Dark Cornish meat

Just butchered my first two chickens on Saturday and they were 2 dark cornish of the 5 I picked up out of the TSC 'assorted pullets' bin.

The first one was the largest of the 5 - I didn't pluck at all, just skinned and filleted off the meat I wanted. They were about 15-16 wks old.

The breast meat was BEAUTIFUL. And tasted like....you know it....chicken. It was very flavorful and tender. All I did was put it in the fridge over night - no soaking or marinating.

The leg/thigh meat was much darker than what you get off a cornishX grocery store bird. It was a bit tougher, and more tendon than meat on the legs. By the time I got done stewing the meat for dumplings the leg meat had drawn up to practiaclly nothing. They also have freakishly long leg bones...not that it matters... The thigh meat was darker coloration, and a bit sparse but still tasty.

I've got 3 more out there that I'm going to eat in the next few weeks - they were the smaller of the girls, so will let them grow out a bit more.

They don't have a great feed ratio, as I understand it, but we did enjoy the dumplings last night!

Canada_Chick said:

I live in Canada and I am looking to add to my flock of Dark Cornishes. Would anybody here be willing to send fertile eggs or day old chicks via airmail?

We would like to introduce them to our province!

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I think Murray McMurray Hatchery will ship them to Canada, but wouldn't swear to it (min. order of 25).

I just got a dozen of their Dark Cornish Game birds on Memorial Day and have been enjoying watching them when I can stand to be outside with all the bugs around this wet year!! They are definitely very active, like to fly, first ones looking to roost and wanting to badly...gotta get the roosts put in this new coop asap!...should be doing it now...just can't take the bugs... All the chicks I got that day (them, 6 white Leghorn pullets, 6 s.r. RIRs, 1 (2 since they gave an extra) male EEs, and the free rare exotic that looks to be a white crested black polish) have been challenging each other trying to establish dominance, but I think maybe the DCs are doing more of that than the others.

What I'm wondering is if I'm now starting to tell the difference between the males and females...do the females end up with more of a brown patterning on the hens?