Feeding meat chickens

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I suppose some people have tried it. If you are going to do something like that, in my opinion you would be better off to use one of the heritage dual purpose breeds not the Cornish X. Cornish X are bred to put on a lot of growth in a short period of time. They are very efficient at it, too. But to do that they need plenty of high energy and high protein feed. If you expect the Cornish X to get most of their feed from free range you are wasting their potential and your time.
 
It depends entirely on what breed you are raising for meat. Many "dual purpose" birds have a strong urge to forage for their food and would happily find a large percentage of their own feed if given the chance. Cornish Cross and other "strictly meat" birds have been bred mainly for large-scale poultry production and do not have a strong urge to scratch or find their own feed. They are bred to grow very, very quickly and MUST have good feed available to meet their nutritional needs. I kept my 30 broilers fenced in in a nice lush grassy area, and at slaughter, only two of them had any grass in their crop.
 

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