Can I raise laying hens as broilers?

[Toothpick]

I’m beginning to realize there is a market for meat birds in my area. Which has me doing a bit of research in to raising some. Not looking to quit my job and make a living off it but earning enough to cover costs with a tiny profit is OK with me.

I know I can buy meat bird chicks and raise them up and sell them. But I’m more interested in hatching my own. I have an incubator. I have a brooder. I have a separate coop/run for them to be raised away from my laying hens. I think I’m half way set up for it already.

So here’s my first question: Is there any reason why I can’t raise chicks from my current flock on broiler feed? They are not broiler birds.

Rather than buying specific broilers and raising them up I figure I already have chickens that are producing fertile eggs. I already have a few people interested in buying them but I turn them down because they produce my eggs.

But why can’t I hatch and raise them to be butchered?
Any side effects to feeding non-broiler birds broiler feed?

Thanks!

 

[Compost King]

I feed broiler feed to my laying hens when they stop laying for winter or when they Moult. I give Broiler feed to my Pullets before they start laying. Maybe an expert will chime in and say thats not a good thing but I see no ill effects from giving broiler feed to non broilers. All Chickens are made of meat so I guess you can say all chickens are broilers but some chickens make better broilers than others.

Reasons not to use Laying birds as broilers... if they are a laying breed that matures fast then chances are they do not get very meaty (there may be exceptions but I can't list them) If they are a large breed then chances are they take a long time to mass up and will eat way too much feed to get to that point. If they are from a hatchery and were listed as Dual Purpose then chances are they really aren't going to make good broilers.

I ended up crossing Heritage breeds (dual purpose) over the free Ranging type of Broiler hens, I used Red Rangers for my Broiler Hens. The offspring grew fast, became somewhat large and I kept the females as egg layers and many ended up being some of my best layers.

 

[RUNuts]

Short answer is yes you can.

Long answer involves your customers. Will they accept a heritage carcass or expect a CX with huge breasts? What do they want and are willing to pay for?

Heritage will eat more for less carcass weight. Are you buying all the feed or have access to free food? This will set your cost to produce the meat.

Utube John Suscovich. He has a lot of information on pastured poultry and the business of selling chickens. You may make more money selling laying hens and butchered roosters. As a hobby, this should be fun.

I was surprised when I bought my first chicken at $5 a pound instead of $5 a bird. A chicken didn't look like $25 worth of meat to me. Especially when I was accustomed to paying $1 a pound. The taste though. The taste.

 

[Ridgerunner]

So here’s my first question: Is there any reason why I can’t raise chicks from my current flock on broiler feed? They are not broiler birds.

What do you men by "broiler feed"? We don't always mean the same thing when we use phrases like that? Are you talking about 24% protein game bird feed (which does not mention chickens anywhere on the label but some people use it), a 20% All-Flock, or something else? I don't like to assume on a question like this.

There are some downsides to using to using dual-purpose breeds. The Cornish X or Ranger type birds are much more efficient on converting feed to meat, so costs are a lot lower to feed them. Dual-purpose put on meat much slower so you typically have to wait several extra weeks to butcher them to get any size. That means the meat will have more texture and flavor, especially with cockerels. The texture limits how you might be able to cook them. Some people like the flavor change, some don't. Pullets typically don't get very big even as hens. Your customers may not like some of this and your costs per pound can get pretty high.

If you can fill a niche you may be able to find customers willing to pay more. It would probably take you five years to get certified organic but maybe market them as free range or pastured? This comes down to marketing.

One possible method you could explore, hatch red sex links. For this I prefer red sex links instead of black sex links, since the lighter feathers make a prettier carcass if you pluck. There are different breeds you could use but say New Hampshire roosters over Delaware hens. The red chicks will be pullets which you could raise until you sell them as point of lay pullets, while the white males could be raised separately for butchering.

 

[Compost King]

Naming birds is always fun!

As for Butch- I have a side view. Not the greatest quality photo but you can see his coloring. Deep red head, mostly black body and tail, with vibrant orange/red on his sides.
View attachment 1927980

Thats likely the best case scenario for this situation. NH over Delaware allows you to separate the meat birds from the egg birds. You have to find high Quality lines to really make the meat birds are worth the effort. I would use Freedom Ranger Hatchery who has great lines of both of these. I would even consider Red Ranger males for this but I haven't tested the Red Ranger Males to see if they have some sort of recessive genetic trait hiding under the Red that might mess up Sex Links. I have bred Red Ranger Hens and so far I haven't had anything come up that makes me believe something is under that Red but I haven't done anything conclusive to make sure of that.

 

[Toothpick]

I just saw a bag of “broiler feed” at tractor supply. So that’s what I mean. I guess food that you would feed meat birds? As opposed to layer feed.

I just sold a rooster Saturday for $10. The guy is going to come back and take some of my other roosters for 10 bucks too. $5 per pound?? I’d say that guy got a great deal!

 

[RUNuts]

I just saw a bag of “broiler feed” at tractor supply. So that’s what I mean. I guess food that you would feed meat birds? As opposed to layer feed.

I just sold a rooster Saturday for $10. The guy is going to come back and take some of my other roosters for 10 bucks too. $5 per pound?? I’d say that guy got a great deal!

$5 per pound dressed. Little less for live. Heritage are also smaller. How old & how much does he weigh?

 

[Mosey2003]

Broiler feed is typically 20-22% protein depending, typically unmedicated.

You can raise laying pullets on it, but I've come around to the idea of dropping the protein after a few weeks so as not to have them coming into lay too early.

If you're wanting to raise birds you can breed yourself to eat, I agree that sexlinks are going to be your best bet. Try to time it for a time of year where you can sell the pullets at around 8+ weeks and kill the boys around 16-18 weeks.

A good, hearty, meat-bred New Hampshire male would also be my suggestion. Note, if you go searching for a breeder of such, the true name is just New Hampshire, not New Hampshire Red as many think (even hatcheries). A NH male will give you two options: you can put him over Barred Plymouth Rock hens for Black Sexlinks, or over Delawares as mentioned earlier for Red Sexlinks. I know there are more hen options for reds too, but I've never been terribly interested in the Reds, so don't know them offhand.

Also, I'm pretty surprised you have someone offering you money for roosters, let alone $10 each live! Lucky duck. People can't even give them away around here, unless they're something special.

 

[Toothpick]

I live in prime time horse farm country and there is a Tyson processing plant in town that employs a lot of Hispanic. As well as a lot of Tyson chicken farms. So a lot of Hispanic around here that are interested in farm fresh chickens. I’ve had people randomly knock on my door asking to buy chickens.

$5 per pound dressed. Little less for live. Heritage are also smaller. How old & how much does he weigh?

I’m not dressing them and I don’t know the weight. I’d guess....5lbs at least. I guess next time I can weigh one and then I’ll know when they get around that size what the weight is. At 5 per pound dude got a great deal

 

[RUNuts]

I’m not dressing them and I don’t know the weight. I’d guess....5lbs at least. I guess next time I can weigh one and then I’ll know when they get around that size what the weight is. At 5 per pound dude got a great deal

5 pounds at 60% carcass is a 3 pound carcass. About average. $3.33 a pound for farm fresh chicken is a good deal. Hope they enjoyed them. Lots of craiglisters are giving away roosters. Don't see the ads up for very long.

A good deal is where everyone leaves happy. No worries then.

So, yes, it sounds like you have a market for "farm fresh" chicken. If they are knocking on your door, a sign and word of mouth will spread quick.