Butchering your roosters!

[BirdHead]

I believe you can cross a RIR with a orphington. If you want the layer of a RIR, go RIR rooster over Orph hen and the pullets will be majority RIR blood and the cockerels will be majority Orph.

Do a few batchs, cull what you don't think is breeding stock (eat it), and get to where you get best of both worlds and the fun of doing it!

 

[jvls1942]

compared to the meaties, the light breeds taste like, well, er, chicken !!
the first chickens we ever got , we got for meat.. after those, we decided to get some
egg layers..
it always amazes me at how many people hatch eggs willey nilley, and then don't want or can't keep the roosters.
simple solution. eat them, don't expect someone else to cover for their mistakes..
they brought them into the world, now it is their responsibility to take care of the problem they created for themselves..
I do take the extra roosters from other people, but they had better not expect me to give the roo a forever home..

IMHO

one of the funniest things I ever read on byc was a comment by a "chicken lover" who said, "go buy your chicken to eat from a supermarket where no harm was done to the chicken." ..
......jiminwisc.....

 

[Parront]

They are a bit smaller but I have seen RIR get as big as an orphinton however, ex gf had one and she was HUGE. I have some red stars now however they're just about to be a year old and they're pretty big but shorter then regular RIR, so I mean they're great meat birds just not as big as them generally unless you push it of course ;P the roosters can get big and they're a tad more aggressive breed but it's easily avoidable if you raise them from chicks or simply handle them enough.

IMHO you want a big bird get some real Malay ;p

I raised the Cornish-X in the past, they got huge, over 10 lbs dressed out. But not as nice as the rest of the chickens. Lame, had to be separated from the rest. They had good care, all lived, but not the experience I want to repeat. They tasted better than store chicken. Not as good as the Orpingtons or even the Leghorns.

 

[cppeace]

Now, this was around 15 years ago,but We found the Barred rock, Buff Orps and Brahmas to be the best eating. It annoyed the heck out of my dad that brahms laid such small eggs for their size lol

 

[cppeace]

compared to the meaties, the light breeds taste like, well, er, chicken !!
the first chickens we ever got , we got for meat.. after those, we decided to get some
egg layers..
it always amazes me at how many people hatch eggs willey nilley, and then don't want or can't keep the roosters.
simple solution. eat them, don't expect someone else to cover for their mistakes..
they brought them into the world, now it is their responsibility to take care of the problem they created for themselves..
I do take the extra roosters from other people, but they had better not expect me to give the roo a forever home..

IMHO

one of the funniest things I ever read on byc was a comment by a "chicken lover" who said, "go buy your chicken to eat from a supermarket where no harm was done to the chicken." ..
......jiminwisc.....

Lol Yes, backyard raisers and normal small farmers are being 99% less cruel than anything that was raised for super markets. At least our chickens get sunshine and fresh air and space. Some people are just dingy or deluded or both

 

[Parront]

Now, this was around 15 years ago,but We found the Barred rock, Buff Orps and Brahmas to be the best eating. It annoyed the heck out of my dad that brahms laid such small eggs for their size lol

Orpingtons laid smaller eggs than the reds, in my long-ago experience. I know that these things change over the years, and I am interested in what is current experience.

 

[cppeace]

Egg size hasn't changed any to my knowledge. The biggest changes from what I've heard over the last 20 years are just hatcheries pushing for more eggs and therefore sacrificing breed standards. Cackle has several breeds that still are fairly good for the breed standard from what I've heard from local buyers. Many even turn into to show quality.

 

[Parront]

More eggs does seem to make the size of the bird smaller. The most efficient layer is a Leghorn. I ate a couple of the extra Leghorns, who were supposed to be pullets, but weren't! They taste good with lemon pepper on the grill. One cut in half per person.

 

[Parront]

Egg size hasn't changed any to my knowledge. The biggest changes from what I've heard over the last 20 years are just hatcheries pushing for more eggs and therefore sacrificing breed standards. Cackle has several breeds that still are fairly good for the breed standard from what I've heard from local buyers. Many even turn into to show quality.

I will check out Cackle.

 

[azkc]

I raised the Cornish-X in the past, they got huge, over 10 lbs dressed out. But not as nice as the rest of the chickens. Lame, had to be separated from the rest. They had good care, all lived, but not the experience I want to repeat. They tasted better than store chicken. Not as good as the Orpingtons or even the Leghorns.

I agree. We raised 10 Cornish Rocks this year and we will not be repeating the experience either. When they first went outside they had so much fun and were just like regular chicks until the time came that they could barely walk. I knew going in that would happen but seeing that every day was just too sad. We always process our extra roos, as I am suspicious of anyone on CL taking them, maybe for cockfighting. Our extra boys are always treated well

We currently have 5 Jersey Giants cockerels who are almost 19 wks & are due for freezer camp very soon. They are amazing in the slow cooker.