I will soon be ordering replacement pullets, but hope to start hatching out my own this Summer/Fall. I'v narrowed down my breeds to Barred Rock, Road Island Reds, and Black Austrolops. Since I will hatch out, I will obviously get some males. Out of those three breeds, which makes a better meat bird?
Hmmmm, we have Buff Orpingtons, BR and RIR, but not Austrolops, so I could only compare the BR and RIR for you. Our Rhode Island Red is scrawny and at the bottom of the pecking order (surprisingly). However, our Barred Rock (hen) is huge compared to the other girls. So, I'm guessing the BR roosters would get to be a pretty good size meal for you! Barred Rock hens and roosters are supposed to be a great dual purpose bird - they have a lot of personality, are gentle and get to a good size!
Well I have Buffs and Australorps. The Lorps are only 9 months old and are big. The Pullets have been laying all winter. Out of 5 I get minimum 3 eggs a day. In my opinion the Lorps would make a great DP bird.
I would suggest either the BR or Australorps. You would be better off if you could start with breeder stock, but if that isn't possible, it's just going to take a little longer to get a good sized meat bird in a shorter amount of time. You will just have to select the biggest birds to breed and so on and so forth. Good luck, I am planning to do this also but I am leaning towards Black sexlinks and Delawares..
I've been very happy with the results from processing our Australorp cockerels. We also had Australorp x Barred Rock crosses for a while, and they came out about the same.
