eggs or nuggets

[penneypep]

My family keeps asking me when we get fresh chicken. I bought them for eggs. So can u still eat these or is the meat quality different ? I'm in California and will consider additional chickens for eating. Any suggestions out there ??
Thanks

 

[wsonphan80]

First off, welcome to BYC! I think what you are asking is, is it ok to eat chickens that were meant as egg-layers. Well most chickens that you buy at the feed store are either dual purpose chickens or ornamental chickens. I'm assuming you have a dual purpose breed such as a Barred Rock, Rhode Island Red or one of the other standard egg-layers.You can eat the dual purpose chickens but you won't find nearly as much breast meat and the feed conversion is much less than your standard meat chicken which is the Cornish X. Dual purpose are worth more as egg-layers. I just cull the extra roos. Dual purpose chickens take around 6 months to reach a slaughter age whereas Cornish X's take between 4-8 weeks to slaughter. I raise a few batches of meaties a year and process any extra dual purpose roos I have. Hope that helps. There are a lot of really knowledgable people on this board. Have fun on BYC and with your birds!

 

[Pele]

Welcome to BYC

Yes you can eat your egg-layers, but depending on their age, there won't be a heck of a lot of meat on them. Hatcheries have bred their birds to commit all of their body resources to egg-laying, which means not much meat on their bones.

It's better to buy Cornish Crosses (aka meaties) which are about 5 lbs just at 8 weeks of age. They grow REALLY fast, and home-raised ones taste MUCH better than storebought ones.

 

[penneypep]

Thank you so much !! Have a great day !!

 

[penneypep]

Thanks a lot !