are barred rocks a good dual purpose breed?

[itsasmallfarm]

hello everyone

right now am looking at getting some barred rock chickens in the spring, for dual purpose, keeping the hens and maybe one rooster and then butchering the rest of the males for meat. but how are they for raising them for meat and eggs. I never have raised a dual purpose breed as of yet. raised the Cornish cross meats and the leghorns for eggs. not sure if they are worth it. is there better dual purpose breeds?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I can make this as complicated as you wish, but the simple answer is that Barred Rocks are a good dual purpose breed. We all have our preferences, some people don’t like BR, some do, but you can get the same differences of opinions on any dual purpose breed. Some will say great, some will say horrible no matter which breed is mentioned.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

They'll be lanky. Plymouth Rock tend to grow the frame first then take a long time filling it out. A better breed for early butcher of males would be New Hampshire. If you are going to grow them out until roaster age then it really doesn't matter which dual purpose you get. Raising a bunch of cockerels to that age can be problematic. I prefer to cull early the ones that are obviously not future breeders to get the male numbers down.

For meat from dual purpose breeds you should not source your birds from hatcheries. They will not measure up. Find a local breeder or poultry show you can obtain standard bred stock from. If you are thinking of one breed to do it all, meat and eggs, then do your homework and pay the extra to get chicks or eggs shipped from a breeder.

 

[Winter Creek Coop]

I am almost always let down by the carcuss quality of most “dual purpose” breeds. That’s why I am trying the Black Broilers from Ideal Hatchery. They are a slower growing broiler. The hatchery says they are not great layers, but the reports from regular folks is that they lay like crazy.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I got fry pan bargain chicks. By 5 months old everyone had alot of meat. RIR most of all, But the BR was good also...

 

[Parront]

Rocks are good dual purpose birds. I have White Rocks and Barred Hollands. I ate a lot of little Barred Holland boys this past year, they were smaller than the Ideal White Rocks at the same age, and the barred birds have black pin feathers at the ~12 week age so I had to endure some crowing until 14 weeks old for easier plucking. I really like the calm nature of the Rocks -- Barred Hollands have the nice friendly personality we like for pet chickens the same as the Rocks. For meat, I would like the White Rocks based on pin feathers alone.

 

[Mosey2003]

If they're coming from a hatchery, most DP breeds are gonna be about the same really. I hear Cackle tends to have the best birds.

If you really want dual purpose and want to butcher them, you'll want to get started from a breeder. The New Hampshires are quite good, especially if you get from someone that's really good about carcass quality. My breeder Barred Rocks aren't bad, they butcher at about 3lbs at 16 weeks. It's something I want to improve upon.