[swanseaguy]

hi all was just wondering what you think the best breed of chicken is for eating and how old they must be to slaughter them, ive heard good tings about ross cobbs anyway any advice would be great thanks

[Sassy]

A course I went on recommended culling at 6 to 8 weeks.

[joyfull]

Swanseaguy try sending grannie annie a pm - she raises birds for the table and may be able to advise or did you want duel purpose so you can have eggs and eat the boys?

[swanseaguy]

do they have to be cocks or can you use hens? Reason is i was gonna have a few out the back where my 3 warren hens are and i dont think my neighbours would appreciate the alarm call lol

[joyfull]

no they don't have to be cocks but just wanted to know if you wanted to get dual purpose breeds.

[Roughlee Handled]

Also a good time to cull is when they start crowing. 10 + weeks old. 

[swanseaguy]

the thing with dual purpose means im gonna have to keep them a lot longer but would that effect the meat i wonder?Thanks for all the replys anyway keep them coming

[joyfull]

dual purpose means you will get the eggs from the girls and if you have enough room grow the boys on until they are ready for culling - can be any where from start of crowing through to 20+ weeks depending on which breed you choose. If you don't want any eggs layers then go for meat birds only 

[Roughlee Handled]

My understanding of dual breed purpose is laying or meat.
You can not mix the two successfully. 

They are either for meat or eggs not both.

You would have to feed them differently.  A layer has not a lot of meat on it and a meat bird does. 

A FAT CHICKEN DOES NOT LAY EGGS.

[joyfull]

that is why I asked if they had enough room for this 

[Roughlee Handled]

that is why I asked if they had enough room for this 

Please see disclaimer.

[Sarah Mitchell]

I understood duel purpose breeds were good for meat and eggs (well as long as they are girlies) but not brilliant at either... unlike single purpose breeds I guess... and then there are the 'good to look at but don't expect us to lay eggs!' breeds like my silkies !!

[joyfull]

that is why I asked if they had enough room for this 

Please see disclaimer.

 

[GrannieAnnie]

Okay, the dual purpose breeds like Rhode Islands Reds, light Sussex etc were so called because as Joy mentioned, you let the hens lay eggs and what cockerels you get you cull. Age to cull does vary a bit with the dual purpose breeds, but ideally just as they start to crow, or up to say 26 weeks.  After that I've found the meat starts to get less tender, but Munty told me once that even older birds 1 year plus can still be roasted, if you steam it first then roast.  Or you pot roast it.

Then you get the hybrids like the Amberlinks etc for laying, they have no meat on them, and you get the breeds like Ross/Cobbs and Hubbards for meat.  But don't be misled.  Meat birds DO lay eggs but are generally killed before they start laying.  2 years ago, we had some meat chickens that started to lay and their eggs were absolutely fine!  But its not a good idea to keep the meat birds going too long as they are bred to be killed between 6 and 16 weeks and can and often do get foot problems and heart defects.

Personally we prefer the white JA757's and brown Coloryields that we get from Simon Skinner at Poulet Anglais, and Simon's Mastergris' which are grey and white of which the parent stock now belong to Cluckingnuts who is now a member on here!

This is not a guarantee, but one of our mastergris Cockerels 2 years ago reached 18lbs dead weight!

[cluckingnuts]

My understanding of dual breed purpose is laying or meat.
You can not mix the two successfully. 

They are either for meat or eggs not both.

You would have to feed them differently.  A layer has not a lot of meat on it and a meat bird does. 

A FAT CHICKEN DOES NOT LAY EGGS!

Not quite sure where you got the info from regarding duel breeds, if I had very limited space they would be the ones I would choose, I keep several breeds of them.  At their peak my 195 meat birds were laying 140+ eggs per day.