Dual Purpose

[Leah and peeps]

Thanks! I'll have to read through that.
The plan for me is to hatch out my own next spring. I will probably be setting 24-30 eggs. I am going to keep the ladies for eggs, and process the roos for meat. I've narrowed down the DP breeds that I'd like to have.
Delaware
Wyandotte
Orpington
RIR
Plymouth Rock
Australorp
Sussex
New Hampshire
I still need to pick the top few, because sadly I can't have all of them. It also depends on what is available at the time. What are your thoughts? I want a breed that will give me as many eggs as they can, but also lots of meat too.
When is a good time to process them? I've heard before 24 weeks for a tender bird. Can I raise some of them in a tractor until they hit the freezer?
Thanks

 

[Coffeemama7]

We raise all of our chickens in tractors, meaties and layers alike.
We have roosts under the roof area, and a shelf (wire, cuz it is light airy and easy to clean)
installed upside down in the back with the egg boxes resting on the shelf. The lip keeps them from falling off.

Our meat pen is standard size, holds 50 chickens,
our layer pens are 8x8' and hold 24 chickens.
We move our pens twice a day, for cleaner, happier chickens.

In the winter they will live in a converted horse stall with heat lamps and access to an outside run.

We mix our breeds, and the bigger birds process first.
12 weeks is the soonest! 18-20 weeks for the non-cornish x birds.
Happy raisin'!

 

[triplepurpose]

Quote:
All of those will lay well. Exactly which would lay the very MOST eggs per annum in head-to-head competition is difficult to say because it can vary depending on the particular breeding strain as well as the conditions under which they are raised and kept. RIR are famous for their laying accomplishments, but they're only a hair ahead of the rest, and besides it varies it with the strain, and usually as meat birds they take a little longer to fill out and aren't quite as large as some of the others--so in a nutshell, their overall value as dual purpose chickens about balances out IMO.

You can slaughter dual purpose at any age, depending on how you intend to prepare the meat. there's no "magic window"--which is a GOOD thing!

The issue of tenderness has more to do with how you cook it, as appropriate for the age of the bird--I cook up dual purpose birds of all ages, and NEVER serve tough meat! You might like to read this article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=3473262#p3473262

Enjoy!

 

[Taylor]

i like rhode island reds and barred rocks, buff orpingtons, delawares, wyandottes, white rocks etc. they are all good dual purpose breeds. rhode island's will probably give the most eggs, they have always done me.

 

[orientphoenix]

standard dark cornish, trust me u won't be disappointed

 

[WestfarthingHomestead]

Rhode Island Reds. I read the only thing they don't do well is brood, but we're planning on Silkies too.

And we can get a good incubator.

 

[LilyD]

Quote:
I second that

 

[hudsonnascarfan]

well ive heard that the rir and the australorps are both really good egg layers but i dont know what one would really be the best for meat but id think they would all be good they run close to the same size when grown up its your pick just try to get some heritage birds because they do run lots bigger than hatchery birds do

 

[AlbionWood]

Quote:
Of those, the Delaware and New Hampshires are probably the best for meat, and they will give you good egg production as well. They are very different in terms of meat quality: the NH have much darker, redder meat, with dark yellow skin; the Dels have pale yellowish skin and pale meat. Both are delicious but I think the NH have the edge for flavor. Dels have more of the meat-bird shape, wider and shorter breast; the NH has a loooong narrow breast, hard to eviscerate.

Wyandottes grew significantly slower and don't lay as much; I wouldn't recommend them. Orpingtons are a great DP bird as well, they have a lot of fans around here, but I think they were just not quite as good as the Dels or NH in our trial. Same for Plymouth Rocks. RIR and Australorp are good layers but not as good for meat. Sussex were a disappointment to me, beautiful birds but not nearly as meaty as the others, excellent meat quality though; the hens are delightful little characters, but lay smaller eggs and not as consistently as NH.

One other thing to consider is broodiness. You may or may not want that; keep in mind that you lose egg production while they are broody, and if you let them hatch and raise chicks, they will be out of lay for about 2 months. This is where a mix of breeds can help, some will go broody and some won't, so you don't lose all your eggs at once! In our flock, the broodiest were the BO (and they made the best mother hens, too). Australorp, Sussex, and one Delaware also went broody. None of the NH or the Plymouth Rocks did. (yet. They are only a little over a year old.)

 

[draye]

We eat them all, dual purpose or not. We have begun to raise chickens again for about a year and half now and are now starting to hatch out our own eggs. Any extra roosters are going into the cook pot.
We've even eaten a banty or two.

Among my favorites though are any white chickens, much easier to clean.