Has anyone ever tried heavy dual purpose meat birds?

[speedy2020]

My recommend is White Bresse. They are good dual purpose, friendly, and not too noisy breed. The meat taste fantastic. If you don't like white color bird, that will be a problem.

 

[FarmBurl]

This is an awesome thread! I'm a newb - selected SLW based on research (I needed a cold hardy breed as well as dual purpose) and the husband picked Barred Rock on a whim at the store... the kids picked Easter Egger and Barnevelder (arriving in July) and I ordered SLWyandotte roo's to round out that minimum order. The plan is to let hens brood enough to supply meat birds and to cycle in new layers occasionally. I'm excited to see how my personal chicken experiment turns out!

 

[Mosey2003]

I have a batch of heavy, heritage Barred Rocks that I plan to process around 16 weeks, I'm interested to see how they dress out. If I can get them finished under $2/lb dressed, it would be worth it to me.

 

[Northern.Ontario]

I have a batch of heavy, heritage Barred Rocks that I plan to process around 16 weeks, I'm interested to see how they dress out. If I can get them finished under $2/lb dressed, it would be worth it to me.

Are they laying eggs yet at 16 weeks? And doesn't it cost MORE to feed a dual purpose chicken for 16 weeks than a Cornish cross for 8 weeks?

 

[Mosey2003]

Are they laying eggs yet at 16 weeks? And doesn't it cost MORE to feed a dual purpose chicken for 16 weeks than a Cornish cross for 8 weeks?

I guess I should have been more clear. I got the birds because I want to keep a flock for breeding and eggs. Male chicks happen. They absolutely won't be laying at 16 weeks, I'll be lucky if they're laying before 12 months. I'm only going to butcher the males. What I meant by "worth it to me" is feeding out whatever future cockerels I breed rather than culling.

 

[lazy gardener]

Pioneer aka Dixie Rainbow make an admirable layer/meat bird. They are hybrids, but breed reasonably true for at least several generations. I found that they were auto sexing based on feather pattern and leg color.

 

[Mosey2003]

I mean, in a pure sense, if I was literally just in it for meat and eggs, I'd buy batches of Cornish cross broiler chicks and Sexlink pullets. That would give optimum meat and egg production for the least cost. But I like breeding my own birds and selling chicks, so I have a dual purpose breed and I've now found a breeder with very hefty, SOP-following heritage birds of my breed of choice. So I am excited to see how they turn out.

 

[Treerooted]

We are going to order 25 Cornish cross for the fall, but I was thinking of ordering 10 of the heavy dual purpose birds too. I know they will dress out much smaller, but I think it would be interesting to try. They take 15-20 weeks to grow out, which is fine. We are in Ontario and order our birds from Frey's.....I have zero experience as this is our first time doing meat birds of any kind.....but does anyone have any idea what breed these "slow growth heavy dual purpose" birds would be? The females are red, males are white.

Hey there, the Frey's dual purpose are not a specific breed; it's their own sex-link cross.
I had looked into ordering either option from Frey's last year but decided first to build my flock with heritage birds by ordering straight run and culling the extra roos. I didn't want to be overwhelmed our first year; we ended up with 14 birds in the freezer.

What part of Ontario are you in? I ordered from Performance and got: Australorp, Brahma, Orpington, Sussex and Wyandotte.
I seem to recall that the Brahmas had the nicest carcass, and some of them were a decent size by 15 weeks. (we did some at 15,18 and 22)

 

[Erin80]

Hey there, the Frey's dual purpose are not a specific breed; it's their own sex-link cross.
I had looked into ordering either option from Frey's last year but decided first to build my flock with heritage birds by ordering straight run and culling the extra roos. I didn't want to be overwhelmed our first year; we ended up with 14 birds in the freezer.

What part of Ontario are you in? I ordered from Performance and got: Australorp, Brahma, Orpington, Sussex and Wyandotte.
I seem to recall that the Brahmas had the nicest carcass, and some of them were a decent size by 15 weeks. (we did some at 15,18 and 22)

Hey, we are 30 min north of Belleville. I ordered 6 chicks from Performance this year....we pick them up april 12 or 13. They aren't for meat though, just eggs and pets

Good to know about Frey's. Thanks!

 

[Northern.Ontario]

Nice to see some Ontarians on here