Are Brahmas (sp??) meat birds?

[Abirdbrain]

I read the first part of this thread, and I get the impression most people are fixated on feed conversion of x-rocks and the expense blah-blah- of feeding birds. Are you raising caged birds? Or do they roam. If they roam it cuts the feed bill considerably, but total range raised is slow going, and predation loss is a headache , at least here.

I have feather footed birds, and Brahmas and Orpintons are my favorites and grow quite large. I like the rarer breeds and Homestead strains. They provide a bunch of winter meat for us. Very slow to egg for us tho. We have Reds and Cinamins that do much better. Most held in tractor coops that have about a dozen birds each, that eliminate predation, but also free food available. I does't atter what they eat, if they disapear before you can harvest them.

I am putting a tin roof on a 8x16 barn that will be winter quarters for the groups that are left this fall.

Peace in your travels.

 

[yomama]

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Good reason to find out if one's roo is a meat bird!

 

[LilyD]

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Lily,

I'd love for you to keep us updated on this as you process some. What color and size eggs do the Brahmas lay?

They lay a medium brown egg. They don't lay as well as the hatchery layers do but they still do well enough to keep me in eggs. They also don't seem very detered by the winter climate here and will lay longer than my hatchery birds will into the colder winter months.

I would definitely recommend having breeder over hatchery and I would make sure that the breeder is breeding for Dual Purpose goals to get the best quality. I have both and I can honestly say that the girls I have from a hatchery are not nearly as meaty in the breast as the one ones that I have bought from a breeder. I will be hatching out more babies come spring and supplementing the girls that I have in the coop with some new girls. The boy I chose is a beatiful boy and I can say that he feels very breasty. His legs and thighs are huge as well.

I had gotten some older Brahma cockerels earlier in the year that people didn't want and processed them and they tasted really good. Wish I had known and taken pictures of them because they dressed out beautiful. I usually part mine out since I only have one freezer but comparing them to the Cornish X I still was not disappointed. Their breast meat wasn't as full as the Cornish X but I don't think it was too tiny either. I still got a decent sized breast from them (enough for a meal for four people since we split the breast meat on each side into two peices). They were all stock that the seller had been breeding for that year so they definitely weren't hatchery birds. He kept the girls for breeding and sold the boys for meat birds. It sounded like he very seldom adds new blood to his flock either just changes out the hens and roos as they get older or more tired.

 

[Keara]

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I was hoping someone from Bristol would jump in!

I know there are two of you down there working with Brahmas.

Bristol here!

I got two that I am going to process this weekend. I'll let you know how they finish out.

When I pick them up they seem lighter than my same aged Marans, about 24 weeks or so. I fear the Brahmas may be mostly feather, but am hoping they are just lighter boned!

 

[LilyD]

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I totally agree it does seem that most people are too focused on feed conversion. I think it's because when you raise CRX you have a chicken that genetically is not geared for foraging and will basically sit and eat itself to death. We tried to free range ours the last year we did them and they got into the free feeder in the layer coop and ate themselves to death. It became such a headache because we had to watch them constantly to make sure that they were only getting enough food to grow and not too much because they didn't know when to stop eating.

I like the heritage breeds (Brahmas included) because my stress and worry is way down. When I am home they forage around the property (which is fenced in) and eat whatever they find. I can't let them out when I'm not home because I can't have my dog out and he has protected them already from three attacks this year. Never thought he would make a good chicken daddy but he seems to love the job.

My Gold Comets did start producing eggs quicker but they also seem to be petering out quicker as well. The Brahmas and Cochins I have seem to lay slower at the start but once they start they lay much longer.

I give all my birds free choice food at all times (5 LB feeder full of food), but if they are allowed time out to forage they won't touch the feeder until it's time to put them in at night. Winter will be tougher because it will be hard for them to be out with all the snow we get.

Personally I eat all my birds, Comets, Buff Orps, Cochins, Delawares, Brahmas and the occasional mix and match baby from the bunch. They all taste like chicken

 

[mama dixie]

ok first off I am so glad I found this thread... I have so much to learn. I go through so much feed something must be wrong. I have 30 birds a mix of Cochin bantams and full size bramas salmon faverels and a few Easter eggers. what am I doing wrong. I want to get some stock of the large birds that we can use for meat birds and slaughter as we need them because I don't like that about the ccr you have to do them all kinda asap they get so big they don't do well if you try to stretch your time on them. I use the freezer for berries and veggies as well so I like to not fill it with meat you know I am cheap and don't want to buy and run yet another freezer. can anyone get me going in the right direction for meat stock and how the heck you stretch your food like that.

 

[jessicayarno]

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Do your birds free range? Free ranging makes a big difference, they naturally won't eat as much. What kind of feed and what percentage of protein are you giving them??

 

[mama dixie]

I do free range as much as I can. we have a dog that likes to come over she is a nice dog but trys to play with the birds and they don't like it so much so I have to put them in... I like the idea of a tractor any one have any easy plans. I feed the layer crumble from the feed store I think it is Purina. I use flock raiser for the ducks should I use that for my birds as well? I need to separate out my layers and nursery birds from meat birds I think. I have two coops and may do this... I just would really like to get some good stock for meat birds that will be like a dual purpose but more on the side of meat birds. thought I could slide some eggs under my broodie salmon favorels. I can not believe they are still hiding eggs and trying to hatch them this time of year. again I have so much to learn on this topic so if anyone has a good source for the meat birds sing out.

 

[oshun55555]

I eat Brahmas as my main meat bird (non hatchery), here is on 5 months old and 6 lbs, made a magnificent roast

 

[LilyD]

I eat Brahmas as my main meat bird (non hatchery), here is on 5 months old and 6 lbs, made a magnificent roast

What a gorgeous looking bird. We also eat Brahmas here for our main meat bird. Also Dorkings and Cochins. If you hatch you will have roosters and the roosters you have will need to either be sold or eaten. It's hard up here to sell roosters since we have so many already on the sales pages. Our only other option is is to eat them since we can't keep them all. They taste amazing