Author Topic: Hy-line (hybrid) cockerels any good for meat? (Read 3303 times)

little bo peep · « **on:** April 14, 2014, 10:36:19 pm »

I have 10 Hy-line chicks 5 of which are cockerels, I have reared other more traditional breeds for meat but these are new to me and I was wondering whether they will be any good to eat, what I should feed them to get the best results, and at what age they are likely to kill out?

Stereo · « **Reply #1 on:** April 15, 2014, 11:25:38 am »

Well you can eat them but you won't get a huge amount of meat. I assume Hi-line is some sort of brown hen / LS / RIR cross like a warren or ISA brown or whatever? We did some LS/RIR crosses last year and ate the cockerels. They were OK but I would advise doing them early at 18 weeks or so as you won't get much extra after that, they just get leggy and tough (and eat feed). Each one we did made a good meal for 5 of us so I was happy with that.

At the end of the day the French eat sparrows and we eat things like Snipe so it's really more a matter of principles vs cost of rearing. We raised a few leghorns last year and ate the boys. An expensive bit of meat really but very tasty.

Feed wise, I would look at finisher pellets or something and plenty of mixed corn to add a bit of fat and flavour to the roast.

twizzel · « **Reply #2 on:** April 15, 2014, 11:44:56 am »

Watching this with interest as I've got some eggs in my incubator from my ex commercial hens that are running with Maran cockerals... interested to see the results but the males will obviously become dinner.

little bo peep · « **Reply #3 on:** April 15, 2014, 09:54:08 pm »

Thanks for replies, makes sense not to keep feeding them for too long I guess. Hy-line are apparently a white leghorn type but hy-line is a big American company with producers here too, their website is quite impressive. I don't know too much about chicken genetics but they are super layers so I hope they girls will be good! They are a brown hen (cockerels are white so you can tell the difference at hatching). I have one who has actually changed; he started off white but has now grown brown feathers? Not sure which pen I'll be putting him/her in! Is it possible the genetic colour sexing sometimes fails?

Mixed corn I suppose is not too expensive, or perhaps some plain wheat direct from farm would be a cheaper way of feeding them? Are there any other straight grains that they can have oats or barley?
Thanks again for any tips.