Which to Choose?

[Michigan Chickman]

This is the first year I've had chickens. I've got 52 RIR pullets that are 14 weeks old and my plan is to keep 15 for laying and butcher the rest. How do I choose the best ones to keep?

 

[skeeter]

gosh why butcher pullets,why not sell them,there wont be alot of meat and here they go for $15-20 each,then take that money and buy meat birds this fall and all the feed they need and maybe money left over

 

[Omniskies]

You'll get a lot more money selling them as pullets. Put an ad on CraigsL List and see how many emails you receive at $10 each. For each pullet you sell you can buy a dozen Cornish-Rock chicks and butcher those in eight weeks. _Those_ will have meat on 'em

As for keeping the best back, it depends on what you are after. You can either keep back whoever starts laying the fastest, whoever is the largest/smallest, the ones that are the friendliest.

If you're going to show them then check out the actual show standards, though you probably have a production strain of Rhode Islands which are bred more for egg laying than proper body type.

It goes without saying that you should keep back the ones that look the healthiest and butcher any that decide to start crowing

 

[MissPrissy]

You don't want to butcher RIR pullets. They are not meaty and you will be disappointed when you sit down to eat. Raise them a little to get some size on them then offer them for sale. Point of lay pullets can get you $10 - $15 each.

 

[Michigan Chickman]

Thanks for the feedback. I guess I'll have to chaulk this one up to "live and learn". Everything I read said RIRs were a good compromise for meat/egg production, and being my first time I didn't want to try to mix breeds. Now they're eating me out of house and home and I was kinda looking forward to returning the favor

 

[fullhouse]

You will learn a lot by trying several different breeds. You will also be able to tell them apart better too.