Buff Orp rooster?

[reneemellor]

I have 8 EE hens, about 30 BO pullets and a big BO rooster. If I were to hatch out the EE eggs would the offspring make good meat birds? I know they're fertile, Bob pays a lot of attention to his girls! I'm not expecting really big birds, just big enough to be worthwhile. I have kept laying hens for a few years but never meat birds. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[kfacres]

people eat quail, froglegs, and many other things... are your chickens bigger than a quail?

 

[jimmythechicken]

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Are you putting him in just with the 8 ee or is he going to have to cover all38 hens?38 would be 2 many girls for 1 roo.i would just eat the roos u hatch an keep or sell the pullets

 

[reneemellor]

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Thanks, I didn't already feel like an idiot or anything.

 

[reneemellor]

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Are you putting him in just with the 8 ee or is he going to have to cover all38 hens?38 would be 2 many girls for 1 roo.i would just eat the roos u hatch an keep or sell the pullets

Right now only a couple of the BOs are laying. I do plan to get a couple more Roos when the girls are mature. I have about 25 of the EE eggs that I have collected, I am planning on keeping the girls for layers (I'm interested what color their eggs will be!) but the boys will hopefully be dinner.

 

[danielle82]

I have some gigantic orps, and I do eat eat my extra boys. I also have EE's and some mutts that are amazing layers. I also eat the extra roos in that group as well. It is great to butcher out a BIG chicken and see all the meat, but the big ones also eat more, so IMO opinion its also worthwhile to eat the smaller boys! I think you will be quite pleased with your homegrown meat, no matter the size!

 

[reneemellor]

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Thank you so much, this is pretty much exactly what I was wondering.

 

[EggsForIHOP]

I REALLY thought the first time we processed a bunch off RIR roos that hubby brought home as teenagers and we finished raising that I was looking at a rubber chicken BUT...


BUT...they were oh so tasty and just the fact we did it ourselves beginning to end was satisfaction enough. There's something about doing it yourself that makes it worth it. Now, I dunno about the orpingtons, haven't eating one, but the birds roasted in the pics were either EE's or RIR roos...couldn't remember or tell now and I think they may have been slow smoked on the smoker...or oven roasted...can't recall...but the point is we cooked both of those for 3 adults, a 6 yr old and an 11 yr old and we had leftovers that night!

Did they look like grocery store bird? No...kinda scrawny to look at...but tasty! And we had LEFTOVERS! I was all prepared for the "epic fail" moment - nope, never came. Everyone had a belly full of chicken that night

And the point about the small things is valid - my husband loves frog legs and crawfish and quail - he LOVES to eat those things. Tiny, but worth it TO HIM....I however prefer Lobster and Turkey - less effort and bones for me to eat around! It's all what you make of it.

ETA: I no longer have that dish - but it's a 9x13 pyrex dish for sizing up comparisson (I blame the cats for knocking it off the counter and breaking it)

 

[reneemellor]

Those look delicious! I'm going to go for it and see how it turns out. Thanks everyone.

 

[Illia]

Those are pretty scrawny.


But, that's what you'll probably need to expect. Most chickens out there that aren't Cornish X meaties will turn out skinny and small, but still worthy and tasty meat.

I myself raise showable and/or heritage birds, they're much bigger and meatier than the hatchery/feedstore stuff, and live birds usually finish over 7 lbs by the time they're 6 months old, but I'll take any free rooster I can get too. Others out there may be skinny but they're still food

(not for me though, free roosters go to the dogs)