What Dual Purpose Chickens Are Good To Eat????

[RUNuts]

Hello,
I do not have chickens yet, but I am looking for egg layers and meat birds. I want to be able to breed my own meat birds, but am i correct that you can not breed them at home unless they are dual pupose? Also which one would you suggest? Thanks!

All chickens are edible. The layers are lighter framed. Older birds are tough so cooking needs to be low and slow. All suggestions above are good.

The meat breeds can get to heavy or big to breed successfully. But there is a middle ground.

Dual purpose is just a catch all term. Everyone has a different definition. Egg layer means they lay eggs. Some lay more than others, but as a general rule, some breeds were selected for higher/larger/colored egg production.

What are your goals? Do you like breasts or leg quarters? Are large flocks desired? Do you want year round egg production? Large eggs or are small eggs acceptable? How do you like cooking your chicken? These all influence the answer.

I'll suggest leghorns. Marvelous egg layers. Small carcasses with long keels. Added benefit is they are more feed efficient for eggs. The larger breeds will eat more for the same mass of eggs, but will yield more meat at harvest time. Best wishes with your search. As you can see, there is no one answer for everyone.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum.. Glad you joined.

I want to be able to breed my own meat birds, but am i correct that you can not breed them at home unless they are dual purpose?

To me there are three basic types of meat birds: Cornish X, Rangers, and dual purpose, but it isn't always that simple. The Cornish X are the most efficient on converting feed to meat, so if you just want meat they can't be beat. A few people on here try to breed them, usually with little success. It's very hard to keep them alive long enough to breed and hatch eggs. The Rangers are fairly similar but not quite as hard to keep alive long enough to breed. Still it is a challenge. If you are going to raise either buying chicks is usually the best way to go.

The dual purpose breeds cover a lot of ground. They have been developed to provide a fair amount of eggs and a fair amount of meat. Some emphasize eggs, some emphasize meat. They are not going to be as efficient in converting feed to eggs as the hybrids the commercial egg operations have developed for egg laying. They are not as efficient in converting feed to meat as the Cornish X or Rangers. They are sort of like a handyman, jack of all trades but master of none. But they can live and breed without taking a lot of special precautions. I'd strongly suggest you start with a dual purpose to gain experience before you try Rangers or Cornish X.

If you read through various threads on here you will see than some people try to cross a dual purpose chicken with either a Cornish X or Ranger to get a chicken that is not up to those standards but are better as a meat bird than straight dual purpose but they usually don't lay that great. They can take some extra effort to keep them alive so they can breed. You might think about that but I suggest you gain some experience with dual purpose before you try.

There is another aspect of this, other than just trying to keep them alive and healthy enough to breed. Cornish X and Rangers are crosses, not a pure breed. That means when you breed them you don't get consistent results. When you hatch them, some of the crosses will be pretty much as good as their parents but many will not. That's what is meant by "they don't breed true". Even the worst of these crosses will probably be as good or better than a straight dual purpose chicken for meat but the inconsistency upsets some people. That may be why someone said you can't breed them.

So to answer your question, you can try to breed Cornish X and Rangers at home but you are unlikely to have a lot of success.

Also which one would you suggest?

The million dollar question. As you look through the responses above you'll see we all have our own opinions on that. Different things are important to different ones of us. Do you want to emphasize eggs or meat? How important is pure size? At what age do you butcher, how fast they reach that size may be important. Do you prefer more light meat or dark? Some people think certain breeds taste better than others. Will you be buying most of what they eat or will they mostly forage for what they eat? Do you pluck them or skin them when you butcher? If you skin them it doesn't matter but if you pluck them a white or buff colored bird will give you a prettier carcass. How you cook them can make a difference. The list of our personal preferences goes on and on. That's part of why their are so many different breeds available. Then you have some of us that breed our own mixed flocks, no one breed at all. We try to tailor our flocks to our preferences. What is best for me may not be best for you.

This may sound overwhelming but it doesn't have to be. My main suggestion is to try something and see how you like it. If it doesn't work out that well, eat them and try something else. Trial and error is a great learning tool, especially when you get to eat your failures. One thing I've learned is that I start with certain plans but it never really works out that way. Often what I thought would be important isn't. So be flexible.

Where are you located, that might affect which breeds are available to you? The selection in South America or India may be different than the selection in different countries in Europe or different to North America. Climate can play a part too, some have been bred to do well in colder climates than others. I often suggest you try several different breeds from the same hatchery raised together and see which ones best suit you.

To me the main thing is to get started and learn as you go. It can be a fun journey. And once again,

 

[Morrigan]

For the last year I've been breeding a Naked Neck rooster with the following hens: English Orpington; Naked Neck, Rock, Slow White Broiler and Red Ranger. My primary goal was meat production, with a secondary goal of egg production. It's been an interesting experiment.

On balance, the most consistently large offspring were from the Red Ranger hen, followed by the Slow White Broiler. I was surprised at just how consistently large those chicks where. I got dressed weights of between 4 and 5 lbs from the cockerels at 13-14 weeks, and similar weights from the hens at 6 to 8 months. The other crosses yielded decent, but much smaller sizes. However the hens proved to be consistently superior egg layers. It ended up being a good balance for me -- the broiler offspring went to the freezer and a few of the Rock and Orpington offspring are being kept for their eggs.

I was also pleasantly surprised at just how hardy those two broiler hens have been. They both laid well throughout their first laying season and made it through multiple, 100+ degree summer days (albeit it camped out under misters). They haven't started laying yet this year, so I don't know what type of decline in egg quality/quantity I might see in their second year.

I had initial plans to breed a true dual purpose heritage flock, and I still might some day. However, crossing a slower growing broiler hen with my Naked Neck has proven so easy and productive, I'm sticking with that for now.

Two things I learned that bear keeping in mind:

--Depending on how many meat chickens you want from your flock, you either need to butcher some of pullets; or raise twice as many birds as you need and plan on selling a lot of pullets. Otherwise you will soon be overrun with hens. We chose to butcher excess pullets. That proved much harder to do on a emotional level than it was to butcher the cockerels. However, they really did make for excellent eating.

--If you want to breedfor certain qualities, you need to have the space and temperament to be evaluating and replacing roosters on a regular basis. This is what ultimately caused me some pause in my breeding efforts. Having a mature rooster that I trusted and the hens get along with, is such a nice thing. Even though my Roo isn't as large as I would like, he has proven to be such a good and easy boy, I was reluctant to make a change, and go through the turmoil of a raising an unproven, randy cockerel in my flock to replace him.

 

[archeryrob]

My Brahmas are delicious.

We raised a late season batch and had 10 roosters. My daughter saved one as a spare tire and we culled the other 9. Skinned and boned out and canned as soup or meat. My daughter raved about how soft, juicy and flavorful it was when she cooked it and is waiting to start breeding more this year.

 

[gimmie birdies]

The French chicken Barbezieux is supposed to be a good egg producer and a good eating bird.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Echoing.

I have successfully managed to get a CornishX old enough to breed, and have successfully raised chicks from same. Thus far, the outcome is "varied", which is to say unpredictable. CornishX can't be beat for speed of growth and feed efficiency, but unless you plan to be very very large scale, you aren't going to be breeding them in a way that competes with simply buying in bulk, feeding, and slaughtering in bulk.

I have no "Rangers" - which is the new Buzz word, but generally describes a dual-purpose bird which has been recently bred with increased meat production and feed efficiency/free-ranging ability in mind, after decades of emphasis on egg production. Its been a hard row to hoe.

I do have some Dual Purpose birds, and as hinted above, they are good to very good egg layers, and free-range well (though not exclusively). While they grow faster than many, they don't get "big" fast, so by the time they are at a size where I think of them as a roaster (in size) they are more like a stewer in toughness. I could butcher much earlier, and get more tender meat, but they would be much smaller birds - and its a lot of effort to de-feather a bird. Sure, I could slip the skin and make short work, but then I've less bird still on the plate - and skin has use in cooking.

Most of my flock (see sig) has sat at around 5 to 5.5# live weight since about 6 months of age, meaning about 3.5# processed, with innards included. That's a long time to feed for a not particularly large bird on the plate. My Cornish X Roosters, which I took to the same age? 12#+ and 13#+ live weights. and substantially more breast meat as a percentage of the whole.

You have LOTS of choices. An almost overwhelming amount of choices. The only way to narrow it down is to first decide what you truly want. 4 eggs each day with breakfast? Sustainability in being able to breed to replace birds you've eaten? Sustainability in ability to free-range effectively? Particular climate concerns? lots of breast meat? or not? Large fryers? large stewers? Do you care about egg color? Do you want an attractive bird (and what makes "attractive" in your mind?)

Asking questions is a good start. Now we are asking questions of you to help you refine your questions, so we can better answer them. There is no one answer, though there may be just a few answers for you, in your situation.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

https://projects.sare.org/project-reports/fnc12-866/
A guy did a study of a few hatchery breeds

This is the second study I've seen comparing dual purpose to CornishX. I find both studies flawed in presumption the birds must near equal weight for slaughter. This skews cost analysis by a long shot when feeding a dual purpose to 18 weeks. That's 1/4lbs feed per day for little growth. Both studies kept records of weights but decided not to provide the weights and feed consumption at broiler age of say 14 weeks. That data would be invaluable. The study would then be comparing broilers to broilers not CornishX broilers to dual purpose roasters which is flawed in premise.

The other major flaw was to purchase the dual purpose birds from hatcheries. Both studies did this then had the audacity to call them "heritage" breeds. If a person procures actual heritage breeder stock birds they will find growth rates and weights to be more. Hatchery "breeds" don't measure up for meat. They breed for egg laying making for a completely different bird. Hatchery birds don't conform to breed standards. If anyone wants a true dual purpose bird they must stop purchasing the hatchery egg layers that resemble the breed and get their stock from a breeder that keeps the birds to standards. Night and day difference. Will they compare in costs to CornishX? Never but it's not as bad as the studies imply. Well, unless you insist on only butchering roasters. Those cost a lot to grow. Broilers not so much.

Bred to Standard dual purpose of note- New Hampshire. Their are many others and any bird can be eaten. All round dual purpose with fast maturity, excellent laying, good broiler weight and carcass goes to the New Hampshire from breeder stock in my opinion.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

and as follow up to my post, from my own flock.

5 Pekin Ducks - we aren't talking about ducks, but they do put meat on the bone fast, and are almost entirely dark meat. Messy eaters, wonderful but infrequent, stupidly large white eggs, mine stopped laying the first few months of winter, but are back at it this year. They were slow to start laying, beginning about 6 1/2 months. I've had poor luck incubating thus far.

6 HH Rainbows - these are hatchery dual purpose. They lay well, large dark tan to brown eggs, started around 5 months, and weigh about 5.5# each. They free range reasonably well, and I've done OK incubating.

3 Golden Comets - these are hatchery hybrid egg layers. STUPID number of large to extra eggs. Surprisingly, they are about 5# ea, I'd expected them to be lighter. Started laying about 4.5 months. As a hybrid, breeding these would require that you maintain three "flocks", one to provide males of one breed, a second to provide hens of the other breed, and the third as your actual Comet layers. If you want egg birds, these are hard (almost impossible) to beat

1 CornishX hen - see comments above regarding her, I ate her siblings. A hatchery meat hybrid.

5 Dark Brahma - eventually get big. appear big now (mostly feathers), my most attractive birds (in my view). 7 months till they started laying, only about every other day. Medium to medium large eggs Technically dual purpose, and my best free-ranging foragers (also my most predator aware, smartest birds) but the growth rate is so so so slow. I now consider these to be appearance birds, they just aren't efficient at anything else, because the up front costs in feeding until they are productive weight or egg layers is so high.

5 Silver Lace Wyandotte - these are pushing the D Brahma off their pride of place for me. Much faster maturing, still attractive, almost as smart and predator aware as the DBs, though they aren't destined to get nearly the size, as sometimes meat birds that's less of an issue, because I have no plans to feed them for 18 months before slaughter.... My SLWs came into maturity at about 5 months, and the depths of winter. A few are just now starting to lay, so I don't have a good feel for whether they lay every other day or two days out of three. Eggs are generally large, with a few just medium large.

Hope that helps.

 

[RUNuts]

As a different point, an acquaintance of mine will buy CX and turn them out with the layers. His flock only free ranges for food on his 40 acres. He will feed a handful of scratch at roosting time and count tails. The CX we overfeed to get to 6+ pounds at 8 weeks will yield 4 pound carcasses for him with little feeding. His farm, his goals.

I bring this point up to stress that you need to define your goals. His is cheap meat. Mine is a fat, tasty rotisserie bird. Mine cost more in feed.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

As a different point, an acquaintance of mine will buy CX and turn them out with the layers. His flock only free ranges for food on his 40 acres. He will feed a handful of scratch at roosting time and count tails. The CX we overfeed to get to 6+ pounds at 8 weeks will yield 4 pound carcasses for him with little feeding. His farm, his goals.

I bring this point up to stress that you need to define your goals. His is cheap meat. Mine is a fat, tasty rotisserie bird. Mine cost more in feed.

This, particularly with CornishX, is worth repeating. If you search hard enough, you will find a thread or three of me just starting out, wondering why my CornishX were so underweight compared to others who posted. Some may have been due to source of birds, but mostly it was because my CornishX were only fed by me once daily, they had to free range the rest. Resulted in smaller birds, tougher meat, but lower food bills.