Table birds

[ferguson_tom]

Unfortunately a fox got my 3 chickens the other night, I was a bit gutted as they were our first sort of pets when we bought the house and were kept for laying and were very friendly. Anyway as i have all the run and everything built and now more fox-proofed I was thinking about having some chickens for eating rather than just laying. So a couple of questions?

 

- How long does a chicken normally take to become a decent size for the table?

- What breeds to go for?

- Can you keep layers and meet birds together or do they need different foods etc

- Can you use the layer hens to hatch the fertilised eggs or do you need an incubator?

- How much are the fertilised eggs?

 

I was thinking of keeping 2 layers then have two meet birds on the go at the same time. Even if I only get say 10 meet birds a year by doing this i will be happy as it will cover the costs of the food for the layers as well if i dont have to buy those 10 chickens from tescos.

Edited July 25, 2012 by ferguson_tom

[silver pigeon 3]

A few answers to your questions

 

1. This depends on the breed, if you go for a hybrid specific eating variety then it is anything from 5-14 weeks depending on breed, if you go for a utility breed that will lay and produce a decent table bird then it is more like six months.

2. As above really, if you want a true meat bird it will not lay as it will be slaughtered before lays at approx 18 weeks. If you go down this route i have found that the slower growing varietys have a better flavour and texture. If you go down the utility route Barnvelders, Rhode island reds, all the sussex varietys.

3.Layers and table birds really need to be on different feeds, layers pellets promote good eggs while growers pellets give the table birds a better final weight.

4.If you have a broody hen she will hatch the eggs fine, but keep her away from other chickens and make sure she is eating and drinking. An incubator is good but expensive. The other option is to buy at day olds at a cost of between £1 - £4 per bird depending on breed, these will need a heat lamp for between 3-5 weeks then can go out.

5. Fertilised eggs again vary depending on breed, not all will hatch though so out of a dozen eggs you may only get 6-8 fowl. Expect to pay between 5-10 per 1/2 dozen depending on breed.

 

Personally i now take table birds at about 3 weeks from a local free range chicken farm (meat birds) they are happy to sell you them. I pay £2 each and when i get them they are off heat and ready to go on grass, i bring them on to about 14 weeks and slaughter with a final table weight of about 2.6 kg.

[yankeedoodlepigeon]

Sounds cheeper to buy from tesco.

[silver pigeon 3]

Sounds cheeper to buy from tesco.

 

Thats not the point, all meat can bve bought cheaper than it will cost to bring it on yourself. But surely that says something about the quality of the meat??

 

My eaters will be slaughtered at about 14 weeks old, they cost me £2 each to buy will eat about 2/3 rds of a bag of feed each in that time costing me about £5 per bird to feed. An equivalent bird, ie free range extra large will cost you around £12. However if you choose a basic non free range then you will be down to £4.50.

 

I also had a very interesting chat and meet up with a chicken producer who produces birds for some of the large supermarkets, he takes his birds from day olds to 2-2.8kg finished weight in 4 1/2 weeks, these birds struggle to walk after week 1 due to the massive body growth not being in keeping with there leg size, the barn doors are open during the day so in theory these birds can have access to outdoors. In reality they never venture outside as they cant walk. When it gets dark lights come on so they feed 24/7. The Joke is these birds are sold to us a "free range" and we pay a massive premium

[JDog]

A few answers to your questions

 

1. This depends on the breed, if you go for a hybrid specific eating variety then it is anything from 5-14 weeks depending on breed, if you go for a utility breed that will lay and produce a decent table bird then it is more like six months.

2. As above really, if you want a true meat bird it will not lay as it will be slaughtered before lays at approx 18 weeks. If you go down this route i have found that the slower growing varietys have a better flavour and texture. If you go down the utility route Barnvelders, Rhode island reds, all the sussex varietys.

3.Layers and table birds really need to be on different feeds, layers pellets promote good eggs while growers pellets give the table birds a better final weight.

4.If you have a broody hen she will hatch the eggs fine, but keep her away from other chickens and make sure she is eating and drinking. An incubator is good but expensive. The other option is to buy at day olds at a cost of between £1 - £4 per bird depending on breed, these will need a heat lamp for between 3-5 weeks then can go out.

5. Fertilised eggs again vary depending on breed, not all will hatch though so out of a dozen eggs you may only get 6-8 fowl. Expect to pay between 5-10 per 1/2 dozen depending on breed.

 

Personally i now take table birds at about 3 weeks from a local free range chicken farm (meat birds) they are happy to sell you them. I pay £2 each and when i get them they are off heat and ready to go on grass, i bring them on to about 14 weeks and slaughter with a final table weight of about 2.6 kg.

 

 

Another example of excellent advice given over the forum. I am amazed at the knowledge members are able to glean from other users of the forum.

[rimfire4969]

Silver pigeon 3, some great advise.

 

I keep pigs and chicken and as you say its not about price as i am sure mine work out more than i can buy pork or chicken basic for. But i know my animals have had loads of land that they tunn over, scatch around and eat grass, roots and bugs they also get fed out of date greens from a local Greengrocer and produce the best meat i have even eaten.

 

It is not about price for me, it is me knowing my meat has grown natuurally and not been given any drugs unnecessarily and has lived a good life up until the time when i decide to take it.

[colin lad]

great advise from the guys above,

i did try an experiment over my allotment a while back with outlander of pw

we got 10 ross cobb chicks which are the fast growing type to see how they priced out they fed and grew at an amazing rate

in about 13/14 weeks we had 10 birds weighing between 11-13lb table weight at a cost of about £6 per bird,

great value but they were not as good eaters as the above mentioned varieties,

if i was to do it again i would stick to the slower growing variety

 

colin

[silver pigeon 3]

great advise from the guys above,

i did try an experiment over my allotment a while back with outlander of pw

we got 10 ross cobb chicks which are the fast growing type to see how they priced out they fed and grew at an amazing rate

in about 13/14 weeks we had 10 birds weighing between 11-13lb table weight at a cost of about £6 per bird,

great value but they were not as good eaters as the above mentioned varieties,

if i was to do it again i would stick to the slower growing variety

 

colin

 

Ross cobb variety are ok, fast growers i expect if you had slaughtered at about 6-8 weeks (at about 2.5-3kg) they would have eaten a lot better. I use a cross breed known as "farm ranger" slower growing than the ross cobb so the texture and taste is better

[ferguson_tom]

Thanks for the great advice, I didnt think about buying the birds at a few weeks old. For me that would probably be the best option we have a couple of proper free range farms around here so i might make some enquiries and see if can find one willing to sell me the birds. As you all mention above its not all about the price more the quality of meat and the quality of life the animal leads, we normally only buy meat from our local butcher who are a proper butchers and their meet all comes from high quality free range local farmers. You cannot question that the quality is so much better. I will let you know how i get on, thanks for all the help

[colin lad]

Thanks for the great advice, I didnt think about buying the birds at a few weeks old. For me that would probably be the best option we have a couple of proper free range farms around here so i might make some enquiries and see if can find one willing to sell me the birds. As you all mention above its not all about the price more the quality of meat and the quality of life the animal leads, we normally only buy meat from our local butcher who are a proper butchers and their meet all comes from high quality free range local farmers. You cannot question that the quality is so much better. I will let you know how i get on, thanks for all the help

hi tom try james murdoch in cardington he may help thats who we get our chickens from at work

he is only 5/6 miles from you

 

colin

[danspence2012]

hybrids meat birds. if not fussed on taste. but get ready quicker.

 

somthing like light sussex i use as they are dual purpose, and get huge

[Sprackles]

I concur with the Light Sussex.

Slow growers but big birds when they get there. My laying Light Sussex were built like Russian shot putters.
Beware of buying Sussex that are actually hybrids. I went to a farm last year for some new birds only to find their Light Sussex were the cross variety.

Looked very similar except the neck ring was not as dark and did not go all around.

[thepasty]

I couldnt agree more with grow your own, I no longer buy any meat from super markets or other branded shops, the reason being that mass farming today (particularly birds) is animal cruelty on a huge scale and I will not support it and havent done for years... mass produced meat is limited in flavour and texture when compared to meat that has been produced properly.

 

Any meat I cant get from shooting I get locally from known sources and ensure its had a good life before it hits my plate.

[oscarsdad]

I couldnt agree more with grow your own, I no longer buy any meat from super markets or other branded shops, the reason being that mass farming today (particularly birds) is animal cruelty on a huge scale and I will not support it and havent done for years... mass produced meat is limited in flavour and texture when compared to meat that has been produced properly.

 

Any meat I cant get from shooting I get locally from known sources and ensure its had a good life before it hits my plate.

Totally agree...I don't have the room to keep any animals myself but like you, anything I haven't shot myself comes from a very good butcher in my village who can tell me exactly where the meat has come from. I don't buy any meat from supermarkets and I certainly don't eat halal meat...I will eat a vegetarian meal if I have to rather than halal but that is an entirely different topic and I don't want to take this too far off the advice about keeping chickens.

 

As soon as I can afford to buy a place with a bit of land it will have a poly-tunnel and some livestock on there - I would like to be able to teach my (future) kids where their food comes from and get the involved and respecting what they are eating, not just having horrible quality mcNuggets from low welfare animals.

[byjovecarruthers]

Silly question I think but how do you dispatch the birds?