Moyers Specialty Broilers

[shedinator]

Does anyone have experience with the "Robust White," "Imperial," or "Royal" broilers from Moyer's hatchery? I saw some posts last year about folks considering them, but don't know if anyone followed through. Would be interested in how they come out when processed, and also if anyone's discovered whether they breed true or not.

 

[shedinator]

I got an email back from the hatchery, if anyone's interested. Long story short, they claim these birds don't have the heart and leg problems of the Cornish X, and can be raised on pasture for about as long as you want, though feed conversion drops off around week 14. Guy said one customer raised them to 16 weeks and had 9-10 lb carcass weights.

They can be bred, but they do not breed true.

 

[Geena]

Does anyone have experience with the "Robust White," "Imperial," or "Royal" broilers from Moyer's hatchery? I saw some posts last year about folks considering them, but don't know if anyone followed through. Would be interested in how they come out when processed, and also if anyone's discovered whether they breed true or not.

I've had a couple of batches of their Royal (red) broilers that I raised from the fertile eggs they have available. They get to a good size by 12 -14 weeks, some of the males got huge and had massive legs, nice amount of breast meat as well.
I kept a female and she was an excellent layer, nice temperament, an all around great hen.

 

[Doug in Colorado]

Does this breed eat and grow so fast that they end up being unable to walk?

 

[Geena]

Does this breed eat and grow so fast that they end up being unable to walk?

Some of bigger ones did have leg problems toward the end, but they could still get around.

 

[shedinator]

Does this breed eat and grow so fast that they end up being unable to walk?

According to their rep, customers who had them on pasture did not find the leg and heart issues at nearly the rates of a CX. I'm guessing ymmv based on flock management practices.

 

[RoosterML]

Hi,
I just wanted to review my purchase from Moyers this year and let you know what i did. I Ordered 25 Red Royal males. I received 26 when order came in. Birds shipped out of PA Tuesday afternoon and Thursday Morning at 6 am my local post office in CT called to have me come pick them up. Its was funny you heard them in the back round chirping away while she spoke. This was the first time i have ever raised birds from chicks period. I started them out in my smaller chicken coop. See picture below of the first day. I had the birds in the coop under my easy bake oven heater as seen in the picture.I had them in the coop for about 3weeks after that i moved them to a pen in my back yard/field. I had a split plastic dog house/carrier that provided them cover to go into if needed (see picture). I was feeding Poulin quick grow broiler feed. I lost one bird from suffocation due to me covering the pen with a tarp at night which caused the pen to go completely dark and cause the birds to crowd together and suffocate one. My mistake live and learn. I moved the pen once to twice daily so they had fresh grass and clean living area. Total of 25 made it to butcher day. 9 weeks and 4 days total. Birds all dressed out ready for freezer have been 5-5.5lbs. The birds had a really nice amount of fat on them. Wife over cooked the 1st bird but none of the meat was dry including breast meat. The last week you could really see that these birds were not meant to be kept long term. They would kind of wobble around. I guess one could go longer by a week or 2 but i wouldn't i was happy with the results i got and to me the birds started to look uncomfortable. I will order again in the future from Moyers. I hope this may help someone and if you have any questions that i may be able to answer please ask.
Day # 1:

This was roughly 4 weeks and moved to the 2nd large outdoor 12'x12' dog pen.

 

[shedinator]

Thanks, @RoosterML !

What was your feed conversion like on those? Did you get more breast meat like a Cornish, or big legs and a smaller breast?

 

[RoosterML]

Thanks, @RoosterML !

What was your feed conversion like on those? Did you get more breast meat like a Cornish, or big legs and a smaller breast?

It took roughly 500 lbs. of feed in total. I really can't compare to the Cornish as i have never done anything like this before. It does have a nice portion of breast meat with a medium leg but again i really don't have anything to compare it to. Sorry i couldn't be of more help.

 

[shedinator]

It took roughly 500 lbs. of feed in total. I really can't compare to the Cornish as i have never done anything like this before. It does have a nice portion of breast meat with a medium leg but again i really don't have anything to compare it to. Sorry i couldn't be of more help.

So 500/(5.25*25)= 3.8:1 feed conversion. That's right around where my Red Rangers dress out.

A Cornish X is the breed you buy in the grocery store, if that helps you visualize.