Dual-Purpose Flock Owners UNITE!

[apbgv]

We have a small flock of salmon favorelles and chanteclers at work, some of them will be butchered for a variety of reasons ie bad examples of the breed, too many roos and we need to get down in numbers. a few will be sold. These are both dual purpose birds and they are both suppose to lay during the winter

 

[smom1976]

this would be great.. but I have been reading that the older the bird the worse off it tastes.. maybe someone can give me an age aprox. that they are nice to eat.. (not stew)

 

[Kesta]

i have rir`s and barred rocks also dominiques. i dont plan on butchering any but read theyre all dual purpose

 

[Beekissed]

So....why are we uniting again?

 

[FutureChickenMan]

because we can?

 

[MamaDragon]

Reasons to Unite -

There's safety in numbers...!
To find out just how many of us are trying to "do it the way our grandparents did".
To exchange information that's specific to these types of flocks, and that most single-purpose flock owners may not be having to deal with.
To pool info regarding how well which breed of birds are performing in their roles. Any changes you'd like to make, etc.
Whether you have mixed-breed flocks, single breed, flocks, or intentional crosses, and what kind.
I wanted to find out how many others out here are following the same type of dream I am....

Kathy

 

[dacjohns]

I am in the first stages of doing something like this. I acquired a mixed flock of older birds with what looks like a RIR, BO, Black Jersey Giants, a buff colored bird of some sort, a black EE, and a rooster of unknown heritage. Throw in a mixed lot of banties, to include a rooster, that I was watching and I ended up with 15 chicks of mixed heritage that were all hatched by broody hens. They are quite the mix of sizes and colors. When I get back home in a couple of weeks I will be evaluating them for who gets to take up residence in the freezer and who stays in the coop.

I also have a bunch of hatchery EEs, Light Brahmas, I think some Australorps, and what appears to be 2 white Jersey Giant cockerels. Most of the cockerels from this batch have already moved to the freezer. I will be looking at them also to see if I want to move any more of the cockerels to the freezer.

After the success with the broodies I have tentatively decided to forgo buying day olds and see how my flock progresses "naturally." Right now I have no plans to do selective breeding but I might in the future.

I did raise and process a bunch of Cornish X this summer. I have not decided whether or not to do it again. The results were good but I'm not sure how important the fast growth and feed conversion ratio is to me.

 

[deb1]

Here is something cool for all you dual purpose lovers. This site list some breeds of livestock that are endangered.

If you scroll down the list, you can find the chicken section.

I wonder if some of these would make good dual purpose breeds?

http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/wtchlist.html#chickens

 

[farm_mom]

Love the title!

This is what we do, have for years. I've never tried the cornish crosses, always stuck to dual purposes. I've raised all types of standard and heavy breeds in this way. (Eat the excess roos, keep the hens for laying, eat the older hens etc...) This is the first year we've decided on the heritage breeds deb1 is talking about. We raise Silver Grey Dorking Chickens, Cayuga ducks and Narragansett turkeys, all considered threatened by the ALBC.

 

[dacjohns]

Just kind of wondering, haven't really thought much about it.

There are many different breeds of chickens on the ALBC list. My feelings are that to promote/help a breed we should buy breeding stock and breed them ourselves, sell or give away some of the ex cess, and get others to do the same thing. If we buy those breeds and they live out their lives within the confines of our farm/yard how much are we really doing to keep the breed going? Yes, there will be some demand on hatcheries if that is where we buy our chickens but will it be enough?

deb1,
I think most of those are what would be considered dual purpose.