Suggest a dual purpose meat bird and why.

[farmer boy]

I was thinking of Australorps also... I think all dual breed are pretty decent as they have been developed for many years.

ya australorps were developed or bred in 1890 with a black orpington and a rhode island red and white leghorn , langshane, plymouth rock so theres been a lot of work on this one they are pretty to i want some blue ones but they are harder to find here i guess never saw on before i only raise the black ones good thing they are good in the cold to since i live in canada to

 

[Jared77]

I think it depends on what your needs are. I think you could easily breed for a meatier dual purpose bird like a Rock, or NH, Cornish, Buckeye, etc by focusing on that aspect of the breed. Then if you only need a few more eggs to keep your family fed why not just toss in a couple of hens that lay a different colored egg? Say all your meat hens lay a brown egg. Why not toss in a white egg layer? Would eat less, and crank out eggs. Their whole job of being there is to lay.

That way you know to incubate the brown eggs in the spring and any white eggs are to eat. No sense in incubating something that wont grow to what you want it to be. Or get EEs so you eat the blue or green eggs. Once you get enough birds hatched and on the ground then all the eggs go to eating. This would help keep your total number of birds down that you have to feed, and house cutting costs and you still get the production you need from both meat and eggs to keep up with your needs. Plus it increases the number of girls your roo would be able to chase and decrease the stress of continued breedings by your roo. So what if your meaty DP roo breeds your little egg machine? Your not hatching any of her eggs, so its really not an issue.

Granted if you have a steady market for eggs, sure sell them and expand to 2 flocks and keep a meat flock and a laying flock. I'm just trying to give you an alternative that might work for you.

I would think it would be pretty easy to replace an old layer(s) when her time was up. Offer something in trade to someone with a laying flock. Im sure you could work something out with someone locally. Would be worth a try. Maybe you keep an eye out at the feed stores and see if you couldn't pick up some layer chicks there. Or at an auction or talk to some of the 4H kids at the fair when that rolls around knowing that next year you need to replace laying hens see what they have available. Maybe they have the not as pretty/nice sister to the layer they brought with them to exhibit. Maybe they want to sell their layers. Hard to say but you'd have options if you start looking.

 

[Amarisus]

I also agree with Oregon blues, two small flocks will be your best bet. And for brooding (as I know leghorns wont go broody and I don't know much about cornish) I would get a few large Cochins as the are fantastic mothers and large enough to cover many eggs. Just keep a couple in each flock and when they go broody put whatever eggs you want hatched under them.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I like Jared77's idea of adding white egg layers to a brown egg meat flock.
Easy Peasy - one flock to take care of, but you can tell which to eat and which to hatch ...

 

[bigoledude]

There's folks out there with Delawares that lay large quantities of huge eggs. Delawares are tough and get along well with other chickens. The docile Australorps are great layers also and are a healthy and vigorous bird. There are some bloodlines of EEs available that lay very large and plentiful blue eggs and green eggs. The eggs of all three of these breeds would be very easy to barter with if things go nutty. All 3 breeds will forage for a large portion of their diet if given the opportunity to free range each day.

The idea of having Cochins is a great one. They will hatch and mother whatever eggs you desire to hatch. Whether it be more egg layers or meat birds. I've never raised them but, I know they handle the cold real well. Here in SE Louisiana, cold is pretty much a non-issue.

The reason you will want to have birds of varying ages is because of the diminishing volume of eggs as your hens get older. Always have some younger hens ready to fill the void of the ones that you culled because their laying slowed up. Even the hens that are providing your meaties will eventually produce fewer eggs. Selling/trading meaty chicks will help provide income and needed provisions in bad times. You may find that meat chicks will be your best seller. Who knows?

I like your planning! Has me thinking more now.

 

[wekiva bird]

We Have Non hatchery type birds, H. Delawares,Rocks, SOP and H. Buffs Opr. and a few EE for the eggs. Good layers and meat on them .Some of them go even go broody. Hatchery types they weight less.

 

[Bossroo]

My father ( a Veterinarian) and I did these types of crossbreeding for over a half a century in hopes of producing a better meat bird

... guess what... we somewhat improved just a little bit on amount of meat produced,

then about 4 years ago, I discovered the advantages of raising the Cornish X in terms of cost / benefit as well as time, so our birds whent over the rainbow bridge to freezer camp.

 

[flockman]

I have White rocks. They are ok as meat bird. I kept the largest rooster of the 24. Not a cornishX for sure. Pekins are a better dual purpose bird. They out lay my white rocks and out weigh them.

 

[milleryardchx]

Delaware was the heritage dual purpose bird of choice i have them for meat birds and nice large brown eggs, I would get 2 Orpingtons for broody and you are good as gold. my Orpingtons i have had went broody at 5 months old before one even started laying! She went broody 2 times a year for 5 years I think I may have only gotten a dozen eggs a year out of those two silly hens all they waned to do was hatch chicks and they were great at it smallest hatch they had was 5 chicks largest was 19.

 

[Jared77]

I know its been posted before but its got such a good outline it should be shown again.

http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/ALBCchicken_assessment-1.pdf