Orpingtons?

[Luvmybob]

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Yes, I have one roo and 2 hens. I'm going to breed them for food. Why? Is that too little?

No it's an okay start, just make sure he's not ahem... overly attentive, if so you may need to increas his harem (I'd let him breed them all, and harvest from there untill you have enough BO to have a pure maiting flock).
Some places limit birds via zoning and 5 is the max in several cities here, so I was wondering if it was butchering a roo that was supposed to be a pullet (I'll be doing this next weekend, wanted a 2nd batch of pure eggs for the bator first). Just curious, our meat birds are raised at my grandparents' outside of town, as raising meating with the 5 limit just seems... goofy.

Now if your goal is to not need to order chicks again, they make a solid bird for the independantly minded.

Bob, I let him mate with whom he will, I just won't let those eggs hatch from my RIRs and BSL, those go into omlets but I will let the orpingtons hatch, I want the orpingtons to stay pure. I also keep my girls in the runner for a couple of days to give them a break from Bob. He's not allowed in the coop at night and the girls thank me for it.

We don't have a limit here on chickens that I know of but I live in the country....we have 10.5 acres so they are free ranged and I coop them at night.

I didn't order these chickens, I got them from our local feed store and ACE hardware. I don't mind buying the chicks again but I think I'd like to raise them instead.

Thanks for your input

 

[chickenbottom]

i just wanted to make the statement that i LOVE

 

[Luvmybob]

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Thanks! I know, these are a little shy but very sweet. I'm more attached to my Black Sex Link, she is soooo funny. She talks to us and always comes running to see what treats we have.

I really did want a dual purpose chicken that's the reason I bought these to hopefully breed and continue, but we shall see.

Take care !!
Dana

 

[Chickens in Elmwood]

I love my Orps, and my AustralORPs. haha. All of our birds besides the WL are dual purpose birds, so we are planning to let whoever goes broody hatch all but the Leghorn eggs to raise for meat. It's an experiment, so hopefully it will work out.

 

[Luvmybob]

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I love them all too and it's going to be hard for me to kill them, but I have a family and this is the most economical way to feed them.

 

[Judy]

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Don't feel bad about it. It's just part of owning animals for food. Nothing wrong with caring for them and eating them as well. Besides, since the ideal ratio is around 1 roo to 10 hens, what else are you going to do with the roos? You can only rehome so many.

I'm working towards the same thing. I pet them and sit with them... and put the extra roos in the freezer.

Some people name the pets/hens regular names, and name the ones to be eaten things like Drumstick and Taco and Nuggets.

 

[Buster52]

I call my Oprington "The Big Fella", because he is a big fella. His name is Randy, because he is also that.

I will have meat chickens, and will stew some of my layers and maybe roos on occasion, but this guy is my bud. He'll have to keel over from old age.

I'll eat his chicks, though, especially if they get anywhere near his size. My experience with chickens is comparatively limited, but I have so far been to three auctions with lots of roosters and haven't seen anything his size.

 

[Leah and peeps]

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Because Buffy taste good.

LOL!

 

[bigredfeather]

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I had the same plan 20 weeks ago. Saturday I butchered 6 of them. I was quite dissappointed. The legs and breast were very small. The largest one only weight about 3.5 pounds. I have 4 more to do. I'm going to wait another 4 weeks and see how much difference it makes.

 

[mstricer]

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No, but it sure made me want to dispatch them sooner. They were great tasting birds.

I had problems with the tough meat new at this thing, We were not fans of it. Thinking it has something to do with not waiting 24 to 48 hrs after thaw out to perpare.
Did one at 24 wks and 2 at 32 wks