are barred rocks meat birds?

[petrelline]

Quote:
I use a flap of skin to hold the legs. When I evisterate I cut horizontally above the vent, pull out the guts and clean, and then make another horizontal cut in the flap of skin just below the point of the keel bone. Then I push the legs as far foreward as I can and tuck them into that second cut. The skin holds them down. I got this idea from Joel Salatin's videos on youtube.

It works for rocks and orps because they have thick skins, but not for thinner skinned birds. Buckeye legs popped right through the flap of skin. For those birds I cross the legs and use a good tight truss with butcher's twine.

 

[Country Living Farm]

Quote:
I use a flap of skin to hold the legs. When I evisterate I cut horizontally above the vent, pull out the guts and clean, and then make another horizontal cut in the flap of skin just below the point of the keel bone. Then I push the legs as far foreward as I can and tuck them into that second cut. The skin holds them down. I got this idea from Joel Salatin's videos on youtube.

It works for rocks and orps because they have thick skins, but not for thinner skinned birds. Buckeye legs popped right through the flap of skin. For those birds I cross the legs and use a good tight truss with butcher's twine.

do you have a pick by chance? I can not draw the picture mentually. I am having brain problems today.

 

[petrelline]

I don't have a picture, not even a photo of a processed bird (I wish I did). But if you look at this youtube tutorial of Joel Salatin, you can see at the very very beginning (in the first 15 seconds) a guy on the left in an orange hat making the slit in the skin just below the point of the keel bone. You'd tuck the legs into that slit from the outside, so the flap of skin holds down the legs.

Then if you watch this video you can see Daniel Salatin piecing chickens that already have the legs tucked into the flap of skin. He moves kind of fast so it's tough to catch, but every chicken has it.

 

[chickensNpoodles]

They must make pretty good meat birds cause I just sold a guy 2 dozen BR rooster chicks (6 weeks old). He said every year he raises a flock of roos and then butchers them out. He said they make excellent meat birds. I am not willing to find out cause I just can't do the processing or eat a chicken that I have named and fed goodies to.

 

[Jeremy Parker]

Quote:
I don't want to sound disrespectful to you, but what you feeding your barred rock roos to only be that size

Mine make it to about 6 lbs at 16 weeks dressed! (The hens are about 4 to 5 lbs dressed)

They are a great meat bird and the best eggs you will every eat my family has now raised them for 3 generations.

I was an outcast because I tried the rockX birds not wanted to wait for the 16weeks to send them to freezer camp!
I'm now raising Barred's better tasting meat!

My two cents!

Blessings,
Jeremy

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
I don't do BR but other dual purpose birds, Sussex among them. Sussex eggs are brown, not white. You might want to change your chart.

I don't weight my birds when I process them, but I am sure I am not achieving the heavier weights. I am not feeding them the high-powered meat bird diet. Since I want some of them to be layers, I use the recommended layer development diet with about 15% to 16% protein. They free range too, which means they are not eating only the higher powered feeds but are partially filling up on grass and other less high protein foods. How you feed them does make a big difference in weight gain.

Not all birds of a breed are the same. Different parentage will develop birds with different characteristics. Some BR (or any other) lines will grow bigger and faster than others. Both how you feed them and parentage plays into how fast they grow. If your goal is meat birds, then you might want to look into their diet, but if you want dual purpose birds, you might want a dual purpose diet.

 

[chickenhearted 87]

Quote:
I don't want to sound disrespectful to you, but what you feeding your barred rock roos to only be that size

Mine make it to about 6 lbs at 16 weeks dressed! (The hens are about 4 to 5 lbs dressed)

They are a great meat bird and the best eggs you will every eat my family has now raised them for 3 generations.

I was an outcast because I tried the rockX birds not wanted to wait for the 16weeks to send them to freezer camp!
I'm now raising Barred's better tasting meat!

My two cents!

Blessings,
Jeremy

I am raising Delawares and some mixed Barred Rock/Delaware, Jersey Giant/Barred Rock for meat. I am interested in what you are feeding your birds to gain that weight at 16 weeks. By the way, I find the Barred Rocks to be extremely friendly docile birds and great egg layers.

 

[petrelline]

Quote:
6lbs! Wow! What are you feeding them?

Mine are plain hatchery BRs, fed a combination of 20% broiler and 24% game bird. I raise them free range on pasture in electronet. If I confined them I'm sure I could get better weights, but I won't do that. I'm raising real chickens and not broilers so they can be chickens.

I'm also pretty sure I could do better if I started with better stock. Where do you get your birds?

Seriously, please post your methods, you're doing far better than most of us who've talked about raising DP chickens for meat here.

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
6lbs! Wow! What are you feeding them?

Mine are plain hatchery BRs, fed a combination of 20% broiler and 24% game bird. I raise them free range on pasture in electronet. If I confined them I'm sure I could get better weights, but I won't do that. I'm raising real chickens and not broilers so they can be chickens.

I'm also pretty sure I could do better if I started with better stock. Where do you get your birds?

Seriously, please post your methods, you're doing far better than most of us who've talked about raising DP chickens for meat here.

Ditto!

I raised some white rocks that I got from MMH, they were downright pitiful. The line they come from matters a lot. If you get some good quality breeder stock to start, you'll usually get bigger birds. But most of my DP's get to a pretty good size. The mixes I'm working on have both dark Cornish and Brahma.

By all means, please, share your source.

 

[Jeremy Parker]

Its family stock we have been raising this type of bird a long time my grandma started it in 1920!

Don't know were she got her birds but we get chicks every year and part of the deal with the family we all kick in eggs for more stock for family only!

We just use chick starter and grower like everyone else nothing special!

Guess I'm starting to realize how valuable my gradma starting this was we have a good blood line of birds

Blessings,
Jeremy