harvesting dual purpose birds (RIR)

[jessejames]

i have no a flock of 16 pullet at 11weeks 11 of whom are RIR or production reds i plan on maybe 6 for the freezer and keeping the rest through the winter and on
what i am wondering is they are al now truly free ranginging on my 50 acre farm (well really just on about an acre of it but they could go anywhere ) should i seperate the ones i want to eat and put on a higher protien diet for the last weeks of their lives and when should i think about harvesting them
thanks for your advice in advance

 

[BawGock]

Hi Jesse,
I process my dual purpose roosters right when their pullet sisters begin to lay. Depending on the breed they dress out around 3 pounds. They are all Buff Orp crosses in my case. My birds free-range and are on a laying feed along with the girls. They turn out pretty good without any special finishing ration.
Hope this helps,
Carolyn

 

[jessejames]

thanks bawgock all my birds are hens so i would like to beef (chicken) them up a bit before the kill.
anyone, anyone,anyone

 

[lil_chick]

I agree with BawGock they don't really need anything special. The biggest bonus is all the room they have. All I do I do is feed them corn and wheat and they turn out really good.

 

[antlers]

nothing wrong with a little 20% grower for them on the range. That said, Not sure what you mean by beefing them up. Kind of hard to do on a RIR Pullet. On the other hand I am a firm beliver in quality over quantity. I think while they grow slower on range, the meat will tast better in the end. If you want quantity, it is cheaper at the store . We raise for quality.

 

[Crazy4cochins]

I just processed 3 RIR Roo's yesterday, they are around 3lbs I guess and slim but TALL! They were born Mid -march, but free range all day and are fed 16%layer pellets,scratch , food scraps from my kitchen ect...
I am going to just boil them and shred the meat put it in the freezer to use in Chicken soup ,dumplings ect...
This is what I will do with my extra roo's I get, and get Meaties for the whole roasters next!!! I chose to just feed them with the rest and save the extra $$.

 

[scooter147]

Jesse,
With the breeds you have just let them range until the day they go to freezer camp.
Any extra feed or confinement isn't going to be worth the money or effort.
I agree with the one post you will have quality over quantity.