Buff Orpington Slaughter Time?

[cyay918]

Hey all,

New to the forums here. I recently bought 15 buff orpington chicks that I plan to use as meat birds after they start reproducing. I cant seem to find a reliable source as to when the best time to slaughter the chickens are. I have read a lot of places that birds get very tough if you wait too long. But on the other hand, I want them fat enough to where it is worth my effort to harvest them.

I also need to wait until they have hatched a few chicks to keep the cycle going. What are your thoughts? Or if you have a link with that information, Ill gladly read on my own.

Thanks in advance!

 

[AgroUrica]

Don't know anything about the breed but typically if you let the birds age to maturity, roosters and hens, expect a completely different dining experience than you'd have with broilers slaughtered at 6 to 7 weeks.....roosters I'd imagine would tend to be tougher and the hens would have a much stronger flavor. Having said that, I've enjoyed many a rooster gumbo.

 

[SJ]

Ok I give you my self sustaining meaty flock guidelines.

1.If your roosters fight, like for real fight, pecking eyes out and all time to kill...there can be only one, sometimes.(PEACE BE WITH YOUR FLOCK)
2.If your rooster kills chicks... kill him and raise his son.
3.Let the broody hen set... she knows what she is doing. You may want to give more eggs though.
4.Keep only the best birds as breeders... you only need a few. 3 hens can give up to 21 eggs a week.
5.When they crow they can go...if he is big enough to crow he is old enough to eat.
6.The rule of "6"... if it weighs over 6 pounds or is over 6 months they are ready for the pot. (It can be sooner)
7.There is no tough bird...it just was prepared wrong. Low and slow and it will fall apart.

With that said I slaughter my BO at around 18 weeks they should weigh around 5-6 lbs. You will only need one male to get fertile eggs so pick your best guy and eat the other boys. They wont be the textureless supermarket mush birds but they wont be boot leather either. BO's lay lots of eggs, can cover alot of eggs when they brood and they should most definitly brood. They make great moms so don't worry to much about having more. I had one hatch out 18 eggs when she was 11 months old and she raised them all for 10 weeks before she had enough of them. Ten eggs under a broody is plenty. It gets hard for mama to keep them chickies warm as they get bigger.
Good luck! and Welcome to the Backyard Chickens community cyay918

 

[wyoDreamer]

Good post SJ !
I copied that one out for my Chicken Knowledge file.

I agree with: eat the young boys when they start to crow. Wish my neighbor followed that advice. 10 roosters is probably 9 too many. Crowing contests at 5 am is not appreciated.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I only have one thing to add to SJ's sage advice--hatchery stock BOs may not brood. I've never had a hatchery BO brood, and I gave up on them because that was the only reason I was keeping them. We now use hatchery dark Cornish (the breed, no the meat hybrid) for broody hens. IME about 1 in 3 will go broody, but those that do are tenacious sitters and MEAN Mamas (which is a good thing). We sell or eat any hens that don't brood in the first year since dark Cornish don't lay many eggs and when we are looking for more broody hens, only hatch eggs from the Cornish that have proved themselves good mothers, since the broody tendency is inherited.

Remember, the hen doesn't care what kind of egg you put under her, so you can use two different breeds here.

 

[katelk]

Ok I give you my self sustaining meaty flock guidelines.

1.If your roosters fight, like for real fight, pecking eyes out and all time to kill...there can be only one, sometimes.(PEACE BE WITH YOUR FLOCK) 2.If your rooster kills chicks... kill him and raise his son. 3.Let the broody hen set... she knows what she is doing. You may want to give more eggs though. 4.Keep only the best birds as breeders... you only need a few. 3 hens can give up to 21 eggs a week. 5.When they crow they can go...if he is big enough to crow he is old enough to eat. 6.The rule of "6"... if it weighs over 6 pounds or is over 6 months they are ready for the pot. (It can be sooner) 7.There is no tough bird...it just was prepared wrong. Low and slow and it will fall apart. With that said I slaughter my BO at around 18 weeks they should weigh around 5-6 lbs. You will only need one male to get fertile eggs so pick your best guy and eat the other boys. They wont be the textureless supermarket mush birds but they wont be boot leather either. BO's lay lots of eggs, can cover alot of eggs when they brood and they should most definitly brood. They make great moms so don't worry to much about having more. I had one hatch out 18 eggs when she was 11 months old and she raised them all for 10 weeks before she had enough of them. Ten eggs under a broody is plenty. It gets hard for mama to keep them chickies warm as they get bigger. Good luck! and Welcome to the Backyard Chickens community cyay918

Love this! Thanks for the info! Only thing is I am not sure when BOs are supposed to start crowing, but the little cockerels I have now started at 1.5 weeks and they would only be about one chicken nugget lol. ADD: do you have a recipe that you use to make them tender?

 

[SJ]

One and a half weeks and crowing already...

.I think I would have culled them for that reason alone. That is plainly just a bunch of noisy birds. LOL My cockerels usually start crowing around the 16-18 week range.

How I cook my stewing hens is:

1 whole chicken
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 medium onion diced

1/2 cup of beer (I prefer Lienenkugels Honey Wiess because it is a sweeter beer)
1 TBS honey

Dry Rub:
1 TBS kosher salt
1 tsp Black pepper
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp fresh parsley
1/2 tsp garlic powder or one clove crushed
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 210*F.
Mix all ingredients for dry rub in a small bowl. Rub the both inside and out of the chicken with the dry rub. This should use about half of the rub. Put carrots, celery, onion and beer in a medium roaster pan, that can be covered. Put chicken in the same pan. Sprinkle remaining dry rub over both vegetables and chicken. Drizzle honey over both vegetables and chicken. Cover and cook in oven for 5-6 hours. Enjoy.

 

[katelk]

One and a half weeks and crowing already... .I think I would have culled them for that reason alone. That is plainly just a bunch of noisy birds. LOL My cockerels usually start crowing around the 16-18 week range.

How I cook my stewing hens is:

1 whole chicken
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 medium onion diced

1/2 cup of beer (I prefer Lienenkugels Honey Wiess because it is a sweeter beer)
1 TBS honey

Dry Rub:
1 TBS kosher salt
1 tsp Black pepper
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp fresh parsley
1/2 tsp garlic powder or one clove crushed 
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 210*F.
Mix all ingredients for dry rub in a small bowl. Rub the both inside and out of the chicken with the dry rub. This should use about half of the rub. Put carrots, celery, onion and beer in a medium roaster pan, that can be covered. Put chicken in the same pan. Sprinkle remaining dry rub over both vegetables and chicken. Drizzle honey over both vegetables and chicken. Cover and cook in oven for 5-6 hours.  Enjoy.

Sounds delicious! Will definitely try this recipe. Thanks!

 

[SIMZ]

One and a half weeks and crowing already...

.I think I would have culled them for that reason alone. That is plainly just a bunch of noisy birds. LOL My cockerels usually start crowing around the 16-18 week range.

How I cook my stewing hens is:

1 whole chicken
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 medium onion diced

1/2 cup of beer (I prefer Lienenkugels Honey Wiess because it is a sweeter beer)
1 TBS honey

Dry Rub:
1 TBS kosher salt
1 tsp Black pepper
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp fresh parsley
1/2 tsp garlic powder or one clove crushed
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 210*F.
Mix all ingredients for dry rub in a small bowl. Rub the both inside and out of the chicken with the dry rub. This should use about half of the rub. Put carrots, celery, onion and beer in a medium roaster pan, that can be covered. Put chicken in the same pan. Sprinkle remaining dry rub over both vegetables and chicken. Drizzle honey over both vegetables and chicken. Cover and cook in oven for 5-6 hours. Enjoy.

SJ - thanks for the good meat flock advice and the recipe! I can't wait to try it.

I'm glad to have someone answer the crowing age question that I've always had. I also have found that my Marans start crowing around 6 weeks. Right now they're 9 weeks and crowing their heads off. They are actually little chunks, but I can't see getting much meat off them. I've found that other breeds that I've had tend to start crowing in that 15-17 week range, which is a good butcher age.

 

[Staceyherewegrowagain]

Ok I give you my self sustaining meaty flock guidelines.

1.If your roosters fight, like for real fight, pecking eyes out and all time to kill...there can be only one, sometimes.(PEACE BE WITH YOUR FLOCK)
2.If your rooster kills chicks... kill him and raise his son.
3.Let the broody hen set... she knows what she is doing. You may want to give more eggs though.
4.Keep only the best birds as breeders... you only need a few. 3 hens can give up to 21 eggs a week.
5.When they crow they can go...if he is big enough to crow he is old enough to eat.
6.The rule of "6"... if it weighs over 6 pounds or is over 6 months they are ready for the pot. (It can be sooner)
7.There is no tough bird...it just was prepared wrong. Low and slow and it will fall apart.

With that said I slaughter my BO at around 18 weeks they should weigh around 5-6 lbs. You will only need one male to get fertile eggs so pick your best guy and eat the other boys. They wont be the textureless supermarket mush birds but they wont be boot leather either. BO's lay lots of eggs, can cover alot of eggs when they brood and they should most definitly brood. They make great moms so don't worry to much about having more. I had one hatch out 18 eggs when she was 11 months old and she raised them all for 10 weeks before she had enough of them. Ten eggs under a broody is plenty. It gets hard for mama to keep them chickies warm as they get bigger.
Good luck! and Welcome to the Backyard Chickens community cyay918

Love this! These are almost the exact guidelines I use for raising my meat birds/layers.. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, as everyone has a different method and that's ok