Orpington and Easter Eggers

[Ais]

Both are classified as dual purpose... would the offspring of such a mix also be suitable for meat?

 

[thehenandchick01234]

EE’s are mixed birds so every one is different with them. I could be ate but you can’t always tell because of the EE.

 

[Molpet]

People raise quail for meat. I'm sure this mix would be bigger than a quail

 

[3KillerBs]

Any chicken can be eaten -- even tiny bantams.

No cross a backyarder can make will equal a Cornish X for size, feed efficiency, and white meat to dark meat ratio, but spare cockerels and retired laying hens of all breeds are perfectly edible and quite delicious when cooked appropriately for their age.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Both are classified as dual purpose... would the offspring of such a mix also be suitable for meat?

Could you explain why you think the offspring might not be? Or maybe what you mean by "suitable for meat"? If we know your concerns we can probably help you more than just broad ranging responses.

I'd be quite happy to eat that offspring but some would be less happy. If you are after the size, texture, and flavor of a supermarket bird you might be disappointed. But then you'd be disappointed with eating Orps and EE's too.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Sure - if you have reasonable expectations (that this won't dress out like a Cornish X, that they will take longer to reach processing weight, etc.), dual purpose breeds can be excellent eating. What you likely won't get from the breeds is a 5 pound carcass at 4-5 months. On the flip side, you may never have tasted chicken as flavorful as one that's grown out for 5 months, had access to fresh air and sunshine (and maybe pasture and bugs?), and was cooked appropriately.

 

[Ais]

Thanks everyone! I was planning on raising Orpingtons for eggs and meat, but fell in love with Easter Eggers and thought it would be nice to have a few of them, but I don't want to have to keep them separate from the Orpingtons. I just wanted to make sure the offspring would have enough meat on them to justify adding them to the mix. No, I don't expect the size of a dedicated meat breed, but would hope one bird to be able to provide at least one meal for us - normally two breasts or one breast and two legs store bought is enough for one meal if that helps.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That depends on you. Mom could feed a family of seven (5 kids) off of one old hen. Chicken and dumplings is not only great comfort food it's a great way to stretch a chicken. When she fried a younger chicken some of the pieces she breaded and fried were gizzard, liver, neck and back. I don't know why she didn't cook the heart.

There are only two of us, I can get two meals off of a relatively small pullet or hen. The first is baked chicken, the second meal is chicken soup. If we are eating a larger cockerel that means I have enough meat left over for a lunch or two. And that's feeding the liver to the dogs and using the heart, gizzard, back, and neck for broth, not serving it on the table.

As someone mentioned Easter Eggers are not a breed. There is no standard for how big they should be. I created mine by mixing certain hatchery quality chickens with a breeder's Ameraucana. The true Ameraucana were kind of small compared to my Delaware, Sussex, and Australorp when I started out, but I could still get two meals out of them. With just a couple of years of selective breeding (choosing larger roosters to breed) the average size went up.

If your EE lay colored eggs, just hatch the brown eggs. That way you are only hatching Orpington.

 

[Parront]

Thanks everyone! I was planning on raising Orpingtons for eggs and meat, but fell in love with Easter Eggers and thought it would be nice to have a few of them, but I don't want to have to keep them separate from the Orpingtons. I just wanted to make sure the offspring would have enough meat on them to justify adding them to the mix. No, I don't expect the size of a dedicated meat breed, but would hope one bird to be able to provide at least one meal for us - normally two breasts or one breast and two legs store bought is enough for one meal if that helps.

I have raised Orpingtons in the past, you can get a 3-4 pound bird in 16-18 weeks, which is large enough for me. They have less breast meat than the store bought breasts you mention, with longer legs and more thigh meat than you might think. I like thigh meat the best, and they certainly have more meet than the Leghorn cockerels I had back then! They took longer to crow than the Leghorns, too. Your Easter Eggers might compare more with an egglayer breed like Leghorns, if they are from the hatchery. You might like to just hatch the brown eggs like Ridgerunner suggests if you want a larger bird for eating purposes. I have some Easter Egger cross Naked Necks, they are some of my best layers, but are not as large as the other NN I have. I do not know if you can tell in this photo, the white bird on the left is the Easter egg cross and is much smaller. Both had the same NN dad. A big Orpington Cock would make better meat cockerels, I would think. Orpingtons are not any where near as large as a Cornish X would get, but you could hatch them out yourself. For a meat bird, this big Naked Neck is what I am hatching eggs from. (Hoping to have less plucking)! They all taste like chicken!

 

[Ais]

Thank you!