Anyone ever eat a barred rock? How about a buff orpington?

[cupman]

I have 12 chickens and 7 different breeds. My barred rock rooster is gigantic, the hen is also very big. The only other bird comparable to size is my buff. All birds are roughly 15 weeks, or maybe 16? I am losing count. These 2 breeds are considerably bigger so I was debating on possibly raising some for meat. Anyone ever eat those breeds? How did they turn out? I am still weighing in all the options so no final decision yet, probably wouldn't be until next spring that I began hatching some. Dorking sounds neat too.

 

[Amyh]

I have not, but I hear they taste like chicken.

I crack myself UP!! haha!

 

[bullpup95]

Both are dual-purpose so I would imagine they would be pretty decent, but that'll depend on what your feeding them.

 

[Britt417]

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HAHA!

 

[remadl700]

I have both breeds and use for dual purpose of meat and laying. The buff's laying ability is very good and they are great mothers. For a dual purpose it's hard to beat those two breeds. Just realize that they take about 4.5 to 6 months to get to a nice butcher size depending on feed, living conditions and time of year vs the Cornish x at 8-9 weeks.

 

[emptynester]

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[redsoxs]

I gave a barred rock the beer can chicken treatment on the grill last night - he was superb!

 

[sunnyvera]

We ate a Silver Wyandotte cross rooster, very delicious soup broth. Nice and rich.
They are about the size of the breeds you are talking about.

 

[bwmichaud]

I've raised Buff Orpingtons for meat and they are very good. like any DP breeds, the breast is modest compared to a true meat bird but i feel that the flavor is better. You can easily get Buffs between 4 and 5 pounds dressed in 16-20 weeks. I'm trying the White Rocks this year and they seem to be much larger than the Barred Rocks and Buff Orpingtons. I just can't believe how big they are getting.

 

[beanmcnulty]

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I second on BOs, I took some at 18 weeks and they are very nice size (wanted to do 16 weeks but got delayed), the breast is small but the legs and thighs are long and big, like small turkeys legs. Very dark meat on those but i like dark meat I have one of my cockerels (I kept him) that was 5 pounds at 12 weeks- he was head and shoulders above the others though. So it is possible to get them at a youngish harvest age!