Chronicles of Raising Meat Birds - Modern Broilers, Heritage and Hybrids

[jolenesdad]

He threw the smaller in the crockpot and it was delish! The other is resting in the fridge. Trying to figure out the best process I’ve heard let rest in fridge and others say no u don’t have to lol

If the breast meat feels tender to the touch, and the legs move freely, you don’t need to rest anymore.

Also, all of us understand exactly what you’re saying, the appreciation for your own food is something I experienced for the first time with Cornish, and it felt great!!!

@LilyD great posts! Thanks for all that information. I have that horse wire fence in my chicken area, and it’s a blessing and a curse. IF they get out, it’s scary. They’re not smart. They can’t remember how they got out, and try to run straight back. My only predator hawk losses have been when they get out a gate or someone flies over and they get stuck trying to get back under.

So glad the Cornish are on the move!

 

[Jandsloch]

Good sized birds did you free range them with your regular flock? My Cornish X birds are only 4 weeks but look like little butter balls already. We call them Frankenchickens lol. Hoping now that they have started free ranging that they will start slimming down a little bit. They already seem about the same size as the little cornish hens you buy in the store. You guys did a great job that's what we're aiming for with ours.

Yes they free ranged but have them fenced or my dogs will kill them lol their area is huge....these 2 seemed to be good till they hit 6 or 7 weeks then they wouldn’t go far

 

[Jandsloch]

You mainly have to rest older birds Cornish X being only 10 weeks old are still very very young so don't tend to be stringy even if they are not rested before eating. If you let a roo go past 6 months I would definitely rest a day or two in the fridge before cooking and then cook on a low temp setting for a long time and with lots of fluids (ie crock pot, roasting pan or dutch oven with the cover on at 200 degrees for all day take the cover off for the very end so it can brown, or pressure can) Usually I process my Cornish X at 8-10 weeks no resting no issues with toughness.

Heritage Cockerels at 12-16 weeks for smaller birds that we split in 1/2 for the grill or fried chicken, 16- 20 weeks for small roasters, and then 20-30 weeks (30 being the longest I would let them go) for slow cooked chicken for meals where I would cut the chicken up and cook it slow like Chicken Divan, Chicken Cacciatore etc. Any of these I would rest for between a day to up to 4 days in the fridge after defrosting them before cooking. You can rest them before you freeze if you have the fridge space we usually don't so rest before cooking.

Anything older than 30 weeks we call a stewing chicken and they cook usually in a crock pot or on the stove for chicken stew or soup or things like chicken and dumplings where they cook all day. You don't have to rest these birds because cooking in fluids will break down the connective tissues anyway so they won't be stringy when you eat them.

Thank yo! I have screen spotted all this info lol

 

[Morrigan]

In the meantime, I have got 3 broiler eggs in the incubator that are due to hatch fl) this weekend that I will give to a broody hen. I really hope those eggs make it as I'm dying to see how a CX does being raised by a broody hen in a normal flock setting.

Update -- The hatch was a bit of a bust. The CX egg hatched, but the chick fought it's way out early, and hatched with it's yolk sac and innards hanging out. It was born overnight and by the time I saw it in the morning, everything was bloody and torn, and there was no way to save the poor thing. The next day the one of the Red Ranger eggs hatched, and the last egg was a bust.

The RR was a small weak chick, but I gave it some nutridrench in put it under Mom on Tuesday night. It's been very silent under Mom and I honestly thought it hadn't made it, but I saw it out this morning in front of Mom and eating and snuggling.

Having started with 10 broiler eggs, it was not the outcome I was hoping for, but at least my broody got one chick. I have a second broody now, and 3 Turken eggs in the bator that our developing, along with a couple of barnyard eggs.

 

[LilyD]

Chocolate mottled orpington chicks. These guys are heritage birds from a local farmer to add with my 2 blue and lavender pullets. Hoping for a trio but holding a Jubilee roo back in case for some reason I only get hens. The blues are large and look great. The lavender is smaller and not quite what I'm looking for. The Jubilee roo was added into my batch as an extra chick as the meal maker. If it's a hen that's cool too I'll look elsewhere for a roo if I don't have a chocolate roo in this bunch and will keep the jubilee hen but it's very upright and looks very rooish.

 

[jolenesdad]

The new Moyer broilers have been loving outside for the last several days! Full updates will be on Thursdays this round, starting with 2 week updates tomorrow!

 

[jolenesdad]

Week 2 for the Moyer Broilers
Week 6 for the Dual Purpose

Finished the new enlarged meat bird pen. I still haven’t decided 100% how to arrange things. At one point, I wanted to track feed conversion... but I think that’s best reserved for when I do one strain.

For now, I’m most interested in taste, carcass size and meat distribution, and behavior. I’ll track how much total feed I use, but with 5 different breeds going on... it won’t count for much.

I also have a few Cornish coming next week, which I am going to try and run with these guys to see how it influences the Cornish’ behavior.

I picked up 5 Delaware chicks too, 3.5 and 5 weeks old right now. They’re crazy, so I don’t have individual photos of them to share. I did get weights on two of them. For whatever that’s worth. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I don’t think I’m ready to hold back any roosters and play around, but who knows. I’m interested in growing these out to taste and experience to see if there is a DP breed i would also like to work with. I’m intrigued with Marans. Some I’ve seen look like they could be consciously bred for some great utility meat birds.

I’m hoping I staggered the dates right for processing ALL birds at once. Their ages will be :

Marans - 16 wks
Delaware 15/13 weeks
Robust White Broilers - 12 wks
Royal Red Broilers - 12 wks
Cornish Cross - 9 weeks

I may take a small batch a couple of weeks earlier if there are birds getting too big, or too hot.


WEIGHTS
Marans (4) - 6 weeks - males
Avg: 16 ounces

Delaware -
5 weeks
11.5 ounces (make)

3 weeks
6 ounces (m or f?)

Royal Red - all males
4.5 ounces

Robust White
Males - 5.5 ounces
Females - 4 ounces


Photos and Notes
Robust is a perfect name for this strain, they’re all over the place. They’re so friendly, and not just a food motivated friendly. They run and run and run around the pen. See this gif from my overhead camera. They also do not poop at a feeder. Interested to track that...

Moyer gave me detailed day by day growth and feed notes for their Broilers! Fun. Just like my Cornish on a natural day/night cycle from the beginning, they are running approximately 45% of the weight they could be at.

Taking these birds to 12 weeks, I’m very happy with that.

6 week old Blue Marans

2 week old Royal Red Broilers
(So pretty!)

2 week old Robust White Broilers

Delawares are in Here if you look close:

Assorted photos from last two weeks.... just because.

 

[LilyD]

Update on our brood so far Meyer Meal Maker chicks are 8 weeks on Monday. Turkeys and CornishX are 6 weeks on Monday. The Cornish X have caught up the Meal Maker roosters but are definitely heavy. Average weight of Meal Makers is around 3.7 lbs and average of the Cornish is closer to 6lbs. They look like little walking melons. Going to start processing the Cornish the weekend of the 15th-16th if all goes well, and I'll get final weights then after processing.

Turkeys are already around 7-8 lbs and are very solid they have 14 weeks before processing and should average close to 30-35 lbs dressed out. They eat pretty much all day long but love to forage too. I am only currently on my 4th 50lb bag of feed with 17 Meal Makers 18 Cornish X and 14 Broad Breasted White Turkeys. Total birds is 49 on the same bags of feed. I still have 1/2 a bag left of the last bag so we are currently going through about 25lbs a week for all the meat birds which is by far much less than I did last year with the meat birds I raised. It will be interesting to see the difference when I raise only Dual Purpose next year to see how much I save on feed with their increased foraging abilities.

Very pleased with this batch of birds even though I lost 8 to the neighbors dogs because they jumped the fence the remaining birds are doing very well.

 

[jolenesdad]

Woah your fry pan birds are huge though! Everyone looks great!!! Thanks for the update. Im amazed at your feed rates.

I have this feeling that the controversy of the industry with slower growing meat birds doesn’t have much to do with actual feed conversion and resources as it does with time and more profits on a quicker turnaround.

 

[LilyD]

Woah your fry pan birds are huge though! Everyone looks great!!! Thanks for the update. Im amazed at your feed rates.

I have this feeling that the controversy of the industry with slower growing meat birds doesn’t have much to do with actual feed conversion and resources as it does with time and more profits on a quicker turnaround.

Agreed I have done both and while I do like how fast the CornishX are ready to process. I love the lower feed bills with the DP birds so much more. The Broad Breasted Turkeys are better at foraging than the Cornish X if taught early enough so they don't eat as much feed as long as there are bugs to eat.

What I have heard from a lot of people that raise exclusively Cornish X is that in the 20 weeks it takes me to grow out a DP rooster chick. They can have grown out two batches of Cornish X and have a third batch 1/2 way to processing. I guess it depends on what you are looking more for. I prefer birds that are excellent at foraging over fast growth and I am okay with less breast meat since I tend to be a dark meat kind of girl anyway