Looking for advice

[TheSchwartz]

Good morning everyone,

I currently have a group of Buff Orpington layers. I'm wanting to incubate the eggs to raise meat birds in my tractors. I'm looking for a rooster, but I want to be careful in selecting the breed.

I want to find a breed that is known as a good dual-purpose/meat bird to breed with my BO's. I imagine the BO's will have smaller breasts, so I'd like to introduce a breed that has larger breasts. Some current considerations are copper marans, australorps, or maybe even bresse's?

I'm very new to this, so advice is greatly appreciated. Do y'all have any suggestions? Would you just stick with the Orpingtons and not crossbreed?

side note: not really interested in cornish x's or freedom rangers. I'm looking for more of a heritage meat bird. I'm not "anti-cx" as some are, but they just don't really move my needle (so-to-speak).

Thanks again!

 

[Ridgerunner]

For more breast meat, my suggestion is a true Cornish. Cornish don't lay very well but they were used in the original Cornish X cross for the breast meat. They are not a great dual purpose because they generally don't lay well but a true Cornish should add breast meat better than any other dual purpose I know of. Some people call them Indian Games.

 

[Geena]

The hatchery dual purpose chickens I have grown out are usually around 3 lbs processed weight @ 16 weeks. Even the breeds that they claim are good for meat production generally aren't so much.

There are several hatcheries that now have "broiler enhanced" Delawares and New Hampshires, that might be something close to what you are looking for.

I know you said you weren't really interested in rangers, but you can cross a colored broiler with your Orpingtons and end up with a bird that is somewhere in between. That's what I did here with blue orpington X red broiler.

 

[AGeese]

My Jersey girls are dual purpose.

 

[CNJ]

I crossed a Breese rooster with a cornish x hen and bred the Breese father back to the chicks. These birds hit 4 to 5 lbs dressed in 3 months and the hens are decent layers. The meat is tender and can be batter fried. My Buff Orpington rooster took 5 months to reach that weight and he was like rubber when I batter fried him. However, I am pretty sure he would have been tender at 3 months old.

In my opinion, my Breese/Cornish X line is a superior meat bird in comparison to standard Breese or other heritage birds that I have raised. However, heritage birds are better egg layers.

My breeding hens hit 8lbs and my rooster weighed 12lbs at 5 month old.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

I just processed McMurray lemon cuckoo Niederrhiener cockerels. At 12 weeks dressed weight averaged 4 lbs 5 ounces. I could have let them go to 16 weeks but I am leaving for vacation and they would create drama for the chicken sitter. I’m happy with the final wt anyway.
The pullets are great, consistent layers at 20 weeks. Pullets are about 7-8 lbs now.