The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club > Breeding
Suggestion for Sustainable Meat Birds
Beth C:
Last year I produced, quite by accident, some very large, early maturing cockerels by crossing my Ameraucanas on New Hampshire Reds. I was only trying to get replacement layers and didn\'t have a NH Red male, but unfortunately I hatched no pullets. But the males were HUGE, and could have easily been butchered by 12-14 weeks. Now, since these are hatchery stock NH Reds, and we all know about hatchery stock, these may have been a fluke, but I was intrigued and decided to play with that cross a little more. I have 8 F1 due to hatch on Sunday, and I retained a cock from last year to experiment with breeding to both the Ameraucana & NH Red hens (besides, my kid thought he looked like a zebra and wouldn\'t let me eat him...)
Birch Run Farm:
All of my extra cockerels go to freezer camp. That said, I love my mutant meatie wheaties (cornishX). I pasture pamper mine and they do just fine and I butcher at 9 weeks. They beat any layer breed combo by far for me.
:p
Tailfeathers:
Buckeyes are one of the other three breeds besides Ameraucanas that I breed and show.
I would agree with John\'s comments if all you\'re looking for is birds to butcher. However, if you would also like to breed and show them, then I\'d recommend the Buckeyes. They are a heavier bird, mature fairly fast, and I\'m pretty sure the cockerels at least would go 4-5 pounds by 16 weeks. The general consensus is that you want to feed Buckeyes 30% Gamebird Startena from birth to 8 weeks of age to give them the muscle mass they should have. Then drop the Startena for Chick Starter.
God Bless,
Paul:
The Rhode Island Reds are your best bet! They are good layers of large brown eggs to keep you replenished in chicks for meat production. They are a dual purpose breed.
Scott:
Thanks everyone for the responses - you guys/gals are great help.
I think I may try the Freedom Rangers. Though I hate to have to rely on a hatchery to supply them. The up side to this decision is I will have more coop space for my Ameraucanas =) Maybe in a year or two I may look into a dual purpose breed.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version