raising layers as meaties

[Dwen]

I currently have quite a few fertile eggs from Golden Comet hens and a barred rock rooster, and I was wondering how plausible it would be to hatch and raise them as meat birds. I know that they would produce a smaller bird and take longer to mature, but I was wondering exactly how long until they are ready to process, and how heavy I can expect them to be.

Thanks!
Dwen

 

[Bossroo]

I would look at the commercial hatcheries to see why they give away their egg layer breed and some "dual purpose" cockerals as packing peanuts. Simply not worth the time , effort, and money to raise them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

A whole lot of us do exactly what you are talking about. They are nowhere nearly as efficient as raising the meat hybrids and feed costs can be a bit high if you provide all the food they eat. If you can incorporate foraging, those feed costs can come down.

Some people eat the males at 12 weeks but I just don’t find enough meat on them at that age to make it worthwhile. Realize that some people eat quail, so size is a personal preference thing. I never butcher any until they are 16 weeks old and really prefer 18 to 20 weeks. If you feed them a higher protein diet, they will grow faster.

I don’t have a clue how much mine weigh. I don’t bother and I’ll eat any of them, male or female, so weight is irrelevant to me.

 

[Dwen]

I pasture my chickens so they get controlled forage, but say I feed them meat bird grower, or all flock, has anyone ever figured out how much that boils down to per bird for say 16 weeks? I'm trying to come up with a bottom line, per bird number.

Thanks

 

[wyoDreamer]

As for size, weigh one of your Golden Comets and multiply that by 65% (or .65) to get an etimate on carcass size. I think that is the rate of convertion for live weight to carcass, if that is wrong would someone correct me please.
I would expect that calculation to be the smallest you would get - with a barred rock rooster daddy and a high protein feed they will most likely be somewhat bigger, but that would be a good starting point for estimation.
How big is your Roo?

 

[Dwen]

I don't have him anymore, so I can't weigh him, but he was about 170% their size. Not quite twice as big.