Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => Chicken Chat => Topic started by: dannyboy2010 on April 11, 2011, 13:03
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i keep a few marans as egg birds and have been keeping light sussex as a meat bird for my own use. is it the done thing to use a normal egg layer as a table bird if it is up to weight??
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Suppose it depends how you define "the done thing".
The light sussex is a dual purpose meat and egg bird
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putting it another way, is there any reason why not to?? if they are simular weight?
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In that case, no not really.
If your planning on doing it a lot, you'd be better with a meat bird, which will eat less food and give you more meat.
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i see your point,makes alot of sense
what other birds aswell as light sussex make a good dual bird?
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Faverolles, La Bresse Gauloise, Marans etc are all good dual purpose birds (I'm in France, so I have a bit of a French bias lol) - but like all tru dual purpose birds, the cockerels won't be up to weight until about 26 weeks, but which time they will have been crowing ages.
It you want to rrear table birds on a regular basis, consider getting some medium growth commercial hybrids. They will be table ready in 12-14 weeks, so if you're lucky they may not be crowing yet.
I've got commercial Naked Necks and Gris Cendré (which is like a BlueBelle) the cockerels make table weight after about 12 weeks, and the girls make reasonable egg layers (about 4-5 eggs a week)
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In that case, no not really.
If your planning on doing it a lot, you'd be better with a meat bird, which will eat less food and give you more meat.
I wish you'd tell our meat chickens that when they are trying to at us out of house and home!! :lol: :lol:
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How long will it take for a light sussex cockerel to get to size for the table?
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About 24-26 weeks, which is when they reach maturity ;)
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Hmmm, So i can only dispatch a cockerel to eat at 24-26 weeks? How old with a hen (light sussex) before i can dispatch and eat it?
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:ohmy: I alive on the outskirts of a city with close neighbours who would not be happy (undrstatment of the year) with the crowing of a cockerel. I get my chicks on Friday as the breeder told us the Cockerels would be ready long before they crow >:( Around 15 weeks. What shall i do now?
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Well, it is possible that cockerels will start crowing from 10 weeks (and are sexually mature at 12 weeks!)
Pure breeds will be very weedy at 15 weeks, as they don't start to fill out until quite a long time after that.
Table hybrids can be classed as almost "over done" at 15 weeks!
But for a light Sussex, I would not want to eat one at 15 weeks... he would be all feather and no meat :tongue2:
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:( Well i shouldn't make that mistake again :nowink: I wont be able to keep them, and if i cant eat them then what? :unsure:
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I would cancel the order and get just hens :)
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And even at this late date cancelling is an option?
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if you want birds just to eat then you would be better off buying meat birds and not dual purpose pure breeds. Meat birds are bred to reach culling age from 8 weeks of age through to 15 weeks so crowing shouldn't be a problem then.
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Yes thats what she said about the light sussex, and thats why we went for them. We have 2 girls already and if we had been lucky enough to get even 1 girl we would have kept her. It was the reason we started the chick thing, for meat. It certainly wasnt to get shot of them just because they crow! I dont think thats a good enough reason to cull them.
I knew there was a big chance we'd get cockerels but not for that! Gutted!
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I think you should call the breeder and discuss your new-found knowledge. If you specified that you wanted the birds for eating and the breeder said they would be ready to eat at 15 weeks, then the breeder seems to have made an error.
On the basis of that error, the birds are not fit for the purpose that you agreed with the seller, so you should be able to cancel your order. (I'm not familar with UK consumer laws but that would certainly be the case here.)
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I rang the breeder this morning to discuss the chicks. I told her about the information i had recived and she is still saying they will be ok. That she has never had a cockerel crow that young. But, she said, if they do crow early and it is a problem for me, (which i told her it was or will be) i can take them back to her and she will happily house them untill they are ready!
Just now need to find someone who does what i was after.
Thank you all for your help x
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Hi Sonia, just to clarify, were you after chicks to grow on specifically for the table?
I believe Coloryeilds are ready in about 10-12 weeks, which would reduce the crowing aspect.
I only have experience of medium grown Sasso breeds (which are the commercial breeder in France), but can readily recommend Sasso hybrids if you can get any. Table weight of 5-6lbs at 12-14 weeks (and hardly any crowing). Mine had quite a large space to range around in though, so if you restricted space, they would probably be ready a little earlier.
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Yes Casey that is what i was after. I am searching to see if there is someone close that supplies such birds. Will look into your suggested birds to.
Was a bit peeved about it all yesterday, with my supplier that is. But by the time i got all your replies i was more diseartened :( I've not only got the brooder ready but housing is in situ too for when they were old enough to go out. My 2 nieces who i care for were excited with the chicks and my teen daughter and friends had them named (even tho they all knew what they were for) What i was faced with was not a leason i wanted to teach any of them.
But today is a new day and will look on this as a lesson learned. AND to buy nothing til i ask you lot for advice first :)
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I don't know if Poulet Anglais (Simon Skinner) still does a whole range of table birds, but he does deliver (or did) all over the country - though there may be a minimum order.
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Simon is very busy at the moment, so I don't know what his capability is for small orders, but when you are ready, contact him at simon.skinner@btinternet.com.
If he has any day olds available when you need them, his driver may be delivering near enough to you for you to meet him and collect.
At the moment is he concentrating on the JA757's ready 8-10 weeks Colouryields ready 10-12 weeks and last year he did have some 787's but they were supposed to be quicker growing, but they were more like broiler birds. They sat down most of the day. Stood up to drink and sat down again. Stood up to feed and sat down again. Stood up to poo and sat down again!
But we give the birds 15-16 weeks now and some of the ones in the freezer are 4kgs at oven ready weight, although most of them are between 2 & 3kgs OR weight.
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Thanks for that Casey, I did a general search for him (yahoo) and got to a post Granny did last year which had his number on.
Have just came off the phone to him and i'm to give him a ring back in a few weeks time. :D
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Glad we could get you sorted out :D
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Thanks for that Casey, I did a general search for him (yahoo) and got to a post Granny did last year which had his number on.
Have just came off the phone to him and i'm to give him a ring back in a few weeks time. :D
Did you have any luck yet? I have been thinking of doing the same and also live in the North East so if you haven't got yours yet let me know. I would be interested in when you would be getting your delivery. :D
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Hi ANHBUC,
I did contact Simon a bit ago and will be contacting him again when i have room for the next batch.
My Light Sussex chicks will be 7 weeks old on Thursday. I have 2 cockerels and 3 hens, the cocks will be going to the farm to finish as soon as they crow (which could start at 10 weeks old) and i have to find buyers for my hens.
As i only wanted a handfull he wont send day olds only eggs. I dont have an incy but do have the use of one if need be. We have also talked about hatch rate and whether it would be worth getting more eggs in case of fatalities than we had originally thought. If so we will definitely get an incy.
So, i will be contacting Simon again in 7-8 weeks time and hopefully what he has has a high hatch rate.
Sonia
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Thanks for letting me know Sonia. I really wanted chicks but it looks like I will have to buy eggs if I want table birds. Will have to leave it til later in the year when I can get sorted with all of the equipment I will need. I will probably order Sasso eggs which are about £15 per dozen including delivery.
Good luck with your chicks. Would have been really interested if they had been Welsummers. Could have done a swap for feed.