Dual purpose flocks, eggs and meat?

[SteveH]

If they're descended or purchased from hatchery lines, their qualities for raising for their meat will have been diminished from the heritage birds. Working with what you have, if you can replace the roo with a heritage bird or even a FR, you can increase over-all size and depth of meat on the chicks.

 

[Cowgirl71]

I'm planning to do the mixed breed dual-purpose flock too. I'll be doing Buff Orpington rooster on Buff Orpington, Barred Rock, and Rhode Island Red hens. I've found that the hybrids grow out better and are hardier than the purebreds. So I'll put some eggs under a couple broody hens and keep or sell the pullets and eat the roosters.

One thing to consider though is that you'll want to have a separate place to keep the roosters if you plan to keep them past five months old. They'll start being a pain in the neck at around four months old, and by five months old they need to be separated from the hens and pullets. In my first year of keeping chickens I had some hens and pullets literally raped to death. At best, the hens and pullets are stressed out, leading to slowed or delayed laying. Just thought I'd mention this.

 

[Noymira]

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I hadn't realized that, thank you. Maybe I will look into the Black Copper Marans roo I was offered, he's not from a hatchery line, and I know they can get fairly large.

 

[Noymira]

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I do have a smaller pen and a tractor aside from my larger coop, so I can separate the roos when they get big enough to be a bother.