Getting started: I could use some help choosing a breed.

[Frazzemrat1]

So... The meat birds are roosters? Is that because they grow larger and quicker than hens or is there another reason not to eat the hens other than they are the egg layers?

you can treat it this way, but when posters above are saying 'meat' birds, they're saying birds that were bred for the purpose of using for meat AND eggs. Typically, they'd eat the cockerels and let the pullets produce hens.


ETA I should amend this to say that Meat Birds were bred for meat (Cornish cross, like what you buy at the market). Layers are birds like the leghorn that doesn't have a lot of meat but can dang near lay an egg a day. Dual purpose are birds bred in the middle of those two, fair size for meat, and lay pretty well, but not as much as a leghorn.

 

[chickenmama109]

bared rock is a nice breed they lay nice brown eggs my rhode island reds are a nice breed they lay nice brown bid eggs and they are both nice cute and love a good treat mine follow me around and stand in my sholder

 

[LivinginNC]

Some people manage their flock as follows:
1. They get dual purpose chicken breeds and them raise them up.
2. They butcher excess cockerels/roosters that they don’t want to breed and keep 1 for breeding and maybe a spare.
3. Hens lay best their first year, some people incubate eggs every year and butcher the 1-2 year old hens and replace them with new pullets every year as well as eating excess cockerels/roosters. Hens who have a decline in egg production are butchered.
4. As long as you have a rooster and are incubating eggs this will be pretty self sustainable.
Good luck

Ok, that is what I thought and that is what I want to do. I was getting confused by some of what I was reading. This makes perfect since. THANK YOU!!!

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Ok, that is what I thought and that is what I want to do. I was getting confused by some of what I was reading. This makes perfect since. THANK YOU!!!

Happy to help.

 

[Hamiam]

bared rock is a nice breed they lay nice brown eggs my rhode island reds are a nice breed they lay nice brown bid eggs and they are both nice cute and love a good treat mine follow me around and stand in my sholder

I was surprised yesterday to read some BYC members saying that Barred Rocks are aggressive & less friendly. I raised them for years & have the same opinion as you do. They are sweet, both to people & each other. I also got many double yolks from pullets. I have been disappointed with the Black Australorps. They are nice birds and get quite large. However, they are slow to lay & their eggs are small.

 

[lazy gardener]

So... The meat birds are roosters? Is that because they grow larger and quicker than hens or is there another reason not to eat the hens other than they are the egg layers?

Production layers produce eggs very well. They have a great feed to egg conversion rate. But, when they are no longer laying, there's not a lot of meat on their bones. They will make a nice soup stock. But not a bird you'd want to serve to company!

Meat birds grow out and provide a good meaty carcass in a reasonable time. CX will grow out in 6 - 8 weeks. That's what you buy in the cello packs at the grocer. Their feed to meat conversion rate is fantastic. The CX grows so fast that feed intake needs to be monitored to keep them from having joint or heart failure.

There are other "meat birds" which are not prone to the systemic body failure of the CX. Their conversion rate is not quite as good, but they grow out in 12 - 13 weeks. It's most convenient if they can be processed around this time before the major testosterone kicks in. (Testosterone = Jerk teen age punks who want to fight any male, and will gang breed any female that they can catch. Cockerel drama is not a pretty sight.) Examples of these birds: Pioneer aka Dixie Rainbow, Freedom Ranger. Each hatchery has their own named birds which fall into this category. They are hybrids, but IME with the Pioneer, they breed true enough that you could get a few generations of good meat before the genetics lead to decreased size. They free range well, and actually make decent layers.

Dual purpose birds are good layers, but do not produce as well as the production layers. They also provide a decent carcass for the table, though it pales in comparison to the CX. Their feed to egg or feed to meat conversion rates are not as good as that of the production layer or the CX or Pioneer. Many people keep a flock of DP birds, and simply raise replacement birds every year. They eat the excess cockerels, and keep or sell the pullets. When a hen is done laying, she goes in the soup pot.

For the newbie starting out, the reason I suggest doing a few layers and a few CX is this: You get good layers, you get good meat. You only have to brood chicks once that season. And you avoid the rooster drama that comes with a grow out pen of cockerels. Or just start with layers, and add meaties the next year. Keeping a rooster and keeping him well involves an extra learning curve. That may also be a project you want to delay until you've decided how committed you are to keeping a flock long term.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

 

[LivinginNC]

Production layers produce eggs very well. They have a great feed to egg conversion rate. But, when they are no longer laying, there's not a lot of meat on their bones. They will make a nice soup stock. But not a bird you'd want to serve to company!

Meat birds grow out and provide a good meaty carcass in a reasonable time. CX will grow out in 6 - 8 weeks. That's what you buy in the cello packs at the grocer. Their feed to meat conversion rate is fantastic. The CX grows so fast that feed intake needs to be monitored to keep them from having joint or heart failure.

There are other "meat birds" which are not prone to the systemic body failure of the CX. Their conversion rate is not quite as good, but they grow out in 12 - 13 weeks. It's most convenient if they can be processed around this time before the major testosterone kicks in. (Testosterone = Jerk teen age punks who want to fight any male, and will gang breed any female that they can catch. Cockerel drama is not a pretty sight.) Examples of these birds: Pioneer aka Dixie Rainbow, Freedom Ranger. Each hatchery has their own named birds which fall into this category. They are hybrids, but IME with the Pioneer, they breed true enough that you could get a few generations of good meat before the genetics lead to decreased size. They free range well, and actually make decent layers.

Dual purpose birds are good layers, but do not produce as well as the production layers. They also provide a decent carcass for the table, though it pales in comparison to the CX. Their feed to egg or feed to meat conversion rates are not as good as that of the production layer or the CX or Pioneer. Many people keep a flock of DP birds, and simply raise replacement birds every year. They eat the excess cockerels, and keep or sell the pullets. When a hen is done laying, she goes in the soup pot.

For the newbie starting out, the reason I suggest doing a few layers and a few CX is this: You get good layers, you get good meat. You only have to brood chicks once that season. And you avoid the rooster drama that comes with a grow out pen of cockerels. Or just start with layers, and add meaties the next year. Keeping a rooster and keeping him well involves an extra learning curve. That may also be a project you want to delay until you've decided how committed you are to keeping a flock long term.

THANK YOU. THAT WAS AWESOME. I can already tell you are all going to be a ton of help. That was at least an hour of Googling and research I don't have to do now.