[The Woodsiders]

Hi all

A Happy New Year to everyone, we currently keep hens,4 Warrens and now want to introduce some more, not necessarily Warrens, we thought about some Light Sussex all mainly for egg production, however the boss has decreed that she would like some for fattening up for the table as well, can anyone advise as to the best breed? would they have to be kept in a seperate enclosure or could they mix with the other ladies? would they eat all the feed if they were together? any help would be welcome.

Thank you

[manian]

i plan on trying table birds and was advised hubbards are a good choice...
not tried yet though, waiting for the spring

[BlueDaisy]

We had the first of our Speckled Sussex mid december. They are nice, friendly birds. At 21 weeks, dressed weight was 1.9kg with no special treatment, just ranging in amongst all the others. The remaining boys have just started to crow at about 24 weeks so have sealed their own fate! I imagine the Light Sussex boys would be much the same.
If you want quick growing then you need something like a Hubbard.
Good luck.

[DyfedZoo]

we tried some of the commercial types and were horrified they got so fat so fast they literally died in front of us 

have started breeding our own hybrids now but for beginners you can't really go wrong with good old fashioned light sussex, they are easy to source, easy to care for and make a good size for eating at around 25wks or so.  You want to keep them seperate from your laying hens really as you need to feed them to 'grow'.  We have fed ours on chick crumb as little 'uns then on natural growers with no chemicals in, finishing them on pure wheat. We feed plenty of greens and and apples or any odd scraps we have had, and if you free range them, try not to let them have too large an area or they get too tough and also don't fatten the same. No hard and fast rule about when to cull but we found you can usually gauge it by feeling the breast and weight of the bird, some of ours were ready before the others and even if we left ours till 6-8 months they were still perfectly good eaters 

[The Woodsiders]

Thanks for all your replies, looks like we are going to give it a go.

Thanks again

[Rosemary]

we tried some of the commercial types and were horrified they got so fat so fast they literally died in front of us 

We've has Hubbards a number of times now and haven't lost any other than one that broke a leg. We killed 5 cockerels at 12 weeks old just before CHristmas and they dressed at between 2.6 and 3.1kg. We will kill the remaining six on Thursday. We pay £1.50 each for day-olds. I will work out how much they cost us to raise when I get a minute.

We keep them seperate from the laying flock as they are still young (although big) when they are ready to kill. I don't think Hector, our cockerel, would welcome the heavyweight competition.

[cluckingnuts]

I have several hundred parent breeding flock of Hubbard Master Gris. They are bred for free ranging and ready for slaughter around 14 weeks. I never had any problem from the young they produce with regards to legs or heart.
I also cross them with Dorking, IG etc to produce a later maturing birds with plenty of meat.

[princesspiggy]

we tried some of the commercial types and were horrified they got so fat so fast they literally died in front of us 

what age were the birds when u had problems? im guessing after 12 wks? theyre not breed for longetivity just quick meat. sussex are good if your breeding them anyway. ixworth are suppose to be good.
whats the difference between sasso and hubbard?

[cluckingnuts]

Different companies with their own strains.

[Helencus]

I had some light Sussex cockerels that ended up in the pot. Didn't think much to them even at 30 weeks not much meat. I might try some hubbards this year if I get a stunner. I hate pulling their necks when they're conscious.

[Sandy]

We had some Hubbards for Chrsitmas dinner, they did grow fast and they were roaming with the others but sleeping seperately so when the bad snow came around 2 weeks before CHristmas I kept them in thier largeish run as I thought they may loose a lot of the weight, thier run was very sheltered and kept dry at all times due to a huge ugly conifter above them and 2 large walls each side. As with lots of other electreical things, we did not get to weigh them but they were very large, the shops have similar size for around £7 each but they tasted very nice and had loads of meat on them not water. We will get some more as they were no trouble and cost effective we think as they did not eat a great amount!!!!! Next lot will be when the weathers warmer so they may well run free until they go to the disatcher!!!!