breeding white rocks for eggs and meat

[newchickens2009]

HELLO MY WIFE, SON AND I ARE NEW TO RAISING CHICKENS AND JUST HAVE A QUICK QUESTION. WE WANT TO RAISE WHITE ROCK CHICKENS BOTH FOR EGGS AND FOR MEAT. IS IT BETTER FOR US TO BUY A WHITE ROCK ROOSTER OR A ROAD ISLAND RED? I'VE HEARD GOOD AND BAD ON BOTH AND JUST WANTED SOME MORE ADVICE. THANK YOU

 

[walkswithdog]

Quick answer - there is no quick answer.

While breeds may be labeled dual purpose. The meat a dual purpose breed yields is different in size (smaller) and texture (tougher) to what you get in the grocery store - which is a specialized genetic freak hybrid that hits that weight in just about 8 weeks.

Colored broilers - still raised for meat only will yield a food sized bird in 12 - 14 weeks, though they may lay and live long enough to reproduce it's not guaranteed.

Dual Purpose breeds especially from straight up hatchery stock are going to yield an egg laying breed that gets large enough to be eaten by the time it's egg production days are done or the Roo outlives his usefulness.

If you really want a meat bird, you want a meat bird, I prefer the colored broilers, at least they can free range. Unless you want to take up meat bird experiments, stick with a primary laying flock big enough to produce meat birds, rocks, delawares, RIR, etc. and buy in colored broilers when you want to raise meat in the spring and summer or fall.

 

[newchickens2009]

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR THE INFO IT IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!