Your experience with "dual purpose" birds

[mstricer]

Quote:
Don't your roosters fight in one pen. I have mine in one pen. Only 6 in an 8X8 pen and I thought they were going to kill one another. I put them on 27 % poultry feed I get from Meyers hatchery. They are now going to a good enough size to cull. I have one Black Jersey one jersey/orp. an EE and 2 Marans and Faverolle.

 

[Chickanmanfromarkansas]

mstricer Wrote
Don't your roosters fight in one pen. I have mine in one pen. Only 6 in an 8X8 pen and I thought they were going to kill one another. I put them on 27 % poultry feed I get from Meyers hatchery. They are now going to a good enough size to cull. I have one Black Jersey one jersey/orp. an EE and 2 Marans and Faverolle.

Not too much. They pretty much grew up together in the same brooder and out of the brroder pens. There were a few form other pens but we put them all in together at the same time so they had to learn their own pecking order. although there were some Lakenvelder and Polish roosters that were picked on pretty heavy so they got turned out to roam. We in the process of getting them put back up because they are eating the tomatoes out of the garden.​

 

[atimme]

Mine fought a lot as well when confined, just "feeling their oats" as my dad said. I let them run loose and then processed them when they looked big enough.

 

[petrelline]

I raised both barred rock roos and buckeye roos all in one pen (at seperate times) and they were fine. They do spar a lot, and there's a bunch of competitive crowing in the morning, but no actual fighting. The BRs were slaughtered at 16 weeks and the buckeyes at 18 -- still too young to really be a problem.

 

[cjdmashley]

we are raising dual purpose and meaties (meaties are only 3 wks) The first home-raised chicken I ever had was one of our buff orpington and a RIR rooster that, after 2 days in the fridge, were the best chicken I've ever had. love the orpingtons because they are HUGE birds and are beautiful to look at. RIR's are beautiful too just not as much meat. They have started to lay so we'll be leaving the rest of them alone but are thinking of trying a couple of barred rocks (way too many roos in the coop)