Pioneer meat birds- the good, the bad and the very, very ugly

[malndobe]

I have a number of Pioneers from MMH also, and my experience goes with the people who say they are friendly, good free rangers, etc. They didn't grow quite as fast/large as I hoped, but this may also be due to the amount of free ranging I let my chickens do. They have integrated very well into my flock, which is a variety of pure breeds and mixes. I plan to butcher all but the largest rooster, keep the hens and then hopefully the hens will be good layers. I wasn't planning to keep any of the roosters but all my Rhodebars were killed by a predator, and I have one rooster that looks a lot like my Rhodebars and has a good personality, so I'll keep him around just for color in the flock. It doesn't hurt that he is also the largest/fastest growing of the Pioneers. They are about 4 months old now.

 

[duluthralphie]

Your rooster looks somewhat like mine. Mine is lighter colored but he is currently ill.

I wanted to use him for breeding with CX's this spring but am worried that may not happen. I thought he was depressed after being deposed as king of the coop, However, today I had to pick him up and move him, he had gotten into an area he was not allowed into, and when I set him down I noticed he limped.

He was roosting for a few days and I wonder if he hurt himself getting off the roost.

Nice looking birds you have.






These pictures were at about 3-4 months old. last summer.

 

[malndobe]

A few more photos of my Pioneer. The were born last August, the photos are from the last month or so, so 5-6 months old. The "2 tone" (darker head, solid colored body) girls started laying earlier, the barred girls are ending up larger in size. I don't know if that's just coincidence in my group, but it's consistent between them.

2 of the girls, in the back is an Orpington. The middle one is the "2 tone" I mentioned earlier, that doesn't have a barring gene.



One of the roosters, very different body style than the darker one I posted earlier, much more upright but still fairly stocky.



Another one of the pullets


Bad photo but a better shot of the 2 tone girls with a 9-10 month old Welsummer mix

 

[Wooddogs3]

Update: the Pioneer rooster and four hens that I kept are now a year old. The rooster continues to be very good with all the hens and unaggressive toward me. The hens are laying jumbo-size light brown eggs. They aren't my most productive layers but do fine, and we're very persistent in laying through the colder and darker midwinter. I'm quite happy with them, and intend to raise more Pioneers this year for meat, but doubt that I will keep any more of them long-term, since I have no need for replacement hens this year.

 

[duluthralphie]

I lost my Rooster. He succumbed to something with his leg injury. I still plan to breed some and buy some more. We have eaten a few lately and I like the large thighs and drumsticks they have. I hope to breed the hens I have to a Cornish Cross rooster rolling the die to see what I get.

 

[malndobe]

One of my Pioneer hens went broody and successfully hatched some chicks. She was actually doing really well as a mom, the chicks were growing well, feathering out, etc. Unfortunately they all decided one day to explore the duck pond and all of them drowned :-( I don't know why they all choose to do it on the same day, but ... I drained all but an inch out of the pond, just enough the birds could still get a drink but no swimming for the ducks for now. The next day I found another momma hen's chicks standing in there, luckily since the water level was much lower they were fine, just their feet were wet. Once again, the entire hatch for that mom was in there.

The final outcome sucked, but I was very happy to see one of the girls go broody and successfully hatch a group of chicks, I'm going to set up some Pioneer breeding pens for next time around and try to hatch some of my own Pioneers.

 

[willr]

I am curious about processing time. I have 15 Pioneers that are huge! But they are only 9 weeks old. My set up is a tractor for night and a temp electric fenced "pasture" area all day.

This is my first experience with meat birds but I have had a great experience with this breed and will probably get more. They are docile, free range well, and feathered out really quickly allowing me to move them into a tractor outside really quickly compared to the layers that I got at the same time who needed a heat lamp in the real coop for weeks after the pioneers were settled outside without. We have experienced no cannibalistic behavior. At 9 weeks they are at least twice the size of the Wyandottes, Light Brahma, Partridge Rocks hens that I got for laying at the same time/age. The only down sides seem to be that they do seem a little irrational/stupid; I threw pine shavings into the tractor on a particularly chilly day in the enclosed side where they typically sleep and they wouldn't walk on them...) They are also lacking in personality but that's only going to make it easier for me to eat them! We are considering keeping the largest roo who is very gentle with us and our kids but we will see how it goes.

Any advice/experience on butchering age/weight would be appreciated!

 

[Wooddogs3]

I kept some of them to age 16 weeks before butchering, and none of them got especially big: the very biggest dressed out at about seven pounds. Have to add, though, that I feed flaxseed in my feed to increase the omega-3 content, and I have since read that this can retard growth somewhat. I have eaten the last one out of the freezer, and continue to be wowed by the flavor of the meat.

 

[blucoondawg]

I raised 25 of them last year along with 25 red rangers and 25 isa browns in a hoop coop I use for meat birds and I free ranged once they were old enough. I didn't have any problems the op cites. I did lose a couple of each breed because they liked to pile at night for some reason even once they were larger and didn't need heat anymore. I did go through a large amount of feed, more than I expected I don't know if any breed ate more than the other. I had rainbows from hoovers but they seem to be the same as the pioneers. I will likely get more this summer and have considered keeping a breeding flock but don't know if I will do that or not, they may eat me out of house and home

 

[Wooddogs3]

I kept one Pioneer rooster as my flock rooster, and let broody hens hatch out some eggs for meat birds. The Pioneer-heavy laying breed hybrid chicks grew very well and made acceptable meat birds at 15 weeks, smaller than pioneers but with that same awesome flavor.