best bird for the meat

That's been in the back of my mind too. My local feed store guy said he can get me some when I'm ready but I'm pretty sure those are hatchery birds. The next order of business would be to find a good breeder. I figure I'm in the right place for that.
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Here are a couple places to look at Delawares here on BYC ...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/882979/breeding-delawares-to-the-standard-of-perfection
(that's in the "serious" forum, so more for informed discussion about breeding challenges or showing, but with some potentially helpful contacts and/or visuals)

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/249618/show-off-your-delawares-pic-heavy
(a good place to compare what different lines of Delawares might look like)
 
If you were interested in eating chickens, Delawares might be a good idea. I keep chickens as pets only as I do not eat meat. I rescued a Delaware hen recently. She came thin because the guy had her in really poor conditions and she could not get to food. When she got here where she could eat as much as she wanted, whenever she wanted, she quickly became fat. My birds are all too thin in my opinion, they all have free access to food and free ranging and they really do not keep weight on. Her on the other hand...is way fatter than even my slender White Rock. It might be because she was starved before, but if you let her she will sit in front of the feeder for the better part of the day. I am putting her on a diet for sure.
 
I have Red Rangers and I LOVE them! They grew fast and grew big! and they lay eggs so they are multipurpose.
 
If you were interested in eating chickens, Delawares might be a good idea. I keep chickens as pets only as I do not eat meat. I rescued a Delaware hen recently. She came thin because the guy had her in really poor conditions and she could not get to food. When she got here where she could eat as much as she wanted, whenever she wanted, she quickly became fat. My birds are all too thin in my opinion, they all have free access to food and free ranging and they really do not keep weight on. Her on the other hand...is way fatter than even my slender White Rock. It might be because she was starved before, but if you let her she will sit in front of the feeder for the better part of the day. I am putting her on a diet for sure.
Yes, I want to raise them for meat. I have a colorful laying flock that I have let myself grow way too attached to eat.

Sounds like your Delaware has learned the joys of eating. My dogs were always free fed until I brought a rescue dachshund home. From what I understand, he was being fed the cheapest feed store crap possible and he wouldn't eat it until he was starving. He was so small. Once he settled with his new pack, he realized the food here is good, and there's lots of it. Even switching the food over to diet, he ended up a full sausage before we finally gave up on free feeding.

He's a sexy little man now.

 
I have Red Rangers and I LOVE them! They grew fast and grew big! and they lay eggs so they are multipurpose.
Have you been brooding them yourself or just restocking from a hatchery? From what I understand, the red/rainbow/pioneer/freedom rangers are all terminal crosses like CX's and don't breed true. If that's not true, or even that they breed well enough, I may look one of those breeds instead.

Basically what I'm looking for is a good sustainable meat flock.
 
Thanks for the links.

I think I've found what I'm looking for as far Delawares.

http://chickcharneyfarm.com/delaware-chickens.html

They're a little more than 6 hours from me. Too far for a day trip but the shipping should be less stressful, or at least short lived. Now I need to design a new palace...


You might want to check out this link to. I read a rumor they are breeding some ENORMOUS Delawares (I read 12 lb males!), that reportedly mature pretty fast (compared to mine). Their Delawares look pretty good for color (I'm jealous), and they're working on some cool projects to continue to improve the "type" of the bird. A mature male Delaware should only weigh 8.5 lbs, so 12 is way over standard, but if you're going for meat that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

They also ship chicks and eggs, which is a bonus. From North Central Florida ... poke around their website to see the pretty eggs, too.

http://eightacresfarm.weebly.com/delawares.html
 
Thanks for the links.

I think I've found what I'm looking for as far Delawares.

http://chickcharneyfarm.com/delaware-chickens.html

They're a little more than 6 hours from me. Too far for a day trip but the shipping should be less stressful, or at least short lived. Now I need to design a new palace...
It looks like a good place to get them. Delawares are very pretty birds, I think. They say they are docile but that is not the case with any of mine. They all want to be head hen, but again, that could be from environment.
 
It looks like a good place to get them. Delawares are very pretty birds, I think. They say they are docile but that is not the case with any of mine. They all want to be head hen, but again, that could be from environment.

Our Delawares don't run screaming when you enter the coop, which is nice. You pretty much have to watch your feet because they are curious. And if you leave the coop door open, you're likely to have a parade following you around more than a Great Escape. I have a few Delawares that like to be spoon fed (from the last hatches, so they had to compete for food as babies and quickly figured out to come eat near the humans).
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But my Delawares don't much enjoy being handled. They get used to it if you persist, but I don't over-handle my birds so have never tried to turn one into a lap animal. Sometimes they scream when we pick them up.

There is one of the two older hens who is mellow enough with humans, and not overly noisy or "flighty," but she is a bit of a bully. She acts like nobody else can use the nesting boxes or the roosts. PapaDel is more of a team player.

These are large-ish birds that don't seem to want to waste their energy being mean or acting crazy. They aren't the speediest chickens, and are not able to fly as well as our hatchery birds do. They seem to think they can fly, but it's comical. They do play, and chase things around, but it is all rather slow and mellow.

We've had 16 cockerels living in a colony together for a long time now, and they do a lot of staring each other down with heads lowered and hackles raised, but not a lot of fighting. This is fantastic ... it means we were able to grow them out for a nice long time so we could make more informed breeding choices.
 
Our Delawares don't run screaming when you enter the coop, which is nice. You pretty much have to watch your feet because they are curious. And if you leave the coop door open, you're likely to have a parade following you around more than a Great Escape. I have a few Delawares that like to be spoon fed (from the last hatches, so they had to compete for food as babies and quickly figured out to come eat near the humans).
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But my Delawares don't much enjoy being handled. They get used to it if you persist, but I don't over-handle my birds so have never tried to turn one into a lap animal. Sometimes they scream when we pick them up.

There is one of the two older hens who is mellow enough with humans, and not overly noisy or "flighty," but she is a bit of a bully. She acts like nobody else can use the nesting boxes or the roosts. PapaDel is more of a team player.

These are large-ish birds that don't seem to want to waste their energy being mean or acting crazy. They aren't the speediest chickens, and are not able to fly as well as our hatchery birds do. They seem to think they can fly, but it's comical. They do play, and chase things around, but it is all rather slow and mellow.

We've had 16 cockerels living in a colony together for a long time now, and they do a lot of staring each other down with heads lowered and hackles raised, but not a lot of fighting. This is fantastic ... it means we were able to grow them out for a nice long time so we could make more informed breeding choices.
The fat Delaware was really flighty and so fast when she got here. She would fly and flap all over the place, and would sprint to the food, grab a bite, and sprint away again like she thought you were going to attack her for it. Now that she is fat, I can pick her up, flip her over, pet her, whatever. She does not care. I have been watching her closely over the past week or so because she looks like she may have hurt her hip. I do not make my birds deal with me, either. I will pet the ones that do not freak out, but there are not many who do not.
 

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