What is the Best Tasting Heritage Meat Bird?

[Spifflove]

Love the comparison photos, spifflove! Here is a Basque cockerel - dressed out at 5lb. It's not skinned, but gives you an idea. The leg-thigh/breast ratio is much like your Buff Orp, and the darkness of the leg and thigh was similar, too. The feed store Barred Rocks we raised dressed out much like your White Rock (sorry -no photos) ... nice and meaty, but the flavor was bland compared to the Basque. I baked the two breeds' leg-thighs side by side in a rice casserole.

Thats a nice looking bird. I am intrigued by Basque and other "farm chickens" used by ancient peoples. I forked out for Swedish Flower Hens and am keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[ronott1]

Love the comparison photos, spifflove! Here is a Basque cockerel - dressed out at 5lb. It's not skinned, but gives you an idea. The leg-thigh/breast ratio is much like your Buff Orp, and the darkness of the leg and thigh was similar, too. The feed store Barred Rocks we raised dressed out much like your White Rock (sorry -no photos) ... nice and meaty, but the flavor was bland compared to the Basque. I baked the two breeds' leg-thighs side by side in a rice casserole.

I have to get in on this too!

The best tasting so far, well for me, were:

1. Dorking X Rock
2. Marraduna Basque
3. Dorking X Marans
4. Partridge Rock

The Dorking X Rock was 3.5 pounds at 12 weeks!

This is a picture of a Basque cutup:

 

[mrshaggie810]

I am LOVING this thread! We just got our first Cornish X meaties, and while I am excited about them, I am wanting to get some heritage birds for meat...I am looking at Delawares, but I LOVE Swedish Flower Hens so I'm hoping they will be a good, tasty, dual purpose bird...anyone have experience with them?

 

[Spifflove]

I am LOVING this thread! We just got our first Cornish X meaties, and while I am excited about them, I am wanting to get some heritage birds for meat...I am looking at Delawares, but I LOVE Swedish Flower Hens so I'm hoping they will be a good, tasty, dual purpose bird...anyone have experience with them?

Ask me in 6 months:

 

[colburg]

There's a discussion on the Heritage LF Thread about Frank Reese and how he selects for tasty birds. I haven't seen a reply of how he selects for tasty chickens since they kinda have to be dead for you to taste them. Then, how do you breed em once you've tasted em. Anyway,

Somewhere around post 11200 https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/400344/heritage-large-fowl-thread

 

[auntie tee]

Dorkings are usually in the the top 3 in "heritage chicken taste offs" and have a larger breast than most heritage birds (but they do grow slowly.) And even old birds are good in a stewpot (my Dad always threatens to turn his non-performers into chicken and dumplings.) ;-)

 

[Farmer123]

Thanks to everyone for a most excellent discussion, a lot of really good advice and pictures! I've decided to go with the Buff Orpington because of their gentle disposition and decent size. I'm thinking about getting 50 males for meat and 25 pullets. I'm going to separate the males and females and I'm wondering if I will have any problems with the boys. How big should I build their coop? They will also have secure access to a pasture so I'm hoping that they will be content.

 

[Spifflove]

Thanks to everyone for a most excellent discussion, a lot of really good advice and pictures! I've decided to go with the Buff Orpington because of their gentle disposition and decent size. I'm thinking about getting 50 males for meat and 25 pullets. I'm going to separate the males and females and I'm wondering if I will have any problems with the boys. How big should I build their coop? They will also have secure access to a pasture so I'm hoping that they will be content.

Buff Orpington are available in heritage size of 11-15 lbs from breeders that can be found on BYC. If you have pasture and lots of roosts you don't need a large coop.

You can put the males under a tractor. Eventually that many males will fight. If you capone them problem solved. If I were you I would order 25 Orpington hens and 50 Cornish cross males or 50 white rock males.

Here is Ideal's surprise male special: https://secuservices.com/ideal/newideal/selectproduct.aspx?qty=1&ID=SURPM&Product=1638

 

[mrsdanamiller]

Buff Orpington are available in heritage size of 11-15 lbs from breeders that can be found on BYC. If you have pasture and lots of roosts you don't need a large coop.

You can put the males under a tractor. Eventually that many males will fight. If you capone them problem solved. If I were you I would order 25 Orpington hens and 50 Cornish cross males or 50 white rock males.

Here is Ideal's surprise male special: https://secuservices.com/ideal/newideal/selectproduct.aspx?qty=1&ID=SURPM&Product=1638

So will males fight even around 12 wks? That is when I plan to slaughter. I don't want to pay a ton to make them capons.

 

[lisa760]

Very few of mine fight at 12 weeks. They were brooded together and have done fine. I've noticed more scuffles lately, if I notice the same one being aggressive for a couple of days I pull him out and put him on "death row." The males will be food, but I want to hold back the best ones for breeding. I don't tolerate aggressive animals, if they try and attack me, just once, that's an automatic death row penalty. I'm just going to keep pulling them out until I get great, pleasant roos.