Skinny birds.

[HansenHomestead]

Along with our rabbits we also have chickens for meat, and eggs. We've had our girls for almost 2 years now. We butchered out a few about a year ago due to poor attitude. Then we lost a few while I was free ranging, and the neighbors tom barn cat ate 1, and chased 4 into the corn field, and we never found them.

Now to the point. We feed our girls almost everything. Layer feed, meat feed, scratch, most kitchen scraps, and leftovers. I do not feed them garlic, or onions, because I do not like how it makes their eggs taste.

I've had this hen that for the last month has made me like her less, and less. Every time I pick up one of the girls, pet them, then sit them down, as soon as their feet hit the ground she comes running over, and starts attacking them. Usually resulting in her getting a boot in the ass. Yesterday I was holding the new rooster we got from DBA. He is a bit skittish, and nervous, and usually comes to me when I enter the run. I set him down, and once again she came running peeking him in the back of the head, and he took off like a bat out of hell running, and hiding. This I do not need. We had to out our last one, because he was too much of a "chicken" for a rooster. I do not want another rooster that attacks us, but fails to protect his hens from actual predators.

Anyways back to the point. After she pulled that I grabbed her up, carried her to the house, and asked my husband if he was in the mood to butcher. He said yes, so we got everything together, and was about to start, BUT when I picked her up by the feet I noticed that while she felt heavy she was pretty boney, and thin-ish so back to the coop she went. If I'm going to butcher one of my girls I want the kill to be "worth her weight." She is a New Hampshire Red. Which I've come to realize I personally do not care for the breed as a whole. The other New Hampshire's are a lot nice than her, but they grow so dang slow yet out eat the rest of the breeds I have.

We also have Barred Rock, and Orphanington Buffs 2 of my favorite breeds, but all of their breasts are poor in size. All of the New Hampshire's are going to be butchered before the first frost. The Barreds, and Buffs are here to stay. They are great layers, sitters, and have great personality. We also have about 8 Light Brahmas which I love to death, but are still very young so I have yet to know of their laying quality, or size though they have grown quickly for as young as they are. We got them in maybe March, or April of this year.

My 2 questions are.

1: For the older girls, (and future birds) what are some ways to beef them up before butcher time comes?

2: What are some good breeds of meat only birds?

Right now we only have duel purpose birds. Meat/egg, and it's not turning out as well as I had thought, I talked my husband into buying meat only birds for next year.

As much as I love my girls, I love to eat chicken more, haha, and only being able to butcher 4 in almost 2 years is NOT going to fly with me.

 

[macksmom98]

I only have layers (accept an occasional butcher if necessary), but the hatchery websites will give you good information on meat breeds

 

[bikegurl]

Something that could be causing her to become thin.....

Recently we were butchering our old hens, and discovered a lice problem. One of the hens was literally skin and bones...no breast meat at all. She was barely able to walk, she was so weak. We culled her because she was suffering, but didn't eat her....she wasn't worth the effort to skin and gut. We felt terrible though, since we hadn't noticed her declining condition until too late. There were two hens left, and we butchered them too, since they had been living together. One had lice; the other didn't. The one with lice wasn't laying; the one without, was still.
A parasite issue can cause them to lose weight, and even kill them if it is bad enough.
The lice we had were pale, and ran when exposed, so were hard to catch and look at. Thoroughly inspecting the hen should turn them up, if she has them.

 

[HansenHomestead]

I'm going to run out to the coop right now, and check, because for 2 months our girls have stopped laying eggs. I thought they were starting molt, but it usually doesn't 2 months for that.

 

[cmfarm]

With chicken lice if you look at the feathers around their faces you can usually see small white eggs attached to the feathers.

 

[HansenHomestead]

I did not see any lice on them. I posted this on Backyard Chickens as well, and someone said since my girls are duel purpose breeds, that they may have too much fat on them which will cause them to stop laying like mine has, but while I was checking them I saw a lot of new feather growth which puts me back at the thought that they are going through a really slow molt.

 

[bikegurl]

That's good that you don't have lice!

 

[Fireclaws bunnbutts]

You'll find that roosters actually do very little "protecting" lol. Unless it's their own skin. They may warn of danger but that's about it. Really, all a rooster is good for is looking/sounding pretty and making chicks.

They'll protect their flock from other roosters, but all bets are off when it comes to an actual threat. All too often I've seen a rooster just stand there when a hawk flies by and it's the hens that give off the warning call :?


If you want a good meat bird that grows fast and can be butchered early, get cornish rocks. They're usually about 4-5 pounds by the time they're 3 months old if I remember correctly, not good if you want eggs though and they're ugly, they eat a lot and they stink.

 

[HansenHomestead]

When the barn cat went after our girls, our first rooster literally ran to the coop, and hid with his face in the corner while the poor hens ran around the yard for there lives! Haha. He would flog the crap out of us, but that's it. -_- My grandma had a rooster years ago that lost his life in a battle with a hawk that was after a chick.

I'm going to keep all my Buffs, and Barred Rocks, and just butcher out the New Hampshire's when the time comes. Then next year I'm really interested in Freedom Rangers, and possibly the Cornish Rocks.

My BIG struggle lately (which is also starting to depress me) is I feel like with all this money, time, and work with the rabbits, and chickens I'm not getting any pay out. My Buff did sit this spring, but non hatched. Though when I checked a few of her eggs they did have developing chicks in them, and with the rabbits I just did my first breed, and am starting to doubt they are pregnant. We're getting Quail this Friday, and I bought an incubator in hopes I can up my changes for new stock instead of having to buy new birds each year.