# Dual purpose chicken



## bricned (Jul 3, 2006)

In your opinion what is the best all around dual purpose chicken. One that
will survive with the least amount of care. 
For a number of years I have been running a food pantry to help feed the poor.
I would like to help some people to become more self sufficient
While I have raised chickens for over 60 years I would like to hear other people's opinion. The people that I work with need all the help they can get.
My first choice would have been the Kuroiler of India.It is not available in 
America.


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## Joe.G (Jun 26, 2012)

What do you want the chicken for Eggs and to be hardy? and then butcher in a couple years or what?


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

The kuroiler might be called a dual purpose bird in India. Here it would be called a mutt.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

if your wanting self sufficient birds that will put eggs and meat on the table with little to no input your probably going to want a flock of game type hens that will produce a decent amount of eggs, throw in a few legghorns and sexlink pullets too just for extra eggs when the games go broody, and put a large meaty rooster over them, like a Maran or DarkCornish or even a BardRock, the game hens lay a decent amount of eggs if you keep collecting them, they are able to survive on free range very easily, and will hatch out and raise your next generation very easily, they also have a decent if smaller meaty carcass for eating,


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## bricned (Jul 3, 2006)

Yes Joe eggs and meat


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## Joe.G (Jun 26, 2012)

Below is a list of the ones I recommend if you want to stay with a standard chicken, If you get them from a Breeder you may have better luck with them going broody if you wish to hatch your own chicks natural way. The problem is if you want to keep the birds for a few years then butcher the meat can get a little rougher then you may like better for soups at that point. If it were me I would want to get a some good laying birds and then get some dedicated meat birds. You will get more eggs and better meat, ( Not saying that the dual purpose birds listed don't lay a lot of eggs, there are some very good layers in there).
Australorp 
Brahma
Dominique
Dorking 
Faverolles
Holland
Java
Jersey Giants
Naked Neck
New Hampshire
Orpington
Plymouth Rock
Rhode Island Red
Rhode Island White
Sussex
Wyandotte


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

There is no chicken that will survive with no care and produce a lot of meat and eggs and be reproducible. 

The best bet would be to go with leghorns for the eggs and small amount of feed needed and forget about meat. Or else keep 2 flocks, one for meat and one for eggs.


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

If poverty is the issue, then it is cheaper to buy chicken and eggs at the market than it is to raise them.

Chickens need shelter and feed, both of which cost money.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

Tell that to game type fowel. They do just fine on free range and only sleep inside if you make them. There are lines that even will over run you with eggs untill they go broody. The meat yeald is smaller but so is the input. Protect from preditors and you have it made.


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## Bettacreek (May 19, 2012)

The problem with free-ranging is the losses. Birds will just disappear, even in the daylight. They roam and "forget" to come home, etc. And, that's NOT from predator loss either. I like my leghorns, and especially like my leghorn crosses. The crosses still lay like the dickens, but they're much less timid.


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## bricned (Jul 3, 2006)

KSALguy would this be something like the fighting game.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

similar, but down graded, more like what some call "barnyard" game, the roosters still fight but not as bad, if multiple roosters are kept in the safe flock they will devide up territory a little more and establish who is boss where, but still run with the flock of hens, you would use these hens and put your more meatyer roosters over them, even a leghorn rooster or Anconna would add egg production to the already decent layers, over in the Philippines where i will be working with some of the villages to improve production this is the base i will be working with, only differince is they dont have the same preditor issues we have,


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## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

Key West Gypsy and game chickens would require minimal input. You would have to hunt eggs and really work for a minimal meal. I have had friends turn Key Westies loose and they've been overrun with the little guys. LOL

Of the list of chickens Joe listed, I'll comment on the ones I've dealt with. 
The Javas grow really slow(not joking), so I would scratch them from the list just because they take a good bit of time to mature. The older Java hens make GREAT broodies and I often get jumped if I mess with chicks(or anything that makes a remotely distressing PEEP) whether the hen has ever gone broody or not. Not many hens protect half grown chicks when they've never set themselves. LOL I love them, but they take forever to mature.

The Brahmas take a while to grow out and even longer to fill out. Mine are tall lanky birds that lay a small egg, but they are very broody. While mine are friendly and make great pets, they are a little slow witted and wouldn't last long at all free ranging. I've watched mine walk right up to strange dogs or let strange people walk right up and carry them around(I don't handle these birds, it's how they are).

The Dorkings.. I love these guys but the moment it starts to warm up, the eggs stop because it is time for every single one of them to hatch anything that even remotely looks like an egg. These are great winter time layers, but the moment the weather turns warm production comes to a halt and you fight broodies all summer. They make decent dual purpose birds, even if egg production is pretty low. If you get the right line of Silver Grey Dorkings, they are sexually dimorphic at hatch(autosexing).


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## Awnry Abe (Mar 21, 2012)

I like your intention, but I think dual purpose is over complicating things. If I needed all the help I could get, I would just want something cheap that would survive. Most laying breeds are durable, cheap, and taste fine, IMO.


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## Otter (Jan 15, 2008)

Honestly, cheap and productive - Red Sex Links. My only complaint about them is that the line I get (Bovan's Browns, through DD's 4H) doesn't have as strong a sell-preservation instinct as my other birds, so if a predator is going to get a bird, it is invariably one of them.

But other lines haven't been near as bad and after realizing they fail Free-range 101, I just coop them, they get out for a couple of hours a day to forage.

The upside: they lay early, they lay lots and they go broody the second year. Not all of them, but just as many as any other breed and more then some (I have never, personally, had a Barred Rock go broody, but I get at least a clutch from my sex links and Cali whites every year)
The males grow noticeably faster with more breast meat and better meat-to-bone at earlier age then other breeds I've raised. 

The downside; There are about twice as many lines as there are hatcheries and not all of them have the best foraging abilities. And they don't breed true to color, though generation 2 will still lay like the dickens and grow well, generation 3 will be pretty much like any other breed as far as laying and growth, but with throwbacks to the original.
That's as far as I've taken them.

I'm sure this won't be a popular answer, they have no fancy name or romantic history, and aren't hugely attractive, but I've got to give them kudos for being solid, reliable and the most dual purpose chicken I've worked with.


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## Dusky Beauty (Jan 4, 2012)

I don't think you can go wrong with RiRs, and my Wyandotes might just be suited too-- mine are a wee bit breasty-- but your best plan would probably be a mixed flock. 

What makes chickens frugal though, is being able to keep them on tablescraps and leftovers and fewer and fewer people in this economy are throwing out scads of usable food waste. I don't produce enough leftovers for dog and duck treats, so the idea of keeping a scraps bucket for chickens and pigs makes no sense to me-- it would never get full!
If you can get a restaurant to donate their safe food waste, a bread outlet to donate stale bread, or a grocery store to donate produce you're way ahead of the game but more and more places are refusing to do that for liability reasons.


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## chamoisee (May 15, 2005)

My impression of the guinea hens I saw in Texas is that they seem to raise themselves and to be all over the place, living outside.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

Guineas do so well in Texas and the south west because the climate and vegitation is alot like what is found in Africa where they are from, in other parts of the country guineas dont do as well as parrents because they hatch out their clutch and run the babies through damp grass from the dew, or into thick tall grass, guinea babies are TINY and get lost and chilled easy like that, so the dry hot south west works great for them to actually raise their clutches


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## chamoisee (May 15, 2005)

With that said, I think that the sort of dual purpose bird that would do well in hard times will vary from one area to another. I have done well with ducks here. They did not even have any housing during the winter, just slept on the pond, thawed themselves a hole in it when it froze over!!! Unfortunately I don't like duck eggs....


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

Bettacreek said:


> The problem with free-ranging is the losses. Birds will just disappear, even in the daylight. They roam and "forget" to come home, etc. And, that's NOT from predator loss either. I like my leghorns, and especially like my leghorn crosses. The crosses still lay like the dickens, but they're much less timid.


I've never had birds forget to come home when free ranging. You have to control predators but I've had several generations of chickens roosting in the barn and completely free to range over the property. It works very well. You either have to be good with a .22 or sneak up on them at night to harvest the extras though.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

actually the more i think of it, the OP is in Louisiana right?? Muscovies would be great, they are a hot climate native, they are from the swamps of south america, they hide their nest as good or better than a game hen, and produce multiple clutches of 15-20+ each year, that would put ALOT of meat on their menue, get some dark colord layers for eggs and keep scovies for meat,


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## PaulNKS (Jan 11, 2009)

I've had several different breeds. For years, I preferred Buff Orpingtons. They were heavy meat birds and good layers. 

I now have Black Australorps. The Buffs were to passive to live without too much protection. The Australorps used to hold the world record for egg laying. They are also a heavy breed that dresses out nicely. They are gentle but more self-preserving than the buffs.

It does NOT have to cost more to have chickens than it does to buy meat and eggs. I built my hen house for free. Anything can serve as a feeder or waterer. If they free-range they don't need hardly any extra feed.

My hens run out day and night. Once they get accustomed a "hen house" they will continue going back in at night. But, I never do shut them up. The dog keeps away predators. The only time I give the hens any extra feed is during the winter. During the warm months, they "forage" and get plenty bugs. This year, they've even kept the horn worms off my tomatoes. During the heat of the day, I find them under the house with the dog. lol At night they go back to their hen house.

When I get a hen that starts laying outside, I pen her up with the nesting boxes for a week or two and give her feed. Once she "finds" the nesting boxes useful again, I start turning her out.

I never feed grit. I only feed oyster shell if I notice a problem with eggs. 

So, yes, chickens can be a good solution for the poor, if they have the room to let them free range. 

The Black Australorp has become my favorite breed. They are dual purpose, laying record numbers of eggs and are a good heavy meat bird. When the hen has outlived her usefulness, she goes into the pressure cooker, then gets canned. When they hatch out little ones, most of the roosters end up in the canning jars as well.

As many eggs as I eat, having chickens has saved me a fortune.


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## Ness (Jun 22, 2011)

I have to agree with the barnyard games. Our hens are completely non-aggressive, one even recruited one of the other hens to act as a babysitter and help raise the first hen's chicks (no really, I have pictures!!). 

They do incredibly well on free-range, I don't feed them past the occasional hand-full of scratch. Very healthy, very prolific birds. I also agree on the egg hiding! You almost want to keep them locked up so you can find the eggs. Not too much meat on them, but for the input, there is something. 

As a dual purpose I don't think you can beat BPRs. We get local "bprs" which are usually a bit of a mix, our flock has some cuckoo maran, dominique & bpr genes floating around. Create a really nice large bird, again they do quite well on free-range, especially as younger birds. Very prolific, great layers & will go broody. 

Really, if you're looking to help people raise their own, and they're not going to be picky about colour etc., just go with locally raised "mutts". They are the best birds your can find for vigour, yes you get a lot of fluxuation in meat & egg production, but they're cheap & at the end of the day they're chickens. Eat'em if you don't like them!

eta: Muscovy, also a great option. We can grows ours out in 8-12 weeks to a very nice size on pretty much free-range alone. They are also very healthy hardy birds. They can be taught to lay in nest boxes; and they keep the bugs down! Eggs are delicious & they will lay year-round with lights. I realise you're in the south, so this isn't an issue, but they also do just fine over the winter.


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## CraterCove (Jan 24, 2011)

I have only had one breed of chicken, Delaware. They are considered dual purpose and my roos who are just now 12 weeks old are ripe for butchering. I have to admit I never thought that I'd really be all that affectionate with the chickens but the personality and nature of the Delaware's have won me over. They have a lovely look about them and are calm and gentle around my kids and seem genuinely curious about everything going on around them.

What I, personally, was looking for was a breed that would give a goodly amount of eggs, be fairly hardy, go broody and raise clutches on their own and be good sociable additions to my small farm. So far, so good!

Good luck!


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