Crossbred Chickens for Meat

[GaryD]

Hi,

APHQ member Julie has kindly given us 20 crossbred chickens of uncertain lineage. They range in age from 8 weeks to about 12 weeks.

I'll grow them out a bit and see if they develop into anything useful to eat. If nothing else, they should be useful for soup.

We'll supplement their pelletised rations with some kitchen scraps, BSF larvae and whatever they can pick up as they free-range during the day.


Gary

[GaryD]

Hi,

It's about eight weeks since Julie gave us the 20 cross bred chickens. In that time, the cockerels have begun to assert themselves....by word and deed. Having seven roosters crowing at daybreak is calculated to attract the attention of the local government authorities......so we processed them this morning.

Not only is it now quiet, but the freezer is also the better for a couple of hours's work.

While these birds were a shadow of the broiler chickens that we processed a few weeks ago, they are pretty much what people used to eat in the way of chicken before broiler-raising went intensive.

Next season, I plan to get some utility chickens (like Rhode Island Reds, Light Sussex, Barred Plymouth Rock) and breed them so that we cut out the meat bird chick middle man. We'll use the pullets for eggs and the cockerels for meat.......just like they used to do in the ol' days.

Gary

[GaryD]

Hi,

I had a Vietnamese chicken soup dish for dinner tonight. It's a simple meal comprising chicken, bok choy and coriander.

We used one of the crossbred chickens we processed a few days ago.

The broth produced by boiling the carcass was just so much better than the stuff that comes from stock cubes......and the meat was firm, largely fat-free and very tasty.

Gary

[kellenw]

Gary,

You should consider trying White Wyandottes if you can find a source for them. They are good birds for meat (get quite large and grow fairly quickly), and they also lay a lot of eggs.

[GaryD]

Hi Kellen,

I'm tending toward a good utility bird for our future meat and egg production. I hadn't thought about White Wyandottes but they'd can definitely go onto my list. I had been thinking about something like Barred Plymouth Rocks or even a Plymouth Rock/Rhode Island Red X.

Ultimately, it will come to down to whether I can find a good utility line. Show breeders breed for conformation rather than egg and meat production and their birds (while being beautiful to look at) are usually so closely bred that they lose most of their utility capacity.

The important thing for us is that we cut the purchase of day old broiler chicks out of the equation. While they have amazing growth potential, they require expensive high protein diets to realise that growth and they die at the drop of a hat.......and they cost $1.60 to $2.00 as day olds.

The emerging picture that I have of our half acre back paddock is that it will be planted out to fodder species (like pigeon pea, grain amaranth, comfrey, etc) that will provide nutritious free range for chickens and muscovies. This will enable us to grow good food at a modest cost.

When we want a chicken or two, we'll just grab them and process them.......just as peasant farmers have done through the millennia.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Gary