help with meat bird breed

[theharve01]

hi, for the last few weeks i seem to be reading conflicting information online regarding the breeds that are good for meat. i live in ireland so i am limited to certain breeds. we dont get cornish cross over here or rangers. i read that buff orpingtons are a good meat bird, then i read that they are not a good meat bird. i currently have a small batch of BO eggs in my incubator. (first time incubating). i dont mind a breed that might take a little longer to be table ready. once its not the best part of a year.

the plan is to have a mixed flock of two breeds to lay the eggs that i will hatch for broilers. i have the cutomers already lined up to start this at a small scale. i was thinking of mixing the flock with BO and light sussex or golden brahmas. with the rosster being from either or breed. from your own experience with these breeds. would you think these are good breeds for this purpose.

i currently have a flock of laying hens with 4 large marans, 2 leghorns, 4 bantams not sure of breed and a mixed breed rooster. these are an old laying flock that i plan to swap out for new flock of table layers.

thank you and i really appreciate any help.

 

[cavemanrich]

Most practical for you is any DUAL PURPOSE breed of chickens. Chickens will lay eggs, and at end of laying cycle, they are utilized for purpose number 2. If you will be hatching your own chickens,,,,,, then 50% on average will be cockerels. Those you utilize as meat when grown to size when they are about to start fighting with other roosters. Younger birds are obviously more tender meat, but also less of it on carcass.
Leghorns, if you have the White Leghorn, are the BEST egg layers, but not much for meat. Their feed to egg ratio, is probably at the top range.
I never had Orpingtons, but do know they do grow good size. They develop slower than many other breeds, and are kind of late to laying. (compared to other)
You may also consider Sexlinks. They are prolific layers for about 3 years, and then usually do not live long lives after. If you wanted to go that route, then you would start processing those that slowed down in their laying. Most sexllinks (hens) would be on low end of amount of meat. They would also be considered soup birds. Make EXCELLENT CHICKEN SOUP. The meat is considered tough , unless cooked for a long time.
The sexlink males would be ideal for meat in your situation. Process them when still young and grew to your desired size.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and

 

[theharve01]

hi, thats great info. thank you for that. i do like the leghorns myself. i think i might hatch out a few more of these to keep my egg sales satisfied.

i think i need to read up more on the sexlinks.

thanks very much

 

[Egghead_Jr]

You are in Ireland! My goodness, you've got several traditional dual purpose table birds at hand. Red Sussex and Dorking. The Sussex being a better layer and the Dorking being unparalleled as a table bird. Sure you'll always hear about French culinary birds but those are put in fattening sheds prior to butcher. The Dorking as a breed with no fattening is the best period.

Sussex is an old English breed, was the table bird of yesterday. The variety bred with inclination more for table than eggs was Red Sussex. If anyone can acquire a good representation of this variety it's you in Ireland.

Birds are most tender if butchered before 14 weeks of age. Use that niche, though the birds will be smaller than what today's consumer is accustomed to they will be rich in flavor. For more flavor they can be raised to roasting age. Market as such. The prospective customer would have option of a tender, cook it anyway you want young bird or can purchase a 18-24 week roaster. To be roasted in oven not fried or broiled. Those are younger birds.

Stick with one breed. Get the best quality stock you can. Market as flavorful traditional bird to "foodies" with the two options of age (cooking method and extent of flavor). The Roasters having more flavor than 13 week old broilers. With this small scale hobby business model you'd be hatching out many birds and using the cockerels as meat, the pullets for eggs, saving the best of for breeders and selling laying birds each fall to downsize flock for winter. A rotation of stock, improvement of breed, meat supply and egg layers. Operation of grow out is large in summer and downsized for winter keeping best representations as breeders.

My thoughts anyways.

 

[theharve01]

thanks egghead jr for that. i never even thought of selling on layers at the end of the year. i just planned on slaughtering all when they reach the correct weight.

as you stated the sussex and dorkings are English breeds. i am in Ireland. i can get white sussex. but no one sells red sussex or dorkings.

i am able to get the french la brese hens. they are supposed to be a very tasty bird. but i didnt like the characteristics that i have read about them.

thank you for the advice and imput.

 

[Ridgerunner]

@sumi Is this true? Can you not get Cornish Cross or Ranger chicks in Ireland? I find that really hard to believe.

Theharv01, where to even begin. If you are going to do this commercially, I suggest you chat with your agriculture ministry or whatever you call them over there. I don't know how they are set up but they should have a local representative that could help you with many different things, how to go about this, finding markets, legal requirements, and where to find resources such as chicks or feed.

Of course different people will say different things about how good one breed is for meat. We all have different goals, standards, and experiences. We are all going to have different opinions.

I'm not a great believer in breeds, I believe more in strains. I'll try to explain that. Not all Buff Orpington or Sussex are the same worldwide. If the person that selects which birds get to breed uses a criteria for meat production (and knows what they are doing) then in a few generations you can have a flock where the meat qualities re pretty good. If they select for egg laying but not meat qualities you will soon have a flock that lays pretty well. If they select for hens that go broody, in a few generations you can have a flock where many hens go broody. Certain breeds will be better for meat, Leghorns are bad since they are so small, so breed is important. But you need to try to find a source that is breeding for your goals. The better your stock the better you are. Then you have the choice of buying chicks every year or breeding your own.

You can cook any chicken of any sex or age. But their age when butchered has a lot of influence on how you can cook them. The older they get the more flavor and texture they have, especially the males when the hormones of puberty hit. Some people like those flavors, some don't. As they get older you have to change the way you cook them. A fairly young bird can be grilled or fried but if you cook an older bird that way they will be tough as shoe leather, pretty much inedible. Another issue is that different people have different expectations. If all they have been used to is the store-bought Cornish X chickens that are typically butchered at a very young age they may find the texture of an older chicken too much, where some of us would be happy with that.

What characteristics do you want in your meat chickens. If you pluck your chickens, white or buff colors will give you a prettier carcass than dark red or black. They are going to have pin feathers. The darker pin feathers are easier to see. If you skin them it is not an issue but many people like the skin on.

How are you feeding them? Will you provide all their feed or will they forage for a fair portion? If you provide it, will you buy or raise it. Feed costs can be a huge factor in whether you are profitable or not. And it could influence when you want to butcher them. If you feed them everything you probably want to butcher them fairly early. If they forage for a lot of their food they will grow slower but your feed costs many not be as big a motivating force.

Do you plan to sell to a store or a restaurant? If so, chat with them to see what they want. If you are selling to individuals it can be a bit harder to determine what they want. You have to find your niche.

Now the laying hens. Typically laying hens are smaller so they can use more of their food for making eggs than maintaining large bodies. Commercial laying flocks are typically kept in climate controlled buildings where the light is strictly controlled and they are fed everything they eat. We don't keep out chickens that way so it makes it a little harder to talk about typical laying cycle. But I'll try. Most hens lay really well their first laying cycle, from when they start until they have their first adult molt. For commercial flocks with the light carefully controlled, that's usually around 13 months, give or take. After they have been laying continuously a certain amount of time the frequency of laying and quality of eggs drop to the point of not being worth the cost of feeding them. If they are allowed to molt they will enter another good laying cycle. But after a second adult molt production typically drops enough that they are better off replacing them instead of feeding them through another molt. Since you are not managing them the same way you will probably come up with something different. Trial and error might be the way to find out what works best for you. When you butcher them, you probably want to market them as stewing hens.

I don't know how big an operation you are planning or how involved you want to make it. Hopefully you can get something out of this that helps. Good luck!

 

[sumi]

@sumi Is this true? Can you not get Cornish Cross or Ranger chicks in Ireland? I find that really hard to believe.

We have broilers here, but what you call Cornish we call Indian Game. Some common breeds in the US is hard to find here though and we have a handful of rare breeds that are not known in the US.

 

[Ridgerunner]

We have broilers here, but what you call Cornish we call Indian Game. Some common breeds in the US is hard to find here though and we have a handful of rare breeds that are not known in the US.

Sumi, I'm not talking about the Cornish or Indian Game breed, I'm talking about the commercial hybrid broilers, often called Cornish Rock, Cornish Cross, or Cornish X.

If you like breast meat more than thighs the Cornish or Indian Game dual purpose breed would be with considering. That's why it was used to help develop the hybrid meat bird cross, they have a lot of breast meat.

 

[mixedbreeds]

Do you have access to malines they are a large bird and very good eating. If you can find some I would give them a try.

 

[Mosey2003]

Do you have a national poultry association over there? I would see if you can't find any groups affiliated with it and ask members (breeders) what they would recommend. It's going to be really hard to know what you even have, as an American. But especially if you have a national poultry society members FB group, that would be the place to find people that are breeding the good dual purpose birds you would want to start with.