What type of meat birds for self sufficiency.

[crombienator]

I am looking to get into raising meat birds. I have seen that the Cornish hybrids seem to be the best if I'm going to be ordering them each time I want meat. What birds do you suggest if I want to breed them and use them for meat, so that my flock is self-sufficient.

It looks like the Cornish are ready to be processed at 6 to 12 weeks. I am assuming if I want to make them self-sufficient that I have to get a breed that will take longer to get to process time? Also I am assuming that the most reliable way to do this would be with an incubator as opposed to naturally? Thanks for your help.


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[centrarchid]

I would base efforts on an F1 hybrid between a female dual purpose breed and a male cornish. The idea of self -sufficient can be expressed in degrees. Will you still be outsourcing feed?

 

[crombienator]

I would base efforts on an F1 hybrid between a female dual purpose breed and a male cornish. The idea of self -sufficient can be expressed in degrees. Will you still be outsourcing feed?

Yes I meant in terms of not having to buy more chicks


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[crombienator]

And excuse my ignorance.... F-1 Hybrid??


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[Eric 2016]

A buddy of mine went with delawres this year. I think I'm going to try them next year, they seem like they'd make a good dual purpose.

 

[centrarchid]

And excuse my ignorance.... F-1 Hybrid??


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F1 hybrid means a first generation cross. Not only are chicks 50% of each parental breed, also each parent of that cross was pure.

 

[eviemethugh]

Just my two cents....WAY more cost efficient to buy each year, raise for 8-9 weeks, and be DONE. For several reasons. We use our two "chicken tractors" year round for all sorts of things. Right now one of them is the sleeping area for our two pigs (we just leave the door open to the rest of their pen & run.) And the other will soon be the nightly roosting space for our turkeys. They constantly have something different rotating through them, so I have fewer structures to also build and maintain year round. We re-use every single thing we buy, there is no "this is only for that." By freeing ourselves up from the chore of meat birds the majority of the year I am able to dabble in other seasonal things, and by reusing feeders and housing my out of pocket expenses are mainly just feed and the cost of the animal. It is also nice to have a seasonal change and not be saddled down with so many things going on. We were able to go to the beach this year with my cousin only getting eggs and refilling water for our layers! Because I carefully planned all of my ventures to end within the month before we left, and literally started two new farm things the week we came back.

The end cost of our Organic Cornish X after 8&9 weeks were $8 EACH. There is no way I could keep parent flocks going all year without doubling that cost (or more.) And the initial cost of building the tractor can be spread across different animals all year round.

For my family, that is what is sustainable. I have fun with my egg layers all year round, and occasionally pop a dozen in the incubator when I am up for a surprise. There is no pressure to have a good hatch so that we can eat. And we sell enough eggs to keep our layers self sustained with no need for $ input from us, they literally feed themselves with their own profits.

^^Eric mentioned Delawares, I can definitely see how that would be a good mix. Our Light Brahmas (basically the same as delaware) are twice the size of our other new egg layers at about 10 weeks old right now. And the males are supposed to reach 12 lbs by 20 weeks! I've always enjoyed reading about breeding programs, but it's not right for me (I was going to say our family, but it's really ME! HA. I always want to try new things!) and just wanted to share what I have learned.

 

[centrarchid]

Economics does not appear to be OP's overriding concern.

 

[eviemethugh]

Economics does not appear to be OP's overriding concern.

I read everything twice before I posted and OP didn't say that outright and I thought I wrote my post in a nice way. Sorry if I offended. I was also making a point about time input, and that it is nice to have a break and work with the seasons.

 

[Eric 2016]

You gave your opinion and made lots of good points. It was a good post.