Wow

[happyhens]

We butchered a couple of extra roosters yesterday, and they turned out great! One was a 14 month old Columbian Wyandotte, and one was a year and a half old Easter Egger rooster. Even at there ages, they were pretty tender and they tasted wonderful! So now I am about to start building a chicken tractor to raise meat birds in, and I am wondering which breeds to raise. I am debating between a good dual purposed chicken, or the cornish crosses. So I have a few questions-
1.) Which is the best meat breed for free ranging/moveable tractor?
2.) How big should the tractor be to raise about 25 to butchering size?
3.) Can I mix corn with grower mash to reduce cost? (about 25% of what I feed to my layers is corn, is that ok for meat birds?)
4.) If I do decide to raise a dual-purposed bird instead of the cornish crosses, which breed is the best?
Thanks all!
Oh yeah, I thought of another one-
5.) How tall should a tractor be for meat chickens?

 

[greyfields]

Quote:
You definitely want broilers. Do not raise dual purpose birds if you want meat.

I suggest going the Cornish Cross route your first few batches. Then if you're not enjoying it, I recommend the RedBro's from JH Hatchery over all broilers available to us.

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It all depends on how often you want to move it! I'd say 8' x 8' minimum.

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Broilers need a broiler starter/finisher feed. There isn't enough protein in grower for them and they will not thrive.


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No purbreed of chicken, dual purose or laying, is even in the same spectrum as custom raised broilers. They simply grow faster, larger and for less cost than any 'purebreed'. You are better off buying organic, free range chickens than trying to raise dual puprose or purebreds for meat.