I don't mind you asking. I keep Brahmas which are a dual purpose breed. I have found that after 10 months for hens and 6mos for roos, the quality of meat begins to diminish. The hens don't get much bigger than they are at 10 months so keeping them longer is just a waste of feed and money.
We raise our own chicks in a sustainable system where once they leave the brooder at 8 wks they go into a juvenile coop/run. Here they stay until 4mos protected from the main free range flock yet visible and in close proximity, even feeding side by side through the fencing. This makes integrating them later go easier.
At 4 mos, they are sbout 2/3 the size of the adults. The hens in the free range flock are slaughtered to make room for the youngsters and the cockerels are all slaughtered. Then the cycle begins again with eggs collected for hatching.
I started this system because our friend whom gave us our original flock years ago uses them for gene expression studies. He will give us a new rooster 3 times a year to keep genetic diversity and prevent inbreeding. He also takes a sample batch of eggs from each generation to check for the genes he's studying. His involvement inherently created a quick turn over, so to speak, of birds. I hate waste and want to get the max potential out if everything. This system allows us to harvest meat within optimal flavor and texture ages, with good body weights (5-5.5lb hens and 6-7lb roos avg processed wt.) And prevents ending up with a whole lot of soup birds. My soup is delicious, but its nice to have more versatility. All the while, we are collecting more eggs than we can eat, so family, friends and neighbors are all enjoying the fruit of my labor.
I designed and built my brooder, coops, and runs from mostly salvaged materials. The expenses of start up and monthly feed bills etc. Have all been meticulously recorded along with egg and meat harvests. In the warmer months from April-July, the eggs alone are enough to cover monthly feed, but the rest of the year they fell short. The value of the meat harvests is what tips the scales in my favor.
If you don't mind me asking why is that, are they dual purpose breeds? I don't mean to be questioning your hen raising, but wouldn't it be cheaper to just get chicks every few years rather than getting a new flock every 10 months?
