Egg laying chicken for meat

Does anyone know if you can get chickens which produce a good amount of eggs but will still be good for meat (tights, breast, dump stick and wings) after 2-5 years once they reduce their egg count?

Thanks,
Kris

You can certainly harvest the hen when she's done laying. After working hard for 3 or more years, you may wish to offer the old girl to the soup kettle. She'll be tough to chew by then.

Agreed.... a 2yr or 3yr old hen will have GREAT flavor, but the meat will be tough and chewy.
Look for recipes with soup, stew, or long slow braising.

With that in mind, almost any laying bird can be used for meat.
Look for a "dual purpose" bird, i.e. Plymouth rock, Orpington, Rhode Islands, etc.

You'll want the king of DP birds for laying and for meat...the one breed known to be superlative at both and are hardy, have great feed conversion, longevity of lay and pack on more meat than any other standard breed chicken and still put the eggs in the nest every day. They forage on free range well, socialize well, go broody enough to reproduce but not so broody it ruins their laying records, a calm and regal bird. White Rocks!

Here are some sample pics of heritage line WRs from excellent breeders.





This last pic are my birds....6 yrs old and still putting eggs in the nest enough to pay for their feed..and these are just from old hatchery stock genetics. This will be their last year, I'm afraid, as they are no longer laying as well as they used to do but they have given year after year of excellent laying, right up on par with the Black Australorp. The difference being, when I process these old gals, there will be plenty of meat on the carcass. They are a good 2-3 lbs heavier than most all other standard breeds I've owned.

beautiful hens Jay, very nice. how do you go about locating a good breeder for WRs? Must say, I'm interested.

The Plymouth Rocks in general will produce a larger carcass than most other 'dual purpose' hens.
They are reported as being better winter layers than some other DPs.

You might find some good breeders here - most of these people breed for show:

Plymouth Rock Fancier's Club

Adam Klaus wrote:beautiful hens Jay, very nice. how do you go about locating a good breeder for WRs? Must say, I'm interested.

This is the man to contact...honestly. This man knows more about WR breeding probably than anyone in the nation and he can direct you to folks who have bloodlines from some of his birds. I heard he got out of the WRs recently due to scaling down for health reasons, but he can give you some names of breeders who have his lines and others.

http://bloslspoutlryfarm.tripod.com/

Thanks for the replies. I guess I will need to get some egg laying to start and then some meat chicken for summer raising since we like to eat a lot of chicken thighs and breast.

Kris

Im seconding what Matt said. I have an oprington, she's a very big girl, although doesn't lay much eggs! Also she gets very very broody which may present a problem for you.