# Self Raising Meat Birds



## Mike at Capra Vista (Nov 30, 2017)

Hello Poultry People

I'm interested in having some meat birds. Ideally, I'd like a breeding pair which would raise their own chicks without the bother of heat lamps and other special treatment. 
I have had half a dozen laying hens for a couple of years now. These are due to be replaced in the next few months. 
Any suggestions on which type of bird would be the simplest?
Could a breeding pair of meat chicken coexist with layers?
Though I would prefer turkeys, I understand they are more difficult keep and should not be near chickens.
Any comments or advice appreciated.


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

This is a really interesting concept - I've never heard of anybody raising meat birds in this way! Sorry, no advice here, just want to follow along. Do you plan to process them yourself?


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## OpieDoodle (Nov 15, 2015)

This is a really interesting topic and from the research I've done this can be hard to get going initially. You don't want to raise them in "pairs" persay. Generally you can have quite a few hens to one rooster. Most likely you'll only have a need for one rooster, which is a great thing because roosters are buttheads.....trust me there is a reason we only had a rooster for a short time before he became dinner. 

You can always add a rooster to your flock and see how things go. From what I have noticed not all hens get broody enough to take the time to really sit on eggs. Over time tho you'll find some that do and those will be the ones to hatch babies and raise them for you. 

Honestly I found it wasn't very expensive just to buy meat chicks in the spring and you can raise them yourself that way versus trying to breed them yourself. Unless a fluke thing happens I likely will never own a rooster again after dealing with the last one....Just not worth the frustration.


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## OpieDoodle (Nov 15, 2015)

Oh I forgot to add, you want multiple females to one rooster because the rooster can injure the hen when he's breeding with her. Basically he would be harassing her to death trying to breed with her all the time if they're alone. This can be a big problem when you want her focusing on laying eggs and keeping them warm.


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## Mike at Capra Vista (Nov 30, 2017)

SalteyLove said:


> This is a really interesting concept - I've never heard of anybody raising meat birds in this way! Sorry, no advice here, just want to follow along. Do you plan to process them yourself?


Yes, that is the plan. We'll see how that works when the time comes. Plans and reality don't always coincide.


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## Mike at Capra Vista (Nov 30, 2017)

OpieDoodle said:


> You don't want to raise them in "pairs" persay. Generally you can have quite a few hens to one rooster. Most likely you'll only have a need for one rooster, which is a great thing because roosters are buttheads.....trust me there is a reason we only had a rooster for a short time before he became dinner.
> 
> You can always add a rooster to your flock and see how things go. From what I have noticed not all hens get broody enough to take the time to really sit on eggs. Over time tho you'll find some that do and those will be the ones to hatch babies and raise them for you.


Thanks for that. I would not want too many hens. I'd only need about one bird per month to eat - depending of size.


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## Mike at Capra Vista (Nov 30, 2017)

OpieDoodle said:


> Honestly I found it wasn't very expensive just to buy meat chicks in the spring and you can raise them yourself that way versus trying to breed them yourself. Unless a fluke thing happens I likely will never own a rooster again after dealing with the last one....Just not worth the frustration.


It is not about the expense. I just like the idea of having them laid and raised here before harvesting.
Can you share a few of your memorable rooster moments?


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## SonRise Acres (Apr 24, 2018)

We are doing this and it works great. In fact 2 birds are going to be processed Sunday after church at our house. We keep ours with our layers. Honestly ours all free range with supplemental feed in the cold months. They are healthy and happy. It’s very inexpensive and very healthy meat.


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## OpieDoodle (Nov 15, 2015)

Mike at Capra Vista said:


> It is not about the expense. I just like the idea of having them laid and raised here before harvesting.
> Can you share a few of your memorable rooster moments?


His last memorable moment was trying to spur my husband in the face....he had also done it multiple times to other people so this was his last strike. I even raised him from a chick with lots of interaction (we actually bought him as a her and so there was no plan for a rooster). He also injured many of our other chickens and ducks so he just wasn't worth it for me. He was a jerk and just another mouth to feed. We tried to get some of our hens to raise chicks with no luck.

We may try again now that we will be changing to free range and my hopes are that with the extra space and maybe even more hens he won't feel the need to try to fight with us as much. I don't know I am still very undecided on that.

I would look into a docile dual purpose breed for this if I were you then certain breeds of hen seem to be more broody than others so I would maybe look at that when you're looking to add. I always like dual purpose personally.


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## Einhorn (Jan 2, 2014)

I've had roosters. They tend to only respect one person, and everyone else is an intruder who must be destroyed!


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## Mike at Capra Vista (Nov 30, 2017)

SonRise Acres said:


> We are doing this and it works great. In fact 2 birds are going to be processed Sunday after church at our house. We keep ours with our layers. Honestly ours all free range with supplemental feed in the cold months. They are healthy and happy. It's very inexpensive and very healthy meat.


What breeds are your birds? Are the chicks bothered by the layers? I assume your rooster mates with all the chickens.


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

The birds I would recommend for any homestead/meat/self raising scenario, is Muscovy Ducks. I'm serious here. The drakes grow as large as small geese, the hens are as fierce as small dinosaurs, they'll eat snakes, snails, crayfish, small fish, snapping turtle young, weeds, worms, beetles, tapeworm segments, goat food, dog food, hay... They lay 2-3 clutches a year, and you do NOT want to mess with an experienced mum.

Do you want meat without minding? Get Muscovy Ducks.


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

I forgot to say, come here and you can take some home. I have too many.


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## singinggoatgirl (Apr 13, 2016)

I haven't actually raised poultry, but I've dreamt and researched a lot about it. If you are set on chickens and not Muscovy ducks, I'd look at https://livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/conservation-priority-list#Chickens

They describe all these chicken breeds. I'd look for breeds that are more docile and/or more broody. I remember there's one bantam breed, the Nankin, that is super broody, and might sit on eggs from a larger breed and raise them for you... just a thought.


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## SonRise Acres (Apr 24, 2018)

Mike at Capra Vista said:


> What breeds are your birds? Are the chicks bothered by the layers? I assume your rooster mates with all the chickens.


We went for personality since my younger sons would need to deal with them too. We chose black austrolorps and white Plymouth Rocks. We let everyone lay for our own egg intake. So our Roos breed with all. We never take any females that we allow to sit on a nest and raise chicks. Their lives are spared. We will take any hen that gets nasty or hurts another hen.

Our girls free range, which we prefer, due to the health of the birds and the far better quality of eggs we get. We have a house with nice clean nests and feeders set up for them to go into as they wish. They normally only go at night.

We have a "nursery" pen set up to protect the sitting girls and their new offspring for a while. It's a small dog run with a unit built in, but the girls normally prefer to self coop.

When my husband walked out I knew I needed to make this farm pay for much of our daily needs. This means eggs from chickens, meat from some of them (why pay a store for lesser quality of either). We will be starting a small business with our goat milk products and working our garden more this year. We have a unique situation with me still staying home to homeschool my children, so I must stretch every dollar that will be coming in.


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## wifeof1 (Mar 18, 2016)

Anyone remember the post here about a woman who went out to dispatch a mean roo, because her husband wouldn't and ended up nearly chopping her thumb off?


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## SonRise Acres (Apr 24, 2018)

wifeof1 said:


> Anyone remember the post here about a woman who went out to dispatch a mean roo, because her husband wouldn't and ended up nearly chopping her thumb off?


Oh no! My friend tried to dispatch a mean roo and couldn't do it. After trying and trying she finally walked down her road to a neighbor who had the same type of chicken and threw it over the fence into his flock and ran away. I still laugh at the thought of that sight.


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## OpieDoodle (Nov 15, 2015)

SonRise Acres said:


> Oh no! My friend tried to dispatch a mean roo and couldn't do it. After trying and trying she finally walked down her road to a neighbor who had the same type of chicken and threw it over the fence into his flock and ran away. I still laugh at the thought of that sight.


This is something I would do lol! My husband handles all of the dispatching around here. I couldn't handle it.


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## NicoleV (Dec 12, 2015)

I've been raising chickens for meat and eggs for years now. 

If you want something more plump and juicy, it's best to buy a meat breed from a hatchery like the rainbow, or red ranger. If you don't care about the size, just add a heavier breed rooster to your flock so the chicks will grow out bigger. 

Hopefully you have a broody hen, or get one to raise the chicks. Silky hens go broody often I've heard, but I've found that broody hens in my experience are hit or miss with their ability to actually sit on the eggs until they hatch. It's easier for me to just put the eggs in the incubator or buy some chicks for a few dollars each.


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## fivemoremiles (Jan 19, 2010)

first find a breed of chickens that go broody
you cannot leave a broody hen setting on a clutch in the coop. the other chickens will continue to lay eggs on the hen. instead 0f having 10 eggs in the nest you will have 20+
you will need a broody box it is a cage built just for a hen to set on her clutch of eggs, in a safe and unmolested environment.
you still need to candle the eggs on day 17 remove all dead and unfertilized eggs
once the chicks hatch you need to protect the brood from cats crows and the like.


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## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

Mike at Capra Vista said:


> Hello Poultry People
> 
> I'm interested in having some meat birds. Ideally, I'd like a breeding pair which would raise their own chicks without the bother of heat lamps and other special treatment.
> I have had half a dozen laying hens for a couple of years now. These are due to be replaced in the next few months.
> ...


So. If you want a broody to raise your own. You need a broody breed of hen. Silkies are rumored to be the most broody. My marans hens seem to be brood worthy. I actually have a marans that jus hatched chicks this weekend. But you also will want a large breed for the meat. Out of the birds that i have... size.... marans, langashan, barred rock, brahma, wanydotte are all large table worthy birds. A hen that is broody doesnt care what eggs she sits on so long as it os the designated number her body has in mind for her. The problem you run into with doin meat birds this way is havin enough broody hens and good mamas to sit and raise the chicks in the amount you need for food. Plus... by not doin a specific meat bird you will have cook them differently to get a tender bird to the table. A meat breed is specifically done to grow fast and be young when butchered. While anything that is a "layer" breed will need grow much much longer to get to a table size. That makes a difference in the tenderness of that meat.

We do rangers. We prefer them to cornish x for the flavor and proportionateness of them. We chicken tractor them. When they need heat we jus keep the tractor closer to the house so the cord reaches it. Tractor gets moved every day and they get fresh nibbling to pick from while the place they are in get fertilized. Yes we do process mean jerkface roos but i always Need use them for soups, stews and long cookin meals. Even the pressure cooker will not make them as tender as the rangers. I cannot have a roast chicken from an older bird.


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## Mike at Capra Vista (Nov 30, 2017)

Thanks to all for the informative advice. Despite waffling back and forth and around - chickens, ducks, turkeys, chickens, peafowl, ducks .... - I think for me, for now, chickens is the way to go. Mostly because they are the only bird which puts itself to bed. After two years, I am still delighted to find my hens roosting in their coop every evening regardless of how far they roamed.
I'm thinking an adult trio for meat production (one rooster, two hens) and 4 or 5 point of lay laying hens. I have read that it can be difficult to add hens to a flock (true??) so I assume I would have to get these at the same time.
I have a 3x8' coop with five 12x12" nest boxes. Is more required?
Will the chicks be safe with the other chickens around?


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## Mike at Capra Vista (Nov 30, 2017)

fivemoremiles said:


> you will need a broody box it is a cage built just for a hen to set on her clutch of eggs, in a safe and unmolested environment.


So would this be a separate structure or something I can add the the coop?


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## Mike at Capra Vista (Nov 30, 2017)

Anyone have experience or comments about Silver Grey Dorking Chickens?


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

What a beautiful hen - never heard of them!


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