Dual-Purpose Flock Owners UNITE!

[wsmith]

Just ran across this thread.
I raise American Dominiques. Great birds. The roosters get to be a good size for eating, while the hens stay smaller. Mine are laying medium size eggs, and some are large size. Mine also laid all winter ling: they did slow down, especially when it was ver y cold, but they never stopped altogether. No supplimental heat, no supplimental lighting. We saw the biggest drop in egg production when the day length went to about 9 hour of daylight, but the number came back up quickly when it hit 10 hours.
We usually process our extra cockerels at about 24-26 weeks. They tend to put on more weight between 22-26 weeks than at any other time. Great tasting birds too. The thing that I like about them is that they are extremely frugal and cheap to feed.
Great thread. Lets keep it going!

 

[cubalaya]

how long have you had dominiques? i had them for 20+ years and found them to be good layers of medium light brown eggs but a little tough and small for eating.

 

[farm_mom]

Has anyone tried breeding up Marans for egg and meat production?

I have raised Marans for about 4 years now, along with a number of Wyandottes (gold, blue etc) I currently let them inter-breed and have a nice dual purpose flock that lay large brown eggs, are beautifully colored and fill out well for meat production as well. I find that the maran hens make excellent mothers as well. I have let them go broody and hatch/raise their own young for 3 years now and it works out very well. Good luck!

 

[cubalaya]

right now i have some delawareXaustralorp that seems to have some hybrid vigor. they should be some outstanding layers of big brown eggs and good sized for meat at 16 to 20 weeks.

 

[groverlvchx]

Just finished dispatching and processing four roosters. Now my flock is a good hen/rooster ratio (one rooster, nine hens) and the four are brining in the fridge. Hopefully I can eat chicken dinner Tuesday! I was very involved, though my husband did the catching and killing. We worked together on the rest. Maybe someday I'll be a big girl and do it all. I doubt it. I'm pretty proud of us! And my hens are SO relieved to have this new balance.

 

[farm_mom]

Just finished dispatching and processing four roosters. Now my flock is a good hen/rooster ratio (one rooster, nine hens) and the four are brining in the fridge. Hopefully I can eat chicken dinner Tuesday! I was very involved, though my husband did the catching and killing. We worked together on the rest. Maybe someday I'll be a big girl and do it all. I doubt it. I'm pretty proud of us! And my hens are SO relieved to have this new balance.

Congrats! It's hard work but the sense of pride and quality of your food is well worth it! Enjoy your chicken dinner!

 

[EmSteele]

Just bought my first chickens 2 weeks ago! RIR and BPR. We chose them for the dual purpose use.... we would like to get more but want o try different breeds. What are (in your opinion) the best dual breeds?

 

[Pathfinders]

Just bought my first chickens 2 weeks ago! RIR and BPR. We chose them for the dual purpose use.... we would like to get more but want o try different breeds. What are (in your opinion) the best dual breeds?

I have owned many breeds of chickens over the years, and at this time am down to one breed, and one breed only, the best (in my opinion) dual-purpose breed of large fowl there is, the Buckeye.

Buckeyes produce between 150 and 200 medium to large brown eggs per year. The extra males provide an extremely tasty carcass, and are easy to skin if you don't want to pluck. The birds themselves are friendly and personable, in fact you'll probably find yourself having to shoo them away from your feet when you enter the pen, they are very curious and always happy to see you. The males are respectful of humans and kind to their wives, a trait I prize highly. The hens will generally go broody, which is a breed trait, but not so much so that you can't break them if you want them to keep laying. They are excellent foragers, but will handle some confinement well if need be.

Their pea combs make them well-suited to cold climates, because they do not (unless conditions are extreme) suffer from frostbite, but they also do well in warmer areas, here in Kentucky they do fine as long as I provide well-ventilated quarters for them and regular cold water (I also put ice in the water during the hottest times.)

In my opinion they do best on feed with some animal protein in it, due to the Game Bird in their makeup, and chicks are best raised on a slightly higher protein chick starter than other breeds. I like to use turkey starter for mine at first, but your mileage may vary. I find them reasonably resistant to Marek's Disease, and have not had to vaccinate for several years now. As long as you follow good selection for proper type, they will be an excellent, productive bird perfect for the homestead, which is what they were designed for by their creator, Nettie Metcalf back in the early 1900s, the only woman to ever create a breed of chicken that is accepted in the American Poultry Association Standard of Perfection.

All in all I feel they are just the very best dual purpose bird there is. But I must admit to bias, I founded a breed club for them.

But I wouldn't have done so if I didn't think they were worth the time and effort, I assure you!

 

[EmSteele]

I've been seeing a lot about Buckeye breed lately. We will definitely put them at the top of the list...would they do well with RIR and BPR?

 

[wabbit1964]

That is what I am hoping to do my egg layers will become chicken dinners eventually.. any roo's I hatch will be grown and butchered to go in my freezer...