HERE is where we are going to talk about a sustainable meat bird flock

[1stepcloser]

Can't have roos where I am at...which pretty much ends any shot I have at sustaining my own flock for now. Will be reading to learn though.

 

[CARS]

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Well then in your case maybe you could find a country neighbor and "loan out" your gals for a couple weeks? Or A/I?? Just a thought

 

[randomchick]

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Would you elaborate? Is that a Ply. Rock roo and Jersey hen or vise versa? How many (m/f) did you start with and how are you working on improving on your success?

I started out with a whole range of breeds, I would buy 3 of each from orpington to silkie and all ranges in between. I ate one from every breed and took notes down. Raised them all the same. Then I mated a whole bunch together and tried their offspring on the dinner table, taking notes the whole time.
My conditions were:
-good white breast (silkie is a delicacy in some contries but I found it not for me)
-decent wings
-amazing stock from left over bones.
I have 1 jersey giant roo and 3 plymouth barred rock hens from last year, along with a bunch of other breeds which did not make the cuts in terms of keeping with my meat standards. The others will be going as soon as the weather warms up. I just ordered straight run 70 more plymouth barred rock, 18 partridge colour plymouth rocks hens, and 21 jersey giants hens. From what I ordered I plan on keeping about 20 barred plymouth rock hens, and 10 of the partridge hens and 10-15 of the jersey giant hens. I will be buying 2 barred roos from a different breeder.
We sell the eggs too and so I need enough for my customers before I let my old breeds go. The meat we will eat will be jersey giant hen mixed with barred plymouth rock roo. My long term plans are to maybe introduce another breed to the mix of the 2 for a faster growing meat bird, but nothing cornish like. I also the temperment of the 2 breeds.

 

[pringle]

Well this spring im getting 30 quail.Im going to butcher most of the males at 10 weeks,but keep 2 or 3 of the biggest(and quietest)ones for breeding.Hopefully there will be enough females and im going to pick the biggest ones and put them in a ratio of 4f :1m.If there are any extra females im going to just have them in the quail house for laying.Im going to save the eggs of the breeding flock and start buliding up my laying flock butchering extra males and such.Once the laying flock is well built up ill sell there eggs at the local farmers market.And im going to do 2 batches of 20 quail each summer for meat.I think its a good plan,the laying flock will pay for feed while in the begining I get extra males to eat then later on raise some specifically for meat.Oh btw,the quail im raising are jumbo coturnix,

 

[randomchick]

Also, I would love to see the barred colouring on a jersey giant. If this popps up in any of my meat breeding, I may try to elaborate on that. I will also be keeping the biggest of the chicks for future breeding to increase the size.

 

[randomchick]

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Are quail good? How would someone describe the taste?

 

[Silkiefan]

I'm freaking myself out and here's why:
I've ordered 25 Cornish Cross chicks - arriving in two weeks. I have to build a run big enough for them, and track down an elusive butcher who will come "do 'em" for me as I cannot kill my own chickens. I wanted to do this because my mother is on a fixed income and I have teen boys. She and I could both use cheap meat in our freezer.
I'm on one hand excited for my new project, and on the other hand bonking myself on the head because I'm going into this blindly...
wheeee!

 

[WallTenters]

We are hoping to have a very sustainable flock of Dominiques. We will also be letting our Dom roos cross on some RIR hens, and trying RIR roos on our Dominique hens, to get crossed meat chicks.

We currently have 9 little pullets and 6 little roos (just a few days old!!) We are getting another batch of 25 chicks (probably 5 roos, for good measure, and 10 more pullets).

Our plan is pasturing in chicken tractors the little meat birds, and butchering around 14-16 weeks. We've also considered caponizing a few roos for some nice plump mini turkey dinners

. We will also be turning chooks out on the garden area at the end of the season to clean any fallen seeds we missed in collection. The best of the purebred Dominiques will be seperated for breeding, while the run-of-the-mill birds will produce for meat chicks, some mixed.

Let's hope it works!

 

[CARS]

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Are quail good? How would someone describe the taste?

Quail are very good. They taste like bbq sauce if that is what you use to season them

They are not as gamy tasting as pheasant, but then again I have never had cage-raised pheasant. It may be what they eat and the exercise that makes the big difference.

Jumbo Corurnix is a dark meat bird. Bobwhites are white meat. The Texas A&M breed was suppose to be a white meat quail, but I will just say it's lighter than dark meat.

You can read more opinions in the Quail section of BYC's. Lots and lots of quail raisers!

 

[pringle]

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Are quail good? How would someone describe the taste?

I gotta admit I havent tried em but I have learned,even if you eat an old bird it will not be tough,you can cook the meat a but rarer than chicken.They are very easy to butcher,start laying eggs at 6-12 weeks of age.Im pretty sure if your just looking for meeat and dont mind to spend alot more money go for bobwhite,if you want a fast growing bird go for coturnix.They taste mainly like chicken with a touch of gaminess to them.