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HWF's show has made us decide to raise chickens for meat.

We already have hens for eggs.

How do we go about it?

How do we know how many to raise and when to raise them?
is it best to have 15 at once and then fill up the freezer? Or smaller numbers of birds of different ages?

any advice gratefully received!

Funny thing the telly,

me I've been banging on about this to mrs C for years, like you we have chooks for eggs but I would also like to know what's best to eat as now she's seen it on telly it must be true so we can now get some for the pot

cheers, Paul

Even the laying breeds will still have meat on them. You could try just introducing a rooster, and letting a hen go broody once or twice a year. When the little ones are old enough, decide which to keep, and the rest go in the freezer.

Last year was our first keeping table birds. We have eaten a few and have half a dozen in the freezer.

I decided to source some Sasso eggs and finished up with a breeding quartet. Sadly one of the hens pegged out and we now have a good looking trio. Normal hens will do for the table but will take quite a bit longer to reach a good weight. You can get Ross Cobbs and other fast, genetically engineered birds from some of the well known bird suppliers but I doubt that the meat will be upto scratch compared to one that grows slightly slower.

We had 2 successful hatchings of Sassos last year and a third of Sasso crosses after the trio were mixed in with our layers. I will be separating the tio again next month so I can hold back pure Sasso eggs for incubating.

I borrowed an incubator last year and have first dibs on a second hand one for this year. New they are £120 upwards. And thats for a small basic model! You could of course use a broody hen, but I had the offer of an incubator and no broody hens at the time.

I will be incubating as many eggs as I can get in the incubator - it is a better use of electricity, both with the incubator and the subsequent heat lamp when the chicks have hatched and are inside until they are about 6 weeks old, whereafter they can be gradually be put outside.

The other upside of a big hatch is, as I found out, the success rates of hatchings can vary. It would be sad to only incubate a few eggs and get far fewer chicks. It is also as easy to care for 12 birds as it is for 2 assuming you have the space.

The down side of a large hatch is that you will inevitably have to deal with most of the birds in one go. It's good practice drawing lots of necks, but plucking lots of birds, especially on a cold, cold day is finger numbingly dull!

Some of my photos and experiences here.

Thanks so much for the replies.

Do you think an 8 month old cockerel Orpington would be OK as a table bird? Or is he too old?

Only one way to find out!

Hello,

We started raising a few for the table last year and it went well ...

we've had quite a few batch of chicks raised by broodies ... and we took the roosters for the pot ...

we had maybe 7 or 8 roosters that way ... and there are still 5 or 6 running around .. because of course it was a pullet year for us ... but it's not too bad ...

and I would recommend by experience to start off with 2 roosters .. then another 2 or 3 ... because indeed the killing, drawing and plucking is not the most enjoyable part of it ... so if facing 12 in one go would put me off ...

but it's definitely worth it ...

as for that orpington cockerel, it's fine to eat it ... but 8 months is more or less the limit for roasting ... but no problem for stewing (coq au vin recipe in the section) ... although orpingtons are very slow maturing so they wouldn't have had some sexual activities ... so he might still be tender ...

let us know and good luck
Camile

Looks like my Orpington is no longer available...he was coming to me via freecycle...not sure what happened.

Any, Thurston would you be willing to sell me some Sasso eggs? Alternatively, where did you source your Sasso birds originally?

I could certainly sell some eggs in a couple of months time.

The quartet that I bought was from a mate off another forum who was reducing her stock. I got all the Sasso's she had at the time. I had a 400 mile round trip to get them!

Will be posting on my blog and on here when the trio is separated and I have spare eggs.

Im a bit confused - so please explain to me in words an idiot might understand

I have 4 old hens (not currently laying), if I want chickens for laying and for the pot, would it make life easier to divide the pen (not much work) and have a cock and his wife in one part and the layers in the other?

In our case we´d have to do it the natural way - solar power won´t allow for an incubator and in any case chance of finding eggs to hatch are fairly low.

Any words of wisdom about what to do grately received! Clara x.

I think a cockerel with just one wifie would get rather bored; also, he'd probably find ways and means to get across to the others! And why not - just let him run free, and make sure only one (or two) of the hens actually sit on eggs. They might not all go broody, anyway - depends partly on the breed, too.

Hello,

I would go with Ina .. just keep a cockerel among your layers .. and maybe add a few "meat" birds in the lot ..

Then find some broodie birds, layers tends not too ... but many breeds and crosses do ... and give them the eggs that you want to incubate.

Keep the hens, and eat the roosters ... some won't be too meaty, some will ... but it's worth it and works for me ...

Good luck,
Camile

just keep a cockerel among your layers .. and maybe add a few "meat" birds in the lot ..

Then find some broodie birds, layers tends not too ... but many breeds and crosses do ... and give them the eggs that you want to incubate.

Keep the hens, and eat the roosters ... some won't be too meaty, some will ... but it's worth it and works for me ...

This is what I was wondering about.
Thanks for clarifying

Thanks all. So what would I need regards housing? We are about to rebuild the chickens housing. So along with a perch and a laying area, should we have another area for the broody hens? And (possibly dumb question of the year), how do I know which eggs are fertile?

Cx

Clara wrote:...how do I know which eggs are fertile?

Cx

Not that I am an expert but you can get a small light box that has a hole where you balance the egg, the light shines through it and you can see if it is fertile or not - or check development of the fetus. You can also hold the egg up infront of a torch or a candle (I believe it is called candleing)

You can save fertile eggs up for a while (I don't know if they must be kept cold) and put them under the hen at the same time, they should hatch about the same time.