Australorps for meat birds I have a quick Question

[Mygirls20]

My husband and I love our egg laying chickens and and want to move over to meat birds. I have done research and have decided on the Australorps I was just wondering at what age (from hatch on) can we start to butcher? I have read a few things people say 8-10 weeks is that right or should I wait longer?

 

[my sunwolf]

Since an Australorp is a dual-purpose bird, not officially a meat bird, you can slaughter anytime. I prefer 16-20 weeks, as then the meat is still tender but flavorful and you have a good sized carcass (at these ages my Wyandottes were 3-5lbs dressed out). At 8 weeks an Australorp has barely hit 1lb, but the meat will be less strong tasting and more tender.

 

[Mygirls20]

Ok ya I thought that 8-10 weeks sounded a little young. I guess it will just be more of a learning on my feet thing. I think I am going with the right breed hopefully I am. I just need something that can really handle the cold (I live in the mountains in Colorado) I have one black Australorp right now and she handles the cold better then my other chickens plus she is super sweet and very gentle with my kids.

 

[my sunwolf]

Ok ya I thought that 8-10 weeks sounded a little young. I guess it will just be more of a learning on my feet thing. I think I am going with the right breed hopefully I am. I just need something that can really handle the cold (I live in the mountains in Colorado) I have one black Australorp right now and she handles the cold better then my other chickens plus she is super sweet and very gentle with my kids.

I think Australorps make great meat birds, very roundy with meat on their bones (rather than some that are long and skinny). If you were doing Cornish X broilers you would slaughter them at 6-9 weeks, and if you were doing black broilers you would slaughter at 7-10 weeks, but I would not call either of those hybrids "hardy"! Good luck with your chickens, I think you've made a good choice.

 

[Mygirls20]

Ya I also wanted chickens that would lay and have chicks I dont want to have to buy chicks all the time. Do you know how the roosters act? Are they really loud that was another one of my concerns I dont want a super noisy roster lol

 

[tater1961]

Started my first flock back in Sept. I got a stright run of BA from McMurry Hatchery. I processed the roos at 16 - 18 weeks, didn't have any scales but IMO they dressed out around 4 lbs. I'm in eastern KS and it got down to 4 degrees last night. The temp didn't phase them a bit. I kept 2 roos for my 14 hens for eggs and to self sustain. 1 roo started crowing about two weeks ago, and my second one a few days ago. Now the waiting game for eggs.
Here are a few pics

 

[Mygirls20]

I love them they are so pretty with the green on their feathers great pics!!! Is your rooster super noisy though? I think my husband would get pretty angry with a rooster that is constantly crowing lol

 

[4-H chicken mom]

Hi and from Ohio. So glad to have you aboard. Yep they crow a lot.

 

[missnu01]

Especially if there is more than one rooster...then they will crow match throughout the day...they crow at everything...Time to get up, leave us alone, who's in the driveway?, what was that noise?, Stop looking at me, that's mine, time for bed...so on and so forth..So any roosters are noisy, no breed has a quiet rooster. If you liked you could get all hens and then find an older rooster..As long as he is the only one...I used to have just one old rooster, and he would crow a couple times in the mornings, and then silent all day...But then I got a silkie rooster, and man oh man are they hilarious. Tiny rooster trying to out do the huge rooster. Tickles me...but I live in the country, and our neighbor's dogs bark all the time, so what the hey? We are just going to order the Jumbo cornish from murray mcmurray and then eat any plump roosters that appear in the laying flock...and that should do us.

 

[Mygirls20]

lol ya I figured you can never get men to shut up and prove how big they are HAHAHA what kind of pups are those missnu01? They are so cute almost look like pit pups Ya all we hear is our neighbors dogs barking so if they complain about my chickens I will complain about their dogs lol