Do broilers taste as good as good as dual purpose birds?

[gg706]

Ok that is what I will do. It would be easier and cheaper to just cover part of the tractor with a tarp or something anyway. I may add an electric wire to turn on at night to keep predators away as something could easily dig under. I would like them to have enough room to move around and forage. I am home all day so I can move the tractor during the day to fresh space if needed. In a 10X10 space would they be able to move around in the last few weeks...I don't want them too crowded.

 

[dorkings]

beekissed, thank you for the info and the great video, it gives me something to look forward to. Do yours all return to the coop at night?

 

[Beekissed]

They do..but sometimes they miss the mark and bed down in the doorway, right outside the door or a few yards away from the coop. I have to go up each evening and make sure everyone is actually inside the coop. Then I close up the fence and turn it on. The dog's house is right next to the coop and facing it so he can see and hear any disturbances there.

The fence protects their coop on two sides at night and the dog protects the other two sides....helps him out a little bit, I think. Now that his partner is gone, he can use all the help he can get. Their coop is right beside the woodline and coyotes are a frequent caller at night...we can hear them up on the hill directly behind the coop. We also have resident red foxes that are feeding kits right now so a coop full of helpless meat birds is a big draw at nighttime.

The majority of them are using the roosts I have placed while some still prefer to bed down on the floor. I leave the pop door open so that they can immediately go outdoors when they awaken so that their morning poops can be deposited out there instead of in the coop.

It really cuts down on the feces in the coop when the birds free range all day. I also keep a waterer outside so that they can access water without going in the coop each time.

 

[jcoker]

so what about colored broilers

 

[Melabella]

Ah...but can you roll that DP in flour and fry it to have a meal on the table in short order or do you have to cook each bird 6 hours to make it palatable? I will agree that I like the flavor of the DP older chicken over the CX younger~any day~ but why not just raise the CX until they are older and meet that flavor vs. tenderness and quantity half way? If raised differently than the normal CX method, these CX have great potential to become more than they currently are when it comes to flavor and texture and they can live well past their 8 wks.

Hi Bee,

What about for chicken soup, what do you use, and which is the best tasting? I'm guessing the DP?

MB

 

[Beekissed]

They all make chicken soup well...but, of course, the best soup is from an old laying hen, bar none. Speckled Suzy made such great soup we were scraping the pot for more!

 

[milleryardchx]

Im doing cornish cross right now and delaware roos.. first time for meat birds. Well its 8 weeks for the cornish and 7 weeks for the delaware the cornish free range on a 1/2 acre pen and then get feed in the afternoon they are much more active than I have read about everyones cornish cross but they are also lighter in the 4 to 6lb range but not one dieing from heart attacks or leg issues... pin anything up feed it a lot don't let it exercise will die of a heart attack. I feed them a custom mix of barley mash and ground oats and corn. They are 8 weeks old and I have only spent $63 in feed for all of the chickens. My Delaware free ranged for a few weeks but a hawk took a few one day so now their tractored they eat bugs and and grass and have feed 24/7 but don't touch it much what takes the roos three days to go through is 1/4 of what I feed the cornish in one day. plus both get extra pumpkins, squash and other garden treats. We are processing the cornish crosses on monday. Each have their perks but as chicks the cornish were more fragile i ordered 25 by day two I had 15... I think they got chilled in transport 5 dead upon arrival, I have brood many chicks that never had happened to me plus the chicks were very small. Delawares came with my white rock hens still haven't lost any from health issues just that mean hawk same hatchery. But I want to have a sustainable meat flock so I don't have pay the cost per bird and shipping everytime I want to fill the freezer plus the extra feed. Im crossing delawares over white rock test a batch for meat birds in the spring and then by summers end have a few of those with a dorking roo to make my final meat flock. by the end of the day its still chicken.

 

[Beekissed]

The WRs are the way to go! I love this breed and they are truly what I consider dual purpose...excellent layers, dense and heavy builds, hardy to the max and lay long into old age.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Cornish X taste very bland to me, and I am not a fan of their dark meat texture at all. I have been enjoying trying firmer and more flavorful birds. I plan to raise DPs for taste first, sustainability second. A big bird that is bland is no longer worth anything to me personally. Just more of something I don't want. X)

 

[Sally_O]

Going a little crazy with the initials: what's a DP and WR? I'm obviously a newbie around here.