Best Meat Chicken..

[aurorarose25]

I am going to start some meat chickens and heard there was a new meat bird out there thats supposed to be awesome. But I was just wondering what its name was and if there are better meat chickens out there and what they are called?

 

[Nemo]

Depends on your metric of "best".

Cornish X Rocks are sold by the hatcheries as the standard meat bird. They grow big fast.

Color Rangers / Freedom Rangers / Red Rangers are sold as an alternate choice. They grow slower, but are easier to raise since they can free range.

 

[aurorarose25]

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Can I breed these to still produce good quality meat birds, or is it just best to buy the chicks?

 

[cassie]

I don't think you can breed any of the meat birds and get anything like the parent stock. I think they are all hybrids. It is really cheaper to buy chicks than breed them anyway.

 

[fasbendera]

My meaties are Cornish X and they free range all the time. We kick them out of the coop/pen as soon as they are all feathered out. Nothing against the other breeds you listed but it isn't the breed the determines free ranging.

 

[aurorarose25]

oh what about the Colored Range Broilers from JM Hatchery?

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

There is no meat bird that you can breed together and get the same results. They all are hybrid crosses of two or more chickens, that is why they grow fast and big unlike their parent stock.

The best thing to do is suck it up and buy the chicks each time ( cheaper then raising breeders) or raise a heritage bird and not expect alot of meat per bird espically on the breast.

The colored rangers are great birds they do grow slower then the CX's but are good birds. hands down the CX's are the best meat bird

 

[kingmt]

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I agree.

 

[toxo]

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I read somewhere that they get so big so quickly that they get deformed legs or even broken legs because of the weight. So much so that they can't free range and you have to put feeders/drinkers next to where they lay. Someone else said that you have to half starve them to free range them and to grow them a bit longer to improve the flavour.

Or maybe it depends on what the Cornish is crossed with???

 

[mxpres]

we finished packaging three black broilers I had left over from a small flock last spring,they were loaded with fat .we processed some cornish X and RIRs this summer plus the black broilers,the reds and black broilers are soup makings,dumplin birds,because they were older,the cornish were 7 weeks old,,it was suprising to see the difference in size compared to age,the cornish are no doubt the best meat birds..dollar for dollar,,pound for pound,my choice from now on,