When should Barred Rocks be slaughtered for meat consumtion?

[josytang]

I am in the FFA, thinking of raising Barred Rocks as meat birds. I am wondering at how many week are the Barred Rocks prime for eating?

 

[ChickenJerk]

Don't Do It!

There is no way that a Barred Plymouth Rock can ever be grown into a "prime" meat bird. Even if the carcase was of generally acceptable fleshing and appearance the time it takes them to get to a marketable weight is four to five times as long as a modern broiler chicken will take. A six week old broiler chicken will weigh more than a 22 week old Rock that is either fighting and crowing or laying eggs.

Financially the amount of feed that it takes to maintain Rocks (that which is not used for weight gain) will make the project non profitable. And profitable is a big part of sustainable- as I am sure your VoAg instructor has taught you.

 

[SanCarlos6127]

I am in the FFA, thinking of raising Barred Rocks as meat birds. I am wondering at how many week are the Barred Rocks prime for eating?

You are probably looking at atleast 20-22 weeks to get a Barred Rock to an acceptable eating size. If you are ok with franken birds get Cornish X's which can be done in as little as 5-6 weeks. A better alternative might be to get a hybrid bird like Red Ranger Broiler which take a little longer but don't have all the health problems like a Cornish X.

If you are thinking about about raising a sustainable flock, then you will want to go with a heritage breed such as Barred Rocks, or New Hampshire Reds so that they will breed true.

Personally, I'll be saving 15-20 eggs in the spring from my mixed flock of brown egg layers to incubate and will let them free range next spring/summer.