Wyandotte carcass?

[bngowe]

If you're wanting to butcher, I would suggest looking for someone that's breeding to the SOP as they keep a tighter watch on weights. I'm into Barred Rocks, and the birds I got from a breeder are far and away bigger and prettier than my mishmash of hatchery stock. I have a couple hatchery BR hens that are quite small for Large Fowl and some that are mid-range, I'd say my heaviest grown hen might be 6lbs right now, *maybe*. Whereas the breeder let me feel his hens for weight, and they are HEFTY, he said they're 8lbs by 1 year old, and the roosters 10+. I have some growouts from his line right now that should be 16-18 weeks old in May that I plan to butcher, I'm going to weigh them before I do the deed just to see how big they are then.

If you're wanting a purebred flock but plan to eat them, I think Delawares are meant to be decent meat birds, aren't they? And good New Hampshires should dress out fairly nice.

How much would I expect to pay for chicks from a local breeder that breeds more to the SOP? My area is somewhat urban and so there aren’t many breeders available. The ones that are available want something like $25-35 ea for lavender orpingtons or show quality silkies, which seems pricy for something that will end up being eaten. Can’t keep roosters so can’t breed / keep a consistent flock myself. That’s tough to pay when the local feed shops sell chicks for $2-4 each. Only thing is that the hatchery birds are definitely not consistent in size. I’m hoping to grow a really large 10+ lb capon but so far my 7 month hatchery gold laced wyandotte seems to not want to move past 6 lbs. please keep me updated on how much your barred rocks end up weighing at 16-18 weeks. I had a hatchery GLW and RIR that gave me a live weight of 4.5-5 lbs at that age.

 

[Mosey2003]

How much would I expect to pay for chicks from a local breeder that breeds more to the SOP? My area is somewhat urban and so there aren’t many breeders available. The ones that are available want something like $25-35 ea for lavender orpingtons or show quality silkies, which seems pricy for something that will end up being eaten. Can’t keep roosters so can’t breed / keep a consistent flock myself. That’s tough to pay when the local feed shops sell chicks for $2-4 each. Only thing is that the hatchery birds are definitely not consistent in size. I’m hoping to grow a really large 10+ lb capon but so far my 7 month hatchery gold laced wyandotte seems to not want to move past 6 lbs. please keep me updated on how much your barred rocks end up weighing at 16-18 weeks. I had a hatchery GLW and RIR that gave me a live weight of 4.5-5 lbs at that age.

Anything lavender and Silkies are going to be more expensive, those are both popular, thus higher demand.

You might have to drive a bit, but see if you can't reach out on county/area Facebook poultry groups and ask about heavy, show type chicken breeders. I would assume that type of Wyandotte would get heavier for you, you could also look into Dominiques, as they have tight combs. Or Delawares, Buckeyes, NH... You could also look into ordering Black Star (black sexlink) males, I've heard they dress out pretty decently and you can probably get them rather cheap.

I will update here and I think there's another post I commented on about them when I dress those cockerels in May.

 

[Mosey2003]

Hey, just wanted to update, life has happened and I haven't gotten to butchering those Barred Rocks yet. I can tell they're getting close to crowing, a couple are showing a bit of attitude actually. They should have been 16 weeks last week or the week before I think, that's my fault for bad record-keeping. They still look pretty immature, yet hefty. I'm going to try to do the biggest after work Wednesday as it's the only cool day coming this week, if not I will do them this weekend or next week, I have it off work.

 

[Mosey2003]

I just started culling my Good Shepherd Barred Rock males this week. I'd say they're 18-20 weeks old. Averaging 3.5lbs skinned without the neck. Nice looking carcasses, more breast than previous hatchery birds, good glob of fat in the cavity. Skinned because they have a ton of pin feathers right now. If I wanted to wait for those to finish, they'd probably be ~5lb roasters. I'm pretty happy, just gotta decide if it's worth feeding them twice as long as a broiler, considering I can hatch more for "free."