Buff Orps as meat birds.

[Bossroo]

Quote:
Really? Everyone I have talked to in my area say they are awesome layers. Our friend raises and sells chickens and turkeys and he suggested the Buff Orps and RIR for laying hens and Cornish X for our meat birds. All my research says they are great layers. Hmmmm....maybe I better look some more.


I think they meant AFTER three years they aren't so good, which is typical of all chickens, productivity starts dropping off at about a year and a half, but if you aren't in for commercial purposes it shouldn't matter that much, instead of getting 5 eggs a week, you may just get three...

Well, let's see if this way of thinking would work on my homestead . My wife likes to eat 2 eggs Benedict for Sunday morning breakfast. I eat 3 eggs .

Total of 5 eggs for Sunday breakfast.

Suddenly, my hen only lays 3 eggs for the week.

So I only get to eat ONE egg for breakfast. But, this shouldn't matter that much. How come?

 

[SpringChickens]

Quote:

I think they meant AFTER three years they aren't so good, which is typical of all chickens, productivity starts dropping off at about a year and a half, but if you aren't in for commercial purposes it shouldn't matter that much, instead of getting 5 eggs a week, you may just get three...

Well, let's see if this way of thinking would work on my homestead . My wife likes to eat 2 eggs Benedict for Sunday morning breakfast. I eat 3 eggs .

Total of 5 eggs for Sunday breakfast.

Suddenly, my hen only lays 3 eggs for the week.

So I only get to eat ONE egg for breakfast. But, this shouldn't matter that much. How come?

I think it only doesn't matter for the people like me who have WAY too many chickens and have eggs coming out their ears. I give away a few dozen eggs a week, at least. If all my hens went down to laying one egg a week, that would be just about right for us

And we STILL have some eggs under a broody!!

 

[Bossroo]

Quote:
Well, let's see if this way of thinking would work on my homestead . My wife likes to eat 2 eggs Benedict for Sunday morning breakfast. I eat 3 eggs .

Total of 5 eggs for Sunday breakfast.

Suddenly, my hen only lays 3 eggs for the week.

So I only get to eat ONE egg for breakfast. But, this shouldn't matter that much. How come?

I think it only doesn't matter for the people like me who have WAY too many chickens and have eggs coming out their ears. I give away a few dozen eggs a week, at least. If all my hens went down to laying one egg a week, that would be just about right for us

And we STILL have some eggs under a broody!!

Sounds like you are in for a nice chicken noodle soup dinner... stew a non laying ( or laying) hen then turn some extra eggs into noodles! Win, win !!!

But in my case ... I am still HUNGRY !!!

Edit to add : Oh, I forgot that I also need 2 MORE EGG YOLKS to make the sauce to pour over the eggs and muffins. ( total 7 eggs) So I don't get any and my wife only gets to eat one.

 

[steve&kris]

Quote:

I think they meant AFTER three years they aren't so good, which is typical of all chickens, productivity starts dropping off at about a year and a half, but if you aren't in for commercial purposes it shouldn't matter that much, instead of getting 5 eggs a week, you may just get three...

Well, let's see if this way of thinking would work on my homestead . My wife likes to eat 2 eggs Benedict for Sunday morning breakfast. I eat 3 eggs .

Total of 5 eggs for Sunday breakfast.

Suddenly, my hen only lays 3 eggs for the week.

So I only get to eat ONE egg for breakfast. But, this shouldn't matter that much. How come?

Your math is correct if you only have one chicken (poor lonely chicken) and only eat eggs on sunday. I'm guessing at least the first part isn't right.
I'm a noobie, so my opinion doesn't count for much, but I don't think I'm going to kill my hens for dropping to 3 eggs a week. Then again, 3 years from now who knows what I'll have learned. They're such nice happy pets, though.

 

[Arielle]

OP

I couldn't have just one hen! One hen started it all. THen I bought 25, and 4 and 10 and 8 turkeys . . . . Good thing we love eggs, and the dogs too. Right now eggs are 99cents a dozen. That's good dog food.

Back to the chickens; 40 hens at 6 eggs a week, yikes! Even I can't eat that many eggs. Sure hope I can find some customers when the time comes and those girls are pushing out the eggs. Oh, I forgot, 3 are roosters, whew . . . that'll help.

Then I read all about meaties and want those too. Time to visit the refrig for a snack! LOL

 

[bwmichaud]

I had 2 Buff Orpington cockerels I butchered at 20 weeks. They dressed out at just over 4 lbs without the neck and giblets. They were good eating birds at that age. Expect a hen to be a little smaller, obviously. Of all the breeds I've tried so far for DP meat birds, the Buff Orpington's have been my favorite. They get good sized fairly quickly and the feathers are light colored. They are also easy to get along with. I'm going to try some Barred Rocks and White Rocks this year.