What type of chicken to process????

[Wolf-Kim]

While Jersey Giants are a fun and docile breed, they tend to be more suited for pets than for farmlife. This has been my experience with them.

Although I will say that one of my most favorite roosters was a Black Giant named Tutter. He was practically a lap chicken, talk to you and follow you around the yard like a dog. Although one day out of the blue he came at me with his spurs, caught him up, trimmed his spurs and never had another issue out of him.

He now resides with my mother on her farm. Sleeping on her screened in porch and roaming with his two dorking ladies.

Anywayyy, it took my Jersey Giant roosters about a YEAR and a HALF to fill out. Seriously! Sure they look good when they are 7-8 months old, but pick them up, they are ALL feather and skeleton, they don't get meat to them until after that first year. LOL



What I have always wanted to do is keep a Cornish rooster and when I decide to raise broilers, to cover my larger breed hens with him. I've heard that Dorking/Cornish make pretty decent table birds, I've also wanted to try the Cornish on my Cuckoo Marans. They are pretty beefy little birds, but as with other large breed, they take a while to beef out. Just something I have wanted to try personally.

Although everyone seems to have had a wonderful experience with the Red Broilers, it might just be more efficient to order them already hatched and ready to grow. Instead of keeping a Cornish rooster, running an incubator, and then dealing with eggs that do no hatch.

Just my thoughts, ramblings, and future plans for play projects.

 

[freemotion]

Gotcha. Since dad really wants to try, we will get some. I will push for getting a few of several varieties, so we can really experiment. We can process the Giants last, when they are older.

If I was going to try some Jersey Giants I would buy some heritage turkeys at the same time. The chickens help the turkey poults get started right by helping them learn how to peck at the food in the beginning and the turkeys tend to grow big faster thus protecting the chickens from hawks and other predators. With the Jerseys they would all be ready to butcher at about the same time.

Great idea! We will see what the budget holds when the time comes, but we did enjoy those two we ate, and I am thinking we could use a couple more Bourbon Red hens to up our chances of anyone raising poults themselves here.....our turkey hen started laying eggs.....it is stinkin' cold here! Four so far, and one frozen solid before I could get to it. Dog food!

I'm thinking of putting some turkey eggs under my first broody hen in the spring...that ought to confuse her!

Oh, and WK....pets? Hmmm....the number I plan to order keeps going down, down, down....

 

[()relics]

Anyone try the black giants, I think they are called Jersey Giants?

they eat ALOT...They do get really big but I quit raising them because I don't think their feed to gain ratio is very good, They grow very slowly too. I'm not too sure about their free range abilities. I think they need a good feed to finish out....JMO...

 

[bibliophile birds]

i am strictly into dual purpose because i like heritage birds and they feel more sustainable to me. i don't have any practical advice since i've not butchered any yet, but i know what birds i want as my meaties.

Delawares: you would want to get these from breeder stock, specifically someone who's been breeding for meat purposes, because most Dels have been mismanaged and have lost a lot of their superior table qualities. but if i can find the old fashioned meatier ones, these should be wonderful.

Orps: my Orps are big ole birds, but i have no idea what their dress out weight will be. i should be processing my spare cockerel in a month or two, so i'll keep you posted.

Faverolles: these are basically the French version of the Dels, usage-wise. they were THE French table birds forever. plus, they are really beautiful!

Brahmas: my cockerels are also BIG birds, but the hens are little, so i'll probably just continue to process spare cockerels rather than buy these specifically for meaties.

and maybe some Buckeyes and Marans.

 

[Farmfresh]

I will testify for the Faverolles and the Brahmas. The Faverolles (at least the modern ones) really are not what I consider meaty enough birds to be a good table bird. The Brahmas are nice and big and meaty but also slow growing and full eating birds.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

hey Free! our BR hen, Runner, is laying too!

she's still hanging out with the hens. i was wondering what that weirdly speckled egg was... and it was a turkey egg! we nearly fell right over. we need to move her back to the turkey house b/c she is nearly feathered out - and has developed a crush on The Big Man.. if you know what i mean. but i cant believe that she is laying!

we've had good mommas - but a horrible first hatch attempt. i think the eggs are touchy - a good broody chicken would be the ticket! we think that Turkey Momma and Bramble will be our BR layer/brooders in the spring. once they got the hang of it, they were great mommas.

my $0.02 about buckeyes - they are nuts! 'lively' is an understatement.... but excellent foragers and good layers. i've named one "slim" as the chances she is going to last very long with that attitude are 'slim and none'.....

;-)

 

[bibliophile birds]

my $0.02 about buckeyes - they are nuts! 'lively' is an understatement.... but excellent foragers and good layers. i've named one "slim" as the chances she is going to last very long with that attitude are 'slim and none'.....

ohhh, good to know. the one thing i can't stand is psycho chickens! i'd rather have an aggressive roo than nutso meaties. i mean, a mean roo is a quick fix (yummy) but i'd just have to grin and bear it with a yard full of crazy meaties or they wouldn't be worth it.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Steve, from S and S poultry, says that from all the dual purpose breeds he has raised, he thinks that the Cuckoo Maran cockerels taste the best.

Haven't tested that yet. I have some hatching now, I'll get back to you on it.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

thinks that the Cuckoo Maran cockerels taste the best.

does it taste like chicken??
;-)

oh geez.. that joke never gets old....

dontcha just love "Turkey Steve"? what a great resource.. cant wait for him to start firing up the 'bators this spring!

BB - we really want to support the local breeds - so we wanted the buckeyes. but their strength are their weaknesses.. they are completely fearless! and they range far far far away... which is kind of un-nerving. i'm really wanting to see if they are good brooders.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Yeah, Steve and Sharon are wonderful people.

They were able to get hubby hooked when I couldn't. I dragged hubby to a poultry sale with me, against his will, and left him alone for 5 minutes with Steve and Sharon and came back and he had a turkey poult in his lap. I knew by the way he looked at me, we had just become turkey parents. LOL