Raising Silkies or Minorcas to butcher - how long?

[jackofiver]

Hello -
We have an Asian population that would like us to raise chickens for them. I have raised a number of breeds before, but never Silkies or Minorcas. Do any of you know how long it would take to raise them to butchering stage? I believe this is in the 1-2 pound range for Silkies, and thinking 4-5 pounds for the Minorcas......Thanks in advance!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

IMO silkies would be a real loser for meat. My minorcas are big birds but still don't put weight on like other breeds (they're big/not meaty).
I'm curious why you selected a miniature chicken and a mediteranean egg breed for your two options for meat?

 

[jackofiver]

Silkies are the most valued meat for this population, and the Minorcas were their next request. Cultural preference. They don't like our big, fat white meat chickens Just trying to get an idea of how long it would take to get either breed to size. Thanks!

 

[kfacres]

forever on the silkies...

Personally, you'd be best off to cover your Silkie females with something like a cornish, or cornish bantam to get a faster meatier type bird... Once skinned, they'll all be black skinned, and much more meatier... basically being more profitable...

 

[fowled-out]

Cross Silkie Roo to Australorp Hen. sell F1 offspring. How do I know? I am one of those silly asians.

 

[partsRheavy]

I KNOW this is crazy but here goes.....

Old-timey idea incorporating the silkies ------

Do a silkie cross with Jersey Giant or maybe Barred Rock. (would they even consider each other??!!)

Start out with normal straight-run orders of silkies and Jersey Giants. Set up pens for various crosses. Silkie roo x JG hen and JG roo x silkie hen. Also try just the silkies if that is truly the meat they want.

Raise the F1's as meaties and possibly caponize some of them?? (reason is below) Some Asians know how to caponize.

Eat the other F1's as young fryers except for breeder males and females. I would keep roos and hens of both original breeds and see which crosses work best for the kind of meat your customers want.

So, you need silkie boys and girls and JG boys and girls and pens to do the crosses so they're not just all randomly mating.

The caponized F1's as well as the silkies are apparently good at raising chicks so there can be more chicken dinners on the way....in a sort of never-ending cycle with few hatchery or breeder orders necessary except for the original orders for silkies and JG's. The silkies are naturally broody and capons are apparently very nice to young chicks from an incubator hatch.

Then in about a year the capons can be eaten.

Yeah it's a wierd setup that is very different from modern meat production....but if silkie = dinner.....sounds like the silkies should have an opportunity at a job (being broodies) before meeting the dinner plate.

 

[JFreeman]

I know this thread is old, but I was thinking about trying Silkie. I have three silkie roos (may only keep one), and thought about butchering the other two. On a scale of 1-10, 5 being in the middle for the typical white-skinned chicken, how would you rate the silkie?

This may be stupid, but I'm just getting into the whole chicken arena, period, for eggs, and then was thinking maybe it would be great to have meat chickens too. Then I was thinking, I have these silkie roos no one wants to buy. hmmm... I've been training dogs, and I've always been an animal lover, but I feel bad for even considering killing a chicken. Yes I eat chicken, and I have no qualms about eating meat. I even married an avid hunter/fisherman Any one else have that thought?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

IMO chickens taste like chicken. I eat all the extra roosters regardless of the breed.

 

[JFreeman]

Thank you for the reply.

I may just try it.

 

[kfacres]

here's one for you:

Last winter, I put the axe to a bunch of roosters. In order of most impressive carcass quality:

Black Laced Red Cornish
Dark Cornish
White Laced Red Cornish
Blue Laced Red Cornish
Cornish x Show Q Ameraucana
Cornish x silkie

then distantely a bunch of 'farm king' dual purpose roosters...

Sad, but true-- the silkie crosses smoked the farm king 'dual purpose' roosters who were on average 2.5 months older.