Originally Posted by Candace
Originally Posted by Rachelcb80
Originally Posted by Candace
I have Lucky(because my dog bit her as a chick and she lived) and Alice. Alice, I wouldn't have such a hard time culling. She's a brat. But, we pick them up to pet and play with. With meat birds on acreage, I'd be like you and not get close. Do you also collect their eggs? I'm assuming you only let a certain amount incubate or stay with the mothers? What breed of bird do you raise?
I do collect their eggs. I have 8 Rhode Island Red hens that are my egg producers. They are great layers and don't hardly ever go broody (start setting a clutch of eggs and therefore quit laying). My rooster is a Buff Orpington. I wish now I would have got Buff Orpington hens as well, but I can always get some down the road. The chicks I just "harvested" were a cross between the two breeds. They were really nice, big bodied birds. I left my original 8 Rhode Island hens for now. I'm going to raise another batch out of them, then it'll be their turn to go. They're 2 years old now. Haven't decided if I'll replace them with their offspring, or if I'll go ahead and get some Orpington hens at that point.
Broody and Broonella are annoying and I almost added them to the freezer batch yesterday, but something told me just to leave them. They are constanly broody and will fight you like crazy when you're trying to get the eggs. They're loud too. But they have character and don't take much feed to keep. :)
My R.R. Alice likes to charge me when I walk around and will sometimes peck at my legs. So, I have to show her who's boss. She could go into the soup pot and I wouldn't cry. They're less than a year old but produce an egg every day! You're right they're not broody at all. I've got a Chickens for Dummies Book that highlights all the breeds. We picked R.R. because of the amount of eggs they produce. There are other breeds that grow bigger, quicker that are best for meat. I've never seen the B.O. here that you're talking about. I think we may add one or two more to the flock but we have a tad under 1/2 acre so we can't go crazy. I wish we weren't attached because when they get to be 10 years old and not producing, we're going to miss the eggs for sure!
We've raised a lot of chickens, both for egg and meat. Those Cornish Cross are incredible for meat. We raised ours to dress out at around 8-9 pounds. That's a meal - and a half! It was wonderful to be able to donate 18 dozen chicken and duck eggs every week to our church's pantry. But feed gets awfully expensive.