Hello and help for a newbie

[Jared77]

Hello and thought Id drop in on this one;

Was told to post this here so here goes......

Found this site when I was looking for more information on breeds of chickens. I'm looking for more information because my wife and I have decided to tractor raise some meat birds. My wife grew up in a farming family and currently shows Morgans. So we have the pasture, just need to build the tractors and stock them. We're about 45 minutes due east of Lansing, and 45 minutes due west of Flint for those who know Michigan at all.

The real deciding factor for this was our young 2 y.o. daughter and really trying to offer better chicken for her. The family and I take enough venison so we only buy steak (and thats 3x a year, birthdays and our anniversary) but venison is our red meat 99.9% of the time. Id like to raise enough chicken so we're not buying any either. Ive got the freezer space just need the birds to raise. We don't eat many eggs, we use them more for baking or as a binder when cooking.

Looking for a very sturdy bird that is in ready to go or has been in the freezer by Oct 1 (thats when our archery season starts up and don't want to take time away from that if possible) thats a respectable forager so we're not going through a ton of feed, but doesn't take 2 or 3 birds at dinner to feed the 3 of us. Don't need cornish Xs that can't fend for themselves either. Just trying to find that middle of the road bird between upkeep costs and meat produced thats durable.

I can castrate birds it doesn't bother me and we had planned on processing out everything at the end of the season anyway. Eventually we'd like to have a sustainable number of birds from year to year but right now its not a priority.

Had looked at Orpingtons, Wyandottes, Rocks, and Giants from what I'd gathered online. Someone else mentioned Freedom Rangers when I posted in the Newbie/Welcome forum. Had thought about talking to some folks at the fair too but I'm new to this so all opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Our feed store can order a lot of different breeds so I'm open to ideas. Thoughts? I appreciate your replies

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum!

Glad you are here!

I'm sure the Freedom Rangers would work fine, but then so would any of the dual purpose breeds. They just might not grow as fast. What I would suggest is getting an assortment of roosters from a hatchery and trying them. The roosters are cheaper and if you are only after meat, they grow bigger faster. Many hatcheries have assortments where they send you what they have extra, their choice as to breeds, but if you get the right assortment, it will be the larger birds. Some hatcheries ship as few as 15 in an assortment. Some have a 25 minimum. Alternatively, you can normally order 5 of several different breeds to get your minimum order to try specific ones and see if they meet your needs.

The age to butcher them is subjective. Depends on how you want to cook them. If you want to fry them, you have to butcher them pretty young, but if you are willing to slow cook them, they can be older. They never get too old to cook, you just have to use the right methods. I've cooked older roosters. Slow cook them forever making broth at a gentle simmer. Do not let it come to a full boil. Skim off the fat, save the broth, which is great, and pick the meat off the bones. Use it for chicken tacos, chicken salad, chicken and pasta, whatever.

Since you have a deadline of hunting season, I'd suggest the first year you plan on butchering a couple at 16 weeks, a few at 18 weeks, and the rest by 20 to 21 weeks. See how they cook up at those ages for you and how much meat you get at the different ages. The first year is your experimentation year. See how it works for you and adjust accordingly.

Good luck however you go!!!