My Attempt at a Dual Purpose Heritage Flock

This thread has given me alot more to think about, but has helped me also. I have the idea to separate my coop in half, add a second play yard and place my Rooster, broody hen and babies on the other side of my layers. this way I know which breed has mated and am keeping the other hens out of the roo's way. As I want to raise these chics to be meat chickens, this will help keep their food separate from the layers also. I'm open to any suggestions !

B and K Homestead said:

Very nice! My MM Delaware Enhanced Broilers are 12 weeks old tomorrow so I weighed them today, as I am going to be butchering them along with my Cornish Cross tomorrow.

The weights are very impressive!.
Biggest: 6 lbs 10 oz
Smallest 4 lbs 1 oz

Below are the weights of all #10

1: 6 lbs 10 oz
2: 5 lbs 8 oz
3: 5 lbs 4 oz
4: 4 lbs 12 oz
5: 5 lbs 7 oz
6: 5 lbs 10 oz
7: 6 lbs 3 oz
8: 5 lbs 5 oz
9: 4 lbs 11 oz
10: 4 lbs 1 oz

Average for all of them is 5 lbs 5.5 oz

I think it is obvious which one I will be keeping for a breeder! I am attaching images of my my Delaware Rooster @ 11 weeks & 6 days old.

Click to expand...

Awesome lookin birds

B and K Homestead said:

Very nice! My MM Delaware Enhanced Broilers are 12 weeks old tomorrow so I weighed them today, as I am going to be butchering them along with my Cornish Cross tomorrow.

The weights are very impressive!.
Biggest: 6 lbs 10 oz
Smallest 4 lbs 1 oz

Below are the weights of all #10

1: 6 lbs 10 oz
2: 5 lbs 8 oz
3: 5 lbs 4 oz
4: 4 lbs 12 oz
5: 5 lbs 7 oz
6: 5 lbs 10 oz
7: 6 lbs 3 oz
8: 5 lbs 5 oz
9: 4 lbs 11 oz
10: 4 lbs 1 oz

Average for all of them is 5 lbs 5.5 oz

I think it is obvious which one I will be keeping for a breeder! I am attaching images of my my Delaware Rooster @ 11 weeks & 6 days old.

Click to expand...

I would reccomend keeping both of the heavies if you can. Just incase one turns out to be a dud, and to have a spare. Nothing ruins your project more then loosing your Roos.

B and K Homestead said:

I am attaching images of my my Delaware Rooster @ 11 weeks & 6 days old.

Click to expand...

Was that a hot day?
At first I thought he was holding his wings really oddly, then I realized he might just be trying to stay cool.

NatJ said:

Was that a hot day?
At first I thought he was holding his wings really oddly, then I realized he might just be trying to stay cool.

Click to expand...

Really hot for here, around 95 degrees.

In your experience, how old til New Hampshires of this breeding start laying?

B and K Homestead said:

In your experience, how old til New Hampshires of this breeding start laying?

Click to expand...

I want to say 20wks? Dont remember for certain.

B and K Homestead said:

In your experience, how old til New Hampshires of this breeding start laying?

Click to expand...

I agree with @SheaLoner it is right around 20 weeks. Hard to say exactly cause they were with other layers here when they started.

1 of my New Hampshire roosters is chasing hens & saw him successfully breed a NH hen. He couldn't catch my other layer breeds, haha.

Processed a few of my sex link males yesterday. They averaged about 6lbs live at 12 weeks. Not bad! I also processed a 16 month NH cock. Havent got a weight on him yet but he was easily the biggest animal I have ever dispatched and processed. The difference between processing the young uns and the 1+ year old was interesting. Overall harder for the older bird. Way tougher skin, but looking forward to pressure cooking him,. The SLs have been butchered, but the NH is still resting in the fridge and will be pressure canned.

Here are some pics of the sex links before I processed. Will add some pics of the NH carcass and weight later this evening after work!

Wife snuck this pic of me hard at work


For me this was a momentous day. These are my first closed loop, homestead bred and grown meaties. Hurray!