Buff Orpingtons for Meat. Anyone tried these?

[cattleman999]

I am considering trying ordering Buff Roos strictly for meat. The reason is that I anticipate that I won't have the health issues to contend with as compared to the CX. I am on my 3rd batch of CX and not ecstatic about the fragility of these birds. If buffs will work I can go to all buff hens and raise my own also. I am curious if anyone else has used buffs for meat and what to expect as far as age to butcher and feed efficiency. I would probably allow the buffs to free range a good portion of the time. Any thoughts or experiences would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ilovechickens]

Hopefully you get a answer, as I have 3 dual purpose birds that I am trying to raise the cockerels for meat, don't know how long to let them grow

 

[Sierra pachie bars]

I myself personally prefer the duel purpose birds. The meat birds are tastey but gross. They will themselves to death. Duel purpose birds might take longer to raise out but seemo more hearty to me. I just feed finisher two weeks before making the meat all nice. The orphintons are nice size birds. I am currently raising extra road island red Roos for meat. I also have a oprhinton roo that keeps attack me and my daughter so he's going to be dinner soon.

 

[Connorrm]

I thought the only problem with buffs was their pink/white skin (which is the preferred color across the pond I'm told)?

 

[jmmre31]

I've ate my 6+ month old roosters that have gone mean & 1 hen that wouldn't stop eating eggs. Since, they were over 6 months old I stewed them. They were great for that. The roosters had plenty of meat. The hen's name was Scrawny so you can imagine she didn't have a lot of meat.

Hope this helps!

 

[bigredfeather]

I am not happy with the carcususes on mine until they hit 24 weeks. I still do some of them(because I keep the hens I hatch), but I can do 3 batches of CX in that same timeframe.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

deleted

 

[cattleman999]

Thank you for all of your input. I just don't seem to have the best luck with the CX. I ordered 10 the first time and they were from McMurray. I lost 3 of those and I attributed that to the heat since I didn't get them until July. The next batch I got 40 from Schlect and ended up processing 33. Lost those to various causes. The chick quality from McMurray and Schlect was good I think. I ordered 55 from Welp this time since they were the cheapest I have found. They sent 57 and two of them had no chance of survival since they were obviously not good quality. I wasn't really worried since I received 2 more than I ordered. I lost 3 total within 48 hours of delivery. I have since lost 4 more and some of those probably were my fault, however, after about 2 weeks 2 runts developed and one of those died by three weeks. What are everyone's experiences with chicks from different hatcheries? I liked the quality from McMurray but the cost is nearly double if I remember right and Schlect is considerably higher than Welp.

 

[AlbionWood]

BOs are okay, but maybe not the best of the DP breeds for meat. If you are raising straight-runs and just want to use the excess cockerels, they will make fine-flavored meat and decent carcasses if you can wait long enough (20+ weeks). Long breast makes them more difficult to process than CX.

Is the cost of chicks really a major percentage of the total cost of meat? Low cost per chick isn't a bargain if you lose a lot of then before slaughter. With BO the feed ratio is so low you will end up with expensive meat even if the chicks are free. But they will live, and you won't have to worry about geting them all in the freezer before they start flipping. You will need to separate them from pullets when they start crowing, which is generally two months before they are big enough to slaughter.

 

[jjparke]

BO roo is some of the best chicken I have ever tasted. My kids wolfed it down and were begging for more. At about 20 weeks there wasn't a whole lot to them though. The meat was fairly tender too. I baked it with some stock and veggies and it was great. No seasonings required. My only problem is that I can do 3 batches of CX in the time it takes to get BO's up to a decent weight. I just like to get it done with.