Buff Orpingtons

[ridder]

I am new to this site and also new to raising Chickens so have a few questions, hope you all can help. I first bought 12 silver wyndotte pullets for egg production, they are laying and doing nicely but I am a little dissapointed in the egg size. A few weeks after we purchased the wyndottes I guess we felt like real chicken farmers and ordered 100 buff roos...their were 6 hens that were mixed in with the roos so thats great for me. My question is...our buffs are now 11 weeks old, an owl got into our pen and killed 1 buff roo and 2 hens...that is when we realized that they are awfully scrawny, all bone structure and not much meat. we are feeding them grower in a hopper type feeder so they can have all the food they need, and scratch grain , We are thinking that we need to maybe restrict the meat roos pen area, it is now about 400 sq feet ( their are about 90 roos in the pen now.) Also how are the egg size with the buffs. How long do we have to raise the buffs to get them to eating size? Thanks in advance for your help..

 

[ChickenToes]

You can start butchering at 15 or 16 weeks.

I wouldn't restrict the size of their pen. They need a minimum of 10 square feet per bird. Any less than that and pecking and cannibalism will start to become a huge problem.

 

[jjparke]

I can't answer your question but I can tell you that buff orp roo is the best chicken meat I have ever eaten!!

 

[ridder]

Thanks for the pen advice, I also forgot to ask...how are the Buffs for laying? Do they produce a larger egg than the Wyndottes? And has anyone had any luck crossing wyndottes with buffs? Will that improve the breast size on them? thanks again

 

[redoak]

The BO's are going to be similar to your wyndottes in egg production, at first you'll be disappointed in the size of the eggs but they will get bigger over time. I still notice my BO's roosters are still kinda boney at 21 weeks

They free range but get plenty of feed.