Orpingtons as Meat Birds

[Hetherlynn]

This interests me a lot because I'm basically doing the same thing you are but with Buckeyes. I also don't have a lot of extra space for overwintering, so I also will be butchering the birds I don't want to keep in the fall. I'll be following along as your project progresses.

I am doing this with Buckeye as well! Please post updates

 

[Morrigan]

Very interesting and informative post. I'm also trying to move away from the CX to a dual purpose flock. My first go at this, is to attempt to breed a good sized bird with the Naked Neck trait, as I want a large bird that can stand the 100+ temps I get in the summer. Right now, I have an incubator full of eggs from a Naked Neck cockerel, mated with different hens -- a red ranger, two slow white broilers, and another Naked Neck. The cockerel himself seems like he has a pretty good body shape and the broilers are rectangular tanks.

If I'm not happy with the result or it proves too difficult to get the NN gene with hybrids, my next strategy is going to be to pick a breed, as you have done, and selectively breed for enhanced meatiness.

Good luck with your breeding project. I look forward to updates.

 

[LilyD]

Very interesting and informative post. I'm also trying to move away from the CX to a dual purpose flock. My first go at this, is to attempt to breed a good sized bird with the Naked Neck trait, as I want a large bird that can stand the 100+ temps I get in the summer. Right now, I have an incubator full of eggs from a Naked Neck cockerel, mated with different hens -- a red ranger, two slow white broilers, and another Naked Neck. The cockerel himself seems like he has a pretty good body shape and the broilers are rectangular tanks.

If I'm not happy with the result or it proves too difficult to get the NN gene with hybrids, my next strategy is going to be to pick a breed, as you have done, and selectively breed for enhanced meatiness.

Good luck with your breeding project. I look forward to updates.

I think it's going to take a long time to get where I want to be with them because we have a lot to work on. But I figure each generation will get a little closer to where I want. I chose one breed so that if I needed to rehome pullets it would be a little more marketable. That plus the fact that I adore their temperament since they are very friendly. It doesn't seem that mixed birds sell very well up here most people expect you to give them to them but if you have a purebred bird that is pretty they jump all over them them minute you post them.

I love the way that Naked Necks look but not sure they would handle our negative temps up in Vermont. I think they would work well for a meat project. Are you going to do a thread to share?

 

[LilyD]

Just did my weigh in for all my birds again.
Green birds are 4 weeks 3 days and have tripled in size. We lost the blue boy who was limping around the 29th of Feb (we think that running and trying to fly in the brooder might have been the cause as they were all running and jumping up onto and off things) on the 1st of March since he wasn't getting any better. I culled him.

The two remaining babies were 11.5 oz and 9.4 oz I think the black bird is a roo so makes sense he's a bit bigger and the mauve one is a pullet.

Yellow babies are close in age around 4 weeks 2 days old and biggest is 9.0 oz and smallest is 7 .7 oz All seem very solid chicks already showing muscle building in their chests and feathering out well.

Blue and Purple babies are growing well as well. Blues hatched out on 2/21 so 3 weeks 2 days. Their starting weight was 1.8 and 1.6 oz and their new weight is 8.0 and 7.5 oz so they weigh about the same amount as the yellow birds. Purples hatched out on 3/1 so are only about 2 weeks old and are 5.1 oz 4.6 oz and 4.2 oz. Generally the lighter babies are looking like females the heavier are looking like they are going to be males.

They were not terribly happy I wanted to take their pictures today so they weren't being very photogenic.

Brickhouse Poultry orp babies are looking good already averaging between 3-4.5 oz They hatched out on 3/5 so are only 10 days old. Hoping for a few larger pullets from this group that I can add to the bunch and maybe a large rooster if none of my home bred boys are looking good that can add larger size bulkier birds to the bunch.

 

[LilyD]

We are up to about 10 lbs of our first big bag gone, plus we finished our original 5lbs so total of 15 lbs eaten since the 13th of February. We keep adding birds to the bunch so it will make it hard to figure out what each bird is eating but in general the guys in the larger brooder outside are eating less than the group inside. They have 3 times the space though and are moving around all day. Waiting until after this weekend to get everyone outside since we are dipping back into single digits again tonight.

 

[LilyD]

Okay did my initial weigh in the chicks weren't terribly happy about it but they put up with it well.

Green Chicks hatched 2/13 ( 2 days away from 2 weeks):
We have a
Mauve: 2.4 oz
Blue: 2.7 oz
Black or dark Blue: 2.9 oz

These are very solid chicks and have grown a lot since hatching.

Yellow Chicks hatched on 2/18 (1 week old today):

Black 2.0 oz
Silver or Light Mauve: 2.0 oz
Darker Mauve: 1.7 oz

It's interesting they aren't very far off from the chicks in the green bands but similar weights

Blue band chicks hatched 2/21 (4 days old today):

Mauve: 1.8 oz
Brown/Black 1/6 oz

Not sure who are cockerels and who are pullets so that may be an explanation for some of the difference in weight between the birds in each group but it's interesting that even though there is a difference in age the weights are fairly close on all of them.

So far I have gone through a little under 3lbs of food (I have 2lbs 3.7 oz left out of a 5lb bag from the last two weeks so 2 lbs 12.3 oz eaten. The food is a crumbled chick starter. There was a little food waste to start as they were figuring out the whole eating process but once they got the hang of it very little was left at the end of each day.

 

[Morrigan]

Looking good. Thanks for the update.

 

[gatrapper]

Great post! I have enjoyed the updates. Keep them coming.

 

[LilyD]

Great post! I have enjoyed the updates. Keep them coming.

I will definitely. Moving them to the outdoor brooder tomorrow so hoping I can get a weigh in when I move them. Fingers crossed they are feeling cooperative.

 

[RiverOtter]

Great thread! Best of luck with your breeding project, I'm looking forward to following it.