good meat bird(not cornish)

[MysticScorpio82]

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Nobody is disputing that, We all know they are the quickest to produce meat. The OP was looking for alternatives to a Cornish X.

I have always heard good things about Plymoth Rocks and Orpingtons.

 

[Mom2Cool]

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I'd love to hear the answer to this too.... I have 3 BO roo's & I think like 4 or 5 SS Roo's that are now about 7 weeks & hubby & I had thought to just try them as meat birds rather than try to get rid of roos etc. My problem is I'd kind of wanted to wait to see what they're going to look like because I'd wanted to try keeping 1 BO roo & maybe 1 SS. what's the best age to process them & should I be feeding them all the same or should I be plumping them up??? I have them on starter/grower of course and I've been letting them free range the garden, but should I be giving them something besides that & they're all just mixed in so is it ok for the rest that aren't to be processed to have the same?

 

[pdpatch]

Feed them as you would any other Hertage breed chick.

4 to 6 weeks chick starter or starter/grower

for layer
4-6 weeks to about just before laying grower

at about 24 weeks they should start laying
layer ration with extra calium in the form of oyster shell or egg shells.

for meat birds

4-6 weeks to finish grower

for meat birds that last 4 to 6 weeks before butcher you can switch to a finisher ration. Generly you won't find a finisher ration as bagged feed. some feed mills can custom mix it, there is several example of what some backyard growers us on this forum or I have seen some after googling for "custom chicken feed mix".

For a finisher for heritage meat birds we tend to use a bagged grower feed. Then add roll Oats and cracked corn, I can't tell you the exact mix, not because it's super secret but because my wife mixed the feed

If you can free range or have the chickens on grass, you can always have some patches of tall grass to cut and bring to the chickens.

Now you will find many variation of this feed schedule, and adventualy you will develop you own.

Although a lot of people advocate butchering heritage meat birds at the 15 weeks range. This is done to produce a bird that is good for frying by modern standards. we believe this is not long enough for some types. Plus we don't fry chicken. If you wait until at least 28 to 30 weeks you will have more meat on the birds.

We had one Buff Orghington Rooster that we waited until he was a year old before butchering and he was tasty broiled.

Tom

 

[Mom2Cool]

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Tom thanks so much this is a great help...