Cornish X VS. dual purpose

[Roland C]

I have been raising Cornish x rocks successfully, but like others I am looking for a sustainable breed. I am currently raising some Dark Cornish, Black Astrolorp, Buff Orpington and Barred rocks. All for the sole purpose of developing some breedstock and producing my own birds. My question is this. The harvest of X rocks is app. ten weeks, what should I expect for these other birds ? Based on what I've read from BYC post I was thinking 18 to 20 weeks ? And if that is correct will the meat be tender like an 8 to 10 week broiler? Am I barking up the wrong tree expecting these birds to replace broilers for tenderness? I'm ok with the longer life span.

Thank you for any input

 

[Bossroo]

Why would you want to pay more and get less in return. You are barking up the wrong tree on all counts.

 

[Roland C]

That's exactly why I stared this thread, I'm looking for ideas............Can you tell me yours?

 

[CrazyTalk]

What's your goal?


The Cornish Cross grow incredibly fast, and have really good food-to-muscle conversion. Even with buying and shipping chicks, its significantly cheaper to raise a cornish cross bird to butcherable size than most heritage birds.


For Cornish Cross, you're looking at 9lb birds or so in <10 weeks, on about 20lbs of food each. For most of the heritage meat breeds, you're looking 14 weeks or so for 5lb birds, on about 25-30lbs of food each.

10 lbs of food is about $3, which is more than a CX chick shipped (They're about $2.50 each shipped by 25s), so price ends up pretty similar, but the CX are ready faster, and are larger.


Constantly buying chicks bugs some people. Others, it doesn't. It's up to you.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The older they get the more texture the meat has. Different people have different tolerances for that. Some might be OK with a 12 week old fried or grilled, some might be OK with a 15 week old fried or grilled. But there is practically no meat on a 12 week old. A 15 week old is much better, but I prefer 18 weeks or older as far as the amount of meat available.

The way you handle the different textures is that that you cook them differently. The older they are the slower and moister they need to cook. A traditional French way to cook an old retired rooster is coq au vin, cock in wine. If done right a five year old rooster is extremely tender. Right now I have a 21 week old cockerel in the oven. I put it in a good baking pan so moisture cannot escape, rinsed it off but did not dry it so it has some moisture to work with, covered it in a thick layer of basil, oregano, and parsley, and put it in the oven at 250 degrees for about 2-1/2 to 3 hours. It will be delicious, it always is. If I were cooking a two year old hen with this method she’d probably go at 240 degrees for maybe 3-1/2 hours and maybe with a couple of tablespoons of water. There are other ways to cook older birds.

If you are buying all their feed you can’t beat the efficiency of a broiler hybrid for meat or a layer hybrid for eggs. They have been bred for a food to meat or food to egg ratio other chickens can’t come close to matching. If you are in a position where you can raise most of their food or they can forage for most of it, they can be much more efficient but most people on this forum can’t do that. But if you use a cooking method that is appropriate for their age the tenderness issue goes away. The flavor will be a bit stronger though. Some of us really like that but for some it is an issue.

 

[LindaB220]

I have been raising Cornish x rocks successfully, but like others I am looking for a sustainable breed. I am currently raising some Dark Cornish, Black Astrolorp, Buff Orpington and Barred rocks. All for the sole purpose of developing some breedstock and producing my own birds. My question is this. The harvest of X rocks is app. ten weeks, what should I expect for these other birds ? Based on what I've read from BYC post I was thinking 18 to 20 weeks ? And if that is correct will the meat be tender like an 8 to 10 week broiler? Am I barking up the wrong tree expecting these birds to replace broilers for tenderness? I'm ok with the longer life span.

Thank you for any input

Good to have you. I'm been researching this for a while and I'm back at CX's. I think I'll go that way. I have been trying to hatch good White Plymouth Rocks and had dismal luck. I have blue egg layers and will do a couple of batches of CX's a year.

Next purchase is a freezer.

 

[krose2001]

Does anyone have pictures of their CX's dressed and can you give general idea of age & weight? Also anyone that has processed dual purpose chickens (such as Australorps) can you respond with pics or info on age you processed and weight post dressed?

Thanks!

I was wondering the same thing (CX vs Dual), so glad this was started.

 

[Roland C]

Crazy Talk............. My goal is to determine if the meat texture will be similar between CX and Heritage birds. But based on the responses, part of the answer is economics and part preference.
So thank you all for your input.

Krose2001........... I do not have pics right now but I have another harvest coming up on Oct. 4 . I see you are looking for age and weight, not sure what your after. But I would be happy to help you if you can wait till Oct 4 . Also my birds will just be CX I will not be doing dual purpose till Thanks Giving weekend. If you remind me the week of these 2 events with any other details I will do my best to help.


Ridgerunner......... I agree with you on peoples preferences so I will have to wait till I harvest some duallies around Thanks Giving...............Your recipe is making me hungry LOL

 

[CrazyTalk]

Meat texture is mostly a matter of age (and physical activity level).

A 12 week old CX is going to have similar texture to a 12 week old heritage - the CX will just be twice the size.

 

[Roland C]

Crazy Talk

ok other than size you think texture will be similar based on age. One of the things I am trying to clear up and I believe we just did is, the fact that a heritage bird takes longer to mature and weeks of life affect texture not maturity age. That gives me something to work with. Once I harvest some heritage birds in Nov. I think I will have a better handle on this.