Meat breed to cross with Copper Maran?

[Westcoaster87]

I am looking for a good heritage meat breed that will be in with our Copper Maran roosters. The offspring will be used for meat.

Does anyone have any suggestions for this cross? Please explain your suggestion- I'm pretty new to chicken breeding

Thank you!

 

[BCMaraniac]

I have Marans as well, and have heard that a Dark Cornish is a good cross over a Marans hen. I do not know that to be true. The purpose is to increase the breast size in the offspring for the purpose of meat.

I have a decision to make in that regard as well.

Last year, I did hatch out a BCM/Lavender Orpington cross(the only rooster I had at them time). I caponized the cockerels, and ended up with some good sized birds. My avatar is one of them, and at 29 weeks he weighed 9 pounds live weight. He is 32 weeks old now, so I am planning to weigh him next week. My curiosity is what weight he will be when he plateaus.

I also have American Bresse, so I am planning to breed pure Marans, pure Bresse, and a Marans/Bresse cross. Then I can compare the 3 of them. From there, I don't know what I will do, but that's my plan for this year.

 

[Westcoaster87]

I was looking at crossing with Australorps. We had an Australorp a while back and just loved her personality and she was a sizable bird. I was also only just looking at some Bresses being sold close by to us here. They are really a beautiful bird!

I would love to know how your rooster turns out