Orpingtons for meat?

[Jocasta]

I've just been given an orpington roo. I have an orpington hen. I've heard they make a good dual purpose bird and was thinking about incubating their eggs. Was just after some opinions on whether or not Orps do in fact make good meat birds?

TIA

 

[PatS]

We have orps, mostly for eggs, but several a year (for us 20-30%) go broody at least once. We encourage them to raise their broods and eat the extra roos when they are 5 or 6 months old. They are somewhat scrawny in the breast, but they have lovely legs and are delicious, small breasts and all.

This year we are branching out and trying some other non-Cornish Cross meat-type birds in addition to the buff orps.

 

[Ariel301]

I butchered a few 5 year old hens that I was given for free a few months ago. They were surprisingly meaty. Nothing like the Cornish Cross in size, obviously, but very wonderfully flavorful, I slow cooked them in a crock pot to make them tender and juicy. I liked them enough that I am going to get a bunch of Orpingtons to add to my flock for dual-purpose.

 

[Jocasta]

Excellent, thanks for that guys. Will be picking them up in the next couple of days (got a CLB roo coming too). Looking forward to some meaties and also some auto sexing chickies

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

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