Are Brahmas (sp??) meat birds?

[Bossroo]

Where I live in the dry and arrid West, may be totally different than you ... If I had any chicken out foraging for their own food on my property, the local coyotes ( nightly community sing alongs spread the word of taste treats on tap ) will have feasted on all of them within an hour of when I would have turned them out in the morning. Doesn't matter how many bugs or dry grass the chickens may have consumed, I would harvest precous little to even measure a feed conversion rate.

 

[AV Brahmas]

"I disagree the Cornish Rock is not better at feed conversion. The reason I can say that is that if you keep track of the amount that a CornishX eats in 8 weeks and how much a Brahma eats in 6 months you will find that they still go through the same amount of food."

LilyD....you don't have to worry about offending ME. I am very thick skinned!!! Now keeping in mind that I raise a lot of breeds also including X-rocks and extremely large Brahma show birds. Look at what you said above. The CRX and the Brahmas eat the same amount of food. The CRX finish in 8 weeks and the Brahmas in 6 months. There it is!!! CRX win!!! I can raise THREE SETS of CRX in the time it takes to raise one set of Brahma. Plus, I have eaten both and the CRX just have it hands down in the carcass grading.

You have to take into account the time value of money and the cost of facilities being tied up for half a year. I don't know if I am convincing you or not but the simple truth is that a Brahma cannot be as efficient as a CRX until it makes the same meat in the same time frame using the same raw materials and overhead.

Now who loves CRX?

 

[LilyD]

AV Brahmas said: I can raise THREE SETS of CRX in the time it takes to raise one set of Brahma. Plus, I have eaten both and the CRX just have it hands down in the carcass grading.

I can understand how it would be economical if you are in an area where you have to feed the Brahmas all year round. In my area (which is wooded, damp and has lots of protein flying around the yard) I don't spend a lot to feed any of my heritage birds. They pretty much feed themselves.

Raising 3 sets of CRX doesn't do me much good if I am using 3 times the feed because then that would cost me 3 times the money making it really not worth it in my case. I butchered out both two weekends ago and I cut up all my birds and honestly I didn't notice much difference between the CRX and Brahma. CRX's ranged from 3 to 5 pounds dressed out, Brahmas between 3 to 5 dressed out. Both had great legs, thighs and wings, the breasts may have been a little leaner but there was still plenty of it and less fat on the Brahmas because they move around more. Plus I have to also take into account the cost of bedding which for the CRX is higher because they are just plain messy.

I think it honestly has to go down to personal preference what meat bird you choose and what goals you have.

 

[AV Brahmas]

Well no....we weren't talking about YOU now were we!?

We were talking about the comparison in a truly economic sense and the facts are what they are. You can raise three times the weight in CRX in the same amount of time. The variable cost of feed is not actually the most relevant cost because it has a benefit (revenue or meat) that goes up in concert with it. It is the other costs, specifically fixed and G&A that make the Brahmas left thrifty. But I suppose that I and the entire poultry meat business are wrong, eh? Like I said...we were not specifically talking about your case.

Might as well jump in with both feet on this other issue. I too live in a rural setting with hedgerows jumping with mice and insects and lots of greenery. But if I tried to keep these huge show Brahmas on just forage they would soon crash and burn. They just need more. Maybe one or two but not the whole stud. Sussex or other smaller active breeds, yes.

 

[LilyD]

Never said the meat business was wrong but I do not consider the CRX to be more efficient in feed consumption through my personal experiences based on bags of feed consumed per month. Just because we have gotten used to doing things in a certain way does not mean there are not other ways to achieve the same results. The OP asked could Brahmas be meaties and yes they can and they do grow to a decent size within 12 to 24 weeks.

I also never said I raised them on merely forage. I have a 5 pound free feeder set up available at all times but they choose to forage rather than eating the grain available and because they are not hatchery stock and have been raised for quicker growth they are twice the size of my other birds which does make them a good candidate for being a meat bird.

 

[AV Brahmas]

Quote:
Well it has been an interesting dialogue!

I love my Brahmas more than probably any other breed I have raised over the years. We just don't eat them. After traveling with them and all the other aspects of showing it is just hard to turn around and butcher them. Plus they are just a little old for it by the time we retire them. Plus.....oh never mind, we have beaten this one to death.

By the way, you know there is no such thing as 100% sustainable agriculture on a small acreage, right?

 

[jessicayarno]

WOW... you pick fights with everybody don't you AV brahma????? Get a freakin life.... You aren't always right about everything, everybody has their own opinion about what meat bird is right for them.. What works for you may not be what works for somebody else..

 

[Avalon1984]

To get back to the actual question, I had Brahma EE crosses earlier this year. I processed them at 24 weeks and got 3.5lbs out of them when I weighed them after butchering. I had them on 20% protein feed. I hope that helps. They were huge birds and I was hoping for a good size broiler. I guess it depends on the strain?

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

We just got our 2 year old brahma hens and 1 cock processed about 2 weeks ago. Really not much to them, and they eat like pigs.

 

[jtbrown]

I am getting ready for my first butchering. We have 3 light brahma cockerals that are complete pigs in their behavior with the ladies and how much they eat. That being said they are not nasty birds, just boarish in the hen house. They feel huge to me but there are lots of feathers there. Mine are 24 weeks, hatchery birds.

I am having a local lady here in our small town show me (and allow me to help , although I am sure to slow her down), so that I may do our own meat birds next spring

if I can stomach it. I am hoping for nice slow roasters. I will try to find this thread next week, as the 18th is their day. Doing 3 EE at the same time, 4 weeks younger, and 3 bantums. Too many boys, too much feed. Also, they are the nonbehaving boys. Keeping our production red he is a doll, good to us and the hens, so he won a spot.