Sustainable meat chicken dual purpose choice

[HVPastures]

Gotcha. What was it about them that made them disgusting? I see all the poultry be gross so I'm not disagreeing with you but merely curious if I am not seeing something.

The water. Keeping little kiddie pools for them and then cleaning the poop water was crazy. I am not a big fan of mud in general and that is all I saw when I looked at the ducks...mud everywhere and nasty poop water.

 

[HVPastures]

Oh, there's also Jumbo quail. I've seen some listings say they can get theirs up to 1.5+ pounds easy. But I think you need an aviary. Mainly thinking of fastest turn-out.


Though, fastest turn out is trading with someone else who've put the time and feed in to their poultry who are sick of that type or that particular animal (as in, they're a jerk and need to go.) so even if you stick to chickens, still try to keep in the back of your mind filling a niche no one else does.


I have some 2-3 year old ducks that I never would have raised. But I am happy to be able to try eating 2-3 year old duck meat.

YES! Coturnix Quail are on my radar. MyShire Farms is about 1 1/2 hour drive from me. I definately plan on a small flock of Jumbo Pharoah quail...we think a like.

 

[SnackMeat]

YES! Coturnix Quail are on my radar. MyShire Farms is about 1 1/2 hour drive from me. I definately plan on a small flock of Jumbo Pharoah quail...we think a like.

This is one eBay vendor I've bookmarked because of how they describe their quail eggs and being able to get their quail up to 18-22oz.

I don't have any experience with them, but I figured I would show you.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/4045068721...BCR1WC&hash=item5e2e7d0963:g:yvYAAOSwxhJkqhad


Hopefully your local options are also breeding some impressive sizes.

 

[HVPastures]

This is one eBay vendor I've bookmarked because of how they describe their quail eggs and being able to get their quail up to 18-22oz.

I don't have any experience with them, but I figured I would show you.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/4045068721...BCR1WC&hash=item5e2e7d0963:g:yvYAAOSwxhJkqhad


Hopefully your local options are also breeding some impressive sizes.

Wow. All the research I have done, the usual net weight of a butchered 8-week Jumbo Coturnix Quail is 6-8 ozs. 18-22 ozs is hard to believe.

 

[Bigdumogre]

I have no experience doing meat birds but my Bielefelder grew the quickest out of all my birds and has some serious size. I know they are dual purpose birds and mine is very sweet but does not like to be held.

 

[SnackMeat]

Wow. All the research I have done, the usual net weight of a butchered 8-week Jumbo Coturnix Quail is 6-8 ozs. 18-22 ozs is hard to believe.

Probably live weight.

 

[HVPastures]

I have no experience doing meat birds but my Bielefelder grew the quickest out of all my birds and has some serious size. I know they are dual purpose birds and mine is very sweet but does not like to be held.

I was on a Bielefelder kick for a hot minute watching videos and reading all about them. Then I got distracted with American Breese & Delewares. I forgot all about those guys...

 

[ButtercupEnthusiast]

I was on a Bielefelder kick for a hot minute watching videos and reading all about them. Then I got distracted with American Breese & Delewares. I forgot all about those guys...

I love my Bielefelder hen. She's a calm, large, fair layer, friendly but not cuddly bird. She has given me large robust boys that grew quickly and where pretty meaty, yielded 4.5lbs-5.5lbs dressed at around 6 months of age. I thought they did pretty good considering their sire was my Sicilian Buttercup cock and he isn't a meaty bird at all. I would imagine crossing her with a Orpington, Delaware or any other large dual purpose cock would produce better cockerels for meat but like I said these boys were no slouches.

However, and keep in mind I've only ever had the one Bielefelder hen, she seems prone to leg injuries. She has had a bad limp three times now. She's three years old and she's recovered from it all three times without any of my assistance and it's the same leg each time, I don't know if it's genetic or just her previous injury acting up. If it wasn't for her leg concern I would hatch out chicks from her and try to get some nice meat Capons.

You could do sex-link crosses of dual purpose breeds and get some hybrid vigor to boost your growth rate. Maybe a Black Orpington/Australorp cock over Bielefelder/Delaware hens or something like that. I'm not sure if you're wanting to raise purebred birds or not.

 

[Frizzle and Friends]

New Hampshire is a great bird. Where is Freedom Ranger Hatchery?

It looks like they are based in Pennsylvania. Below is a link to their New Hampshires.

https://www.freedomrangerhatchery.com/shop/product/new-hampshire-gmo-free-chicken/