Why are my Buff Orpingtons so scrawny at 16 weeks?

[JacksFarmNGardn]

I've butchered barred rock, marans, and easter egger/marans cross cockerels, generally around 12-13 weeks. All except one runt have been between 3 and 3.5 pounds by that age, after butchering. I got eggs or chicks of all these birds locally. I'm not sure where they got the birds, but you could probably do better than these numbers if you get birds from people who are actually breeding for meat. If I were you and wanted to breed my own meat birds, I would buy birds from a breeder who is breeding for meat. I hear there are some nice white Rocks for this purpose... maybe someone else can comment further.

As for the feed, I agree that the protein level looks ok, but layer feed typically contains high levels of calcium, and that will damage the kidneys of young birds or birds that aren't laying. You mention that other food is available, but only in a crumble, which they waste. You might consider a feeder like this one:

http://www.instructables.com/id/PVC-Chicken-Feeder/

In my experience, there has been *no* waste at all, using this type of feeder. I will caution you though that if you have birds with very large combs that stand straight up, those birds may not be able to get their heads in. This type of feeder works perfectly for all of my hens, but I have a marans rooster with a huge comb who can't get his head in these. So just make sure that your biggest-combed birds can get their heads in, if you do try this type of feeder.

This was my last resort before switching to pellets, which I really didn't want to do. I got them off layer, and on a higher protein. They were wasting more even in a hanging feeder. I had to trim that clear lip i added, as my orp roo has a giant comb and was scraping it, but now that its trimmed, he can fit better. So far no mess!!

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

Scrawny Buff Orpingtons has nothing to do with the feed but rather genetics. The current hatchery Buff Orpingtons and other "Dual Purpose" breeds are no longer selected for dual purpose rather they are selected for egg laying, somewhat.

 

[illinoishiker]

I know this thread is old but I am now raising Buffs for the freezer and have raised Freedom Rangers in the past. I am trying to come up with a meat bird I can raise at home. And I like the idea of heritage birds. I think they are healthier. The FR worked well enough for meat birds but I didn't like the way they had trouble getting around. Just so unnatural. About feeding your birds -- I'm feeding mine Meat Bird pellets. They were on medicated feed for several weeks and then switched to the pellets when ready for those. You only feed layer food to layers. It makes for a lean bird for one thing and it has too much calcium for any non laying bird. I use All Flock because I feed roosters, guineas, and non laying birds as well as layers. I provide oyster shell in a hanging feeder inside the coop. It will 'melt' in rain. The Buffs are getting around 5 lb now. This is my first experience with them. I don't fry chicken. They will be used for soups, casseroles, etc. I did prepare an EE roo (got mean with my other roo) about 22 weeks old last year in the crock pot. He was very tasty. Made chicken salad with the white meat and the dark meat for soup. So I think these roos will be very good at about 20 to 22 weeks.

 

[HomesteadNowhere]

Give them grit. You wouldn't digest well if you couldn't chew your food either. Chickens need grit like we need teeth.

I can't say much on the rest as I'm not real up on all the breeds exactly and have only had a few myself. Egg laying breeds have been bred for birds that put feed into egg laying... So that's what they do... Meat birds have been bred for birds that put feed into meat... So they do... Overall hatcheries don't do great at keeping their very large flocks to the same standard as you read in the breed blurb. They need to raise lots of birds and hatch lots of chicks... So they do!

I'm experimenting with some breeding myself for a flock that is fairly dual purpose, but more on the meat side. Dual purpose just means they don't excel at egg or meat production and do both good enough. It's up to individuals to find the birds that are the right kind of 'good enough' for their needs. I'm doing cross breeding to start a line of chickens that do the best for me. I have a thread, feel free to have a look. I'm getting eggs now and hope to start hatching in early spring. And am barely restraining myself from hatching some now!

You can breed for the traits that you want. Only hatch eggs from the very best hens and very best roos of the traits you want to proliferate. You may also be interested in getting some more chicks for meatier cockerels to use on your existing buff orps. I'm going to get some New hampshires from freedom ranger hatchery next year (henry noll line) because they are known to be pure line and well on the meat side. Something like that might do well over your hens to produce hybrid crosses to butcher.

 

[HomesteadNowhere]

I know this thread is old but I am now raising Buffs for the freezer and have raised Freedom Rangers in the past. I am trying to come up with a meat bird I can raise at home. And I like the idea of heritage birds. I think they are healthier. The FR worked well enough for meat birds but I didn't like the way they had trouble getting around. Just so unnatural. About feeding your birds -- I'm feeding mine Meat Bird pellets. They were on medicated feed for several weeks and then switched to the pellets when ready for those. You only feed layer food to layers. It makes for a lean bird for one thing and it has too much calcium for any non laying bird. I use All Flock because I feed roosters, guineas, and non laying birds as well as layers. I provide oyster shell in a hanging feeder inside the coop. It will 'melt' in rain. The Buffs are getting around 5 lb now. This is my first experience with them. I don't fry chicken. They will be used for soups, casseroles, etc. I did prepare an EE roo (got mean with my other roo) about 22 weeks old last year in the crock pot. He was very tasty. Made chicken salad with the white meat and the dark meat for soup. So I think these roos will be very good at about 20 to 22 weeks.

Oops! I didn't notice it was an older thread until I posted and saw this! But hopefully it helps you since you bumped this up.

You had problems with freedom rangers getting around? Huh. I got 25 and they're doing great. I got straight run and butchered most of the cockerels already but there is a few left. I kept the hens for my breeding experiments. They are doing great. I did restrict their feed though. I didn't load them up on feed to get them as big, as fast as possible. If I would do again I'd see if I could get marked sexed ones and raise the males for butcher faster and then restrict feed the females like I did these.
I'm getting eggs now and at least some are from the FR pullets. And the FR cockerels are doing lots of breeding and running around, they are quite healthy.

 

[Cluckaflucker]

Hello, I am new to BYC, raising chickens, and farming.

We have only raised one flock of chickens so far. Last spring we raised 10 Red Rangers that we bought from Tractor Supply when they were 10 days old. We bought them in March and slaughtered them at 11 weeks. We were very pleased with the quality and quantity of the meat they provided...especially considering how young the birds were.

We then bought our second flock in September. This time we decided to buy Buff Orpingtons because I heard they were supposed to be great mothers. We learned that raising baby chicks took a lot of attention, and we are hoping that mother hens could take care of some of that for us. So, in September we bought a straight-run of 50 day-old chicks from Stromberg's. We lost 3 in the first week, but then raised the remaining 47 until early January when we harvested 12 of the smallest roosters (at 16 weeks old). After harvesting these 12, we are now left with 6 roosters and 29 hens.

SORRY FOR THE LONG BACKGROUND INFO...HERE ARE MY ISSUES/QUESTIONS:
The Buff Orpingtons seemed MUCH smaller than the Red Rangers. The 11-week old Red Rangers were not only bigger/heavier (4-4.5 lbs cook weight) than the 16 week-old Buff Orpingtons (3 lbs cook weight), but the Orpingtons had almost no breasts compared to the Red Rangers.

What do you think is the issue? Do Orpingtons just grow that much slower than the Red Rangers? We also fed the Red Rangers a different feed than the Orps. The Rangers spent most of their lives eating the grower/starter crumble feed from Tractor Supply. We started the Orps on that, but then switched over to a Laying Mash feed (pellets) from our local mill at around 10 weeks. I tried to upload a picture of the tag from the local feed, but it didn't take. I know the feed is 20% protein. Also, we didn't give the Rangers any grit at all, and we give our Orps very little. Maybe I should be giving them more grit.

Any ideas are greatly appreciated.
Ted

When it comes to buff orpingtons When it comes to buff orpingtons they are not ready for slaughter till 22 weeks Is in the best way to tell if an orpington is ready for slaughter when you pick it up feel the breast area if it is nicely formed it is ready for slaughter

 

[CNJ]

My buff roosters reach 5 lbs at 5 months, but hens were bony, I tried frying the rooster with batter, the meat was tough.