Keeping A Meat Bird Breading Pair

[nrs3]

My family and I are working towards getting meat birds for our backyard farm, and once we raise up 8 eight birds we would like to keep two as a breeding pair for next year. My question however, is if it would be wiser to eat all the birds instead of keeping two, as I worry about the rooster overbreeding the single hen. I know that this is a considerable danger, but it has never been something we have experienced because even our roughest roosters (in our egg laying flock) have always had a considerable amount of hens to breed with. I just want some advice, because we wouldn't have the space to get more than 8 birds (we are currently only able to build a 8x3 chicken tractor), but I would still like to contribute to the breeding of nearly extinct heritage breeds. We have also yet to acquire any birds, so we don't know their temperaments yet.

 

[Mrs. K]

It depends on what you mean by meat birds. The Cornish cross meat birds grow fast, and sometimes out grow their ability to live. They are the most economical to produce meat.

If you are getting more of a dual purpose bird, you could run those with your layers. They will grow up and lay eggs for you, and a lot of them will go broody so could raise chicks for you.

These are noble plans, and I have vastly enjoyed chicks for decades. But if you are just getting started I would advise a long term plan, gradually adding aspects to this hobby.
* just get pullets the first year - get some experience
* add a rooster that you get from someone else, a rooster so nice, they did not get culled
* pray fro a broody hen - hatch out chicks
* cull some birds
* add a meat bird set up.

Mrs K

 

[nrs3]

If for any reason, anyone was invested in this thread, the issue kind of resolved itself. Our rooster that we kept in the egg flock sadly passed away from a heart attack (we think it might be hereditary as the same thing happened to his dad). As such, the plan is now to purchase 10 chicks and separate two to put in the egg flock as a breeding pair at about 7 weeks. We will of course eat the other 8. Thanks for all your help along the way!

 

[MildlyOffensiveChicken]

I have 7 1/2 month old McMurray “broiler” Delaware’s.


Kept back 12 pullets and 3 cockerals. The pullets had/have a lot more issues with odd eggs than other breeds I’ve had.

Mostly blood spots in the eggs. Some with “meat” early on and a quite a few mishappen.

Aggressive eaters. Very human friendly.

Decent growers.

 

[sdm111]

I have been keeping pairs and trios together for a long time without problems.

 

[nrs3]

It depends on what you mean by meat birds. The Cornish cross meat birds grow fast, and sometimes out grow their ability to live. They are the most economical to produce meat.

If you are getting more of a dual purpose bird, you could run those with your layers. They will grow up and lay eggs for you, and a lot of them will go broody so could raise chicks for you.

These are noble plans, and I have vastly enjoyed chicks for decades. But if you are just getting started I would advise a long term plan, gradually adding aspects to this hobby.
* just get pullets the first year - get some experience
* add a rooster that you get from someone else, a rooster so nice, they did not get culled
* pray fro a broody hen - hatch out chicks
* cull some birds
* add a meat bird set up.

Mrs K

Thanks for the advice. What I mean by meat birds, is heritage breeds like the Dorking, Java, and Orpington (as we live in north Florida we are currently trying to find heat-hardy breeds). I would like some further advice if possible on the aspect of keeping a female with the egg flock*. I say this because we have only ever introduced groups of pullets (8 to 9 weeks) to the flock and never a single bird. We do have a rooster in the egg flock which could be used for breeding, but he is by no means bread for meat so I fear that he could not father appropriately large birds (I also worry that acquiring another rooster would lead to conflict) . All advice is appreciated. * This is in reference to how we plan to raise meat birds this summer, and would probably keep one of the 8 birds for the egg flock as opposed to getting birds this season and hatching their chicks next spring.

 

[Geena]

You're going to need more than one hen. Most likely, as you fear, the rooster is liable to wear that one poor hen out.
I see that people can keep some birds that way, particularly gamefowl, but maybe that's because they are usually more seasonal layers? I've never been able to keep a rooster with less than 5 hens without someone ending up hurt. Also you have to consider that one hen is only going to lay so many eggs, you'd only be able to hatch out 4 or 5 at a time.

 

[Mrs. K]

The breeds you mentioned are just dual purpose birds, they can be with your layers. I would just replace that laying hen rooster with a dual purpose rooster. That will give you a slightly thicker carcass than a leghorn or other egg laying breed. Then you could have pure dual purpose breed.

Mrs K

 

[Mrs. K]

Good luck, my plans always seem to become adjusted.

 

[Hillcrest homestead]

Hi Fellow N.FL chicken tender Here and in the pic you will see that on the left are two of the jumbo eggs we are getting daily from our hatchery (Cornish cross) hens. We lost the two roosters to coyotes and are now moving their tractor into the main run with the Easter egger rooster. We will be hatching some of these eggs soon in the hopes of creating a prolific jumbo blue egg layer that can be a dual purpose breed.