Eglu Cube Coop For Sale

[Bantambabe]

A question that might cause "trouble", so sorry to those I might upset, but does anyone know if the Omlet hens are ok to eat? I ask because they are vaccinated, so wasn't sure if this meant they might not be fit for human consumption?

 

thanks

[Egluntyne]

They are laying hens, so there wouldn't be much meat on them, to be honest. You need to have a dual purpose or a specially bred table hen. Never eat a laying hen that has died of natural causes.

[Olly]

I don't think the vaccination would matter, but I agree with Egluntyne - the breed has been developed to lay lots of eggs, not to produce meat; I have never considered eating mine, but I think they would be both lean and very stringy - not worth the effort involved.

 

There are people on this forum who raise meat birds, but you will find most of the Omlet hen keepers regard their hens as pets.

[WitchHazel]

You probably could, but it wouldn't be worthwhile. As Olly and Egluntyne have said, not enough on them to make it worthwhile.

 

If you're thinking about raising chooks for the table, then it's best to get either a dual purpose breed, or a hybrid designed specifically to be a table bird. If you plan to give them a reasonable free range life first (so, cull at 14 weeks plus) then you should avoid the fast growing hybrid table birds (like Ross Cobs), as these are designed to put weight on very quickly ant to be culled at 6-8 weeks of age. If you keep them for much longer, they get too heavy to support themselves and can develop leg problems. (I raised ross cobs once. Never again. All the poor things wanted to do was eat...to get them to move about we had to have the water at the far end of the pen, and the food at the opposite end.).

 

A good hybrid table breed would be something like Sassos. You can get fertile eggs and also day-old chicks from Smart Chicks: http://www.smart-chicks.co.uk/

 

I can also recommend Welsh Blacks, which are an Indian Game/Australorp cross, specific to castlefarmeggs.co.uk. You'd be looking at getting fertile eggs and hatching them yourself, I don't think Dave supplies chicks. (And there isn't any point buying a full grown bird). We have a couple of lovely Welsh Black ladies and we run them with a "Sasso" roo.

 

Hope that helps.

[Bantambabe]

Yes thanks everyone, lots of help. I wasn't thinking of becoming a "raise for the table" keeper, just considering options for one of my hens who is an evil psycho and who makes the other girls' lives absolute hell - so it was just going to be a one-off .

[Mum]

As a one off in this case, yes, you could use it, but use it to make a delicious thick chicken broth instead of a roast chicken; that way, even will a reduced meat ratio, the flavour would be divine! Well, that's a possibility I'd be contemplating in your shoes.

[WitchHazel]

One thing to be aware of.... it can be very difficult (emotionally) to eat one of your own chooks, even one who is a bully.

 

As well as having our Garden Girls, we have a separate flock of breeding chickens. We raise the offspring for our table (the parents are pets, we would not eat them). We've been doing this for some years now, and I still find it difficult. The reason we carry on is that (a) we know that they have had a happy free range life (we only eat chicken we have raised ourselves) and (b) these lovely animals - both the chicks we raise and their parents - would not exist at all if we did not. (And, frankly, a third reason, the cross we produce tastes far better than anything I've bought)l.

 

If bullying isthe cause, you could perhaps try isolating the bully? Give her her own accomodation for a couple of weeks. The pecking order will be reshuffled while she is away, and you may find that when she is reintroduced she is not in a position to be a bully. Just a thought.