Here at Little Forge Farm, we have chosen to buy heritage chicken eggs for our meat birds. Some homesteaders choose to buy commercial meat breed chicks to raise themselves for meat. But then we’ve all heard horror stories of deformities such as legs that give way due to the weight of the bird.
We buy fertile eggs and somehow I have ended up hatching 95% roosters! I’m not sure what is going on with my incubator, but we have only hatched one hen out of the past two clutches. While we were some hens to add to our egg laying flock, it makes me feel less guilty for sending the boys to the freezer.
We have focused on three breeds as we are just starting out: the Wyandotte, the light Sussex and the Barred Rock. Here’s what we’ve found so far.
Heritage breed no.1:Wyandotte
This rooster was the smallest of the four latest ones. These roosters are now ready for the freezer except this little guy. He was a bit runty when he hatched, and now he’s growing bigger and has more striking plumage than this photo. I had to help this guy out of his egg, so that might have something to do with his size, although it could just be a slower-growing breed. I can’t say if he’s representative of the breed, but so far, not a great start in terms of growth.
Heritage breed no. 2: Barred Rock
This handsome rooster has grown into a nice meaty looking bird. He’s not very tall, but he is stocky. He has grown steadily and predictably, so I rate this breed quite highly for meat birds. This boy hatched well from the egg and was a healthy and vigorous chick, running around a lot earlier than his clutch-mates. We may keep him for breeding yet.
Heritage breed no. 3: Light Sussex
This rooster was also helped from the egg, but has grown twice as fast as the other roosters. It seems like just in the last week he has doubled in size! He is leggier than the other two, but still looks quite meaty.
Side note, helping a chick from an egg is not a waste of time, does not mean the chick is ill or otherwise inferior, and is easy to do. Often it is because the incubator was inferior, not the egg. I once followed advice from the internet that said “don’t help them out of the egg” and woke in the morning to 3 perfectly formed, fuzzy blonde chicks fully unzipped but stuck in their shells. DEAD. They had dies of fatigue and I was so saddened. I have since helped chicks out regardless. I would rather I try and they might die, than do nothing and they certainly die. Here’s some fantastic advice if you ever find yourself in this position. I have helped about 50% of each clutch. Chicks will either burst out in a matter of hours without any intervention or will slog along over the 24-hour mark and grow tired and need help.
Why choose heritage?
Ultimately, these breeds were developed because they served a purpose and met a need. They were very useful at the time as dual purpose performers. Before new specialist breeds came to be, such as brown shavers for eggs and the Cobb for meat.
I don’t need an egg-laying machine if I have two groups of hens: winter layers and summer layers. And I don’t need a lot of meat at a time, I’m not feeding an army! Once you have a few hens and a rooster, you can breed the amount that you need to be self-sustaining. You can’t breed commercial varieties for reasons of physical deformity or genetic ownership. I love that they are dual purpose, because whether you hatch hens or roosters, it will have a purpose. Seems like a no-brainer to me.