What live/dressed weights are you getting from your heritage /crosses meat birds?

[CSKA]

I'm experimenting and looking for heritage breeds (New Hampshire, Bresse, Jersey, australorp, Maline) which I can reproduce and incubate eggs without needing to continuously buy them. I am also thinking of crosses, like:

• New Hampshire x Standard Cornish,
• Bresse X Standard Cornish.
• Open to ideas which you have tried.

(I mean crossing heritage breeds to combine growth speed with muscle mass).

Could you tell me what has been your live or dressed weights and at what age and sex? What was that breed or cross that worked best?

I don't care about the maximum ever record weight after 2 or 3 years (Which is the only information you find online). I mean in real life, anything between 10 weeks and 20 weeks before the meat turns into hard rubber. I totally understand I will not get the same as a Cornish Cross, but it's my hobby, I want to do all from start to finish and get the best I can within the limitations of "do it yourself"...

Also any success stories crossing hybrids like Freedom Ranger with heritage breeds?

 

[FunClucks]

I bred some Ginger Broilers. Females live weight 7-9 lbs at 3 m to 10m processing time. Irregular on size from the hatchery. Males 1-2 lbs heavier usually at 3 m or so. However, upon processing I found some anomalies in the shape of the crop (weird bulges) and the liver was tan. So the birds were not healthy, and may never have really been.

In contrast, the 9 wk CX I processed had gorgeous red livers and all looked good inside. 21 of 24 made it to processing, the ones I lost had heart attack or legs gave out. 1.5 cases of green muscle disease. Live weights probably 10 lb or more.

I'm getting some 3m white broilers and meat bird New Hampshires from Freedom Ranger Hatchery this spring. Excited to see how those do compared to each other and to the CX. Might cross a few the year after if I'm not totally happy with how they grow out.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I create/breed specific crosses for meat. Best cross I've done was Easter Egger/Brahma.
They were giants, very meaty at 6 months, & live weights between 10-15lbs.

 

[Molpet]

2016 CX pullet and random FB rooster. 3 cockerels were the result before she quit laying. Breed 2 of those cockerels to hatchery stock barred rock, jersey giant and buff orphington. Those offspring cockerels dressed out at 16 wks at 4 to 7 lbs. But the pullets started dieing at 18 months. So I added a English orp rooster to the mix, 2018. Which didn't keep the size of the breasts. But the hens are still alive. I ate the boys don't remember weight except took both breasts for a serving. Then I got a standard dark Cornish rooster and the size of breast is back and at 16 wks around 5 lbs dressed.

 

[Molpet]

A former byc member did some crossing and was my inspiration. He is no longer on byc or has poultry. People who got eggs didn't keep up with them. But it's good information.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/toads-the-perfect-chicken.994977/


https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/toad-raising.1152440/

 

[Morrigan]

I've crossed a Naked Neck rooster with red ranger and SWB hens. The offspring were good-sized, dressing out between 4 and 5 lbs @ around 13 weeks. I tried to keep one of the rooster crosses to breed going forward, but he was too big, clumsy and hard on the hens. I

I now have a Blue Maran rooster that I will breed this year. I did a test run with a couple of eggs this winter-- the hen was a black copper maran. The cockerel was 3.5 lbs at 13+ weeks. I liked the tenderness, flavor and body shape. The only thing I didn't like was the black feathers.

I think the most important thing about breeding heritage birds is getting good stock. The marans came from hatching eggs I got from MPC's "Hen Haven" location. He was a much bigger and better looking rooster then I've got from other hatcheries.

 

[Morrigan]

Females live weight 7-9 lbs at 3 m to 10m processing time

However, upon processing I found some anomalies in the shape of the crop (weird bulges) and the liver was tan.

The bulging crops do sound weird and not normal. However, on the tan livers, I've found that once hens start laying, their livers turn from red to tan. In fact, I've never processed a layer that hasn't had a tan liver. It worried me the first time I saw it. I remember doing some research back then, and concluding that it was normal. I can't remember why, exactly, but I think it has something to do with layers having more fat in general. All cockerels and pre-lay hens that I have processed have all had the red livers.

ETA: Those slow broiler/ranger type hens are the very fattiest birds I've processed.

 

[FunClucks]

The bulging crops do sound weird and not normal. However, on the tan livers, I've found that once hens start laying, their livers turn from red to tan. In fact, I've never processed a layer that hasn't had a tan liver. It worried me the first time I saw it. I remember doing some research back then, and concluding that it was normal. I can't remember why, exactly, but I think it has something to do with layers having more fat in general. All cockerels and pre-lay hens that I have processed have all had the red livers.

ETA: Those slow broiler/ranger type hens are the very fattiest birds I've processed.

Two of the hens were laying, one wasn't yet, lacked about two months. All had tan livers. It was weird to me. Also yeah, soooo much fat. There was like liquid fat melting in the abdominal cavity as I was trying to process, and it was moderately cool outside.

 

[lpatelski]

I used Dark Cornish over limit feed raised Cornish Cross females.

This last pic of the four is my chicks raised to two to three pounds at 3 1/2 weeks. It was a very successful crossbreeding program. The matured carcasses are 8 weeks, 10 weeks.

I used a limit feeding program to raise my cornish cross females and crossed them with Heritage Standard Dark Cornish. In my first generation of hybrids, I crossed my best rooster to the Dark Cornish hens.

 

[CSKA]

I used Dark Cornish over limit feed raised Cornish Cross females.View attachment 3798155View attachment 3798156View attachment 3798157View attachment 3798158View attachment 3798159View attachment 3798160View attachment 3798161View attachment 3798162
This last pic of the four is my chicks raised to two to three pounds at 3 1/2 weeks. It was a very successful crossbreeding program. The matured carcasses are 8 weeks, 10 weeks.View attachment 3798166
I used a limit feeding program to raise my cornish cross females and crossed them with Heritage Standard Dark Cornish. In my first generation of hybrids, I crossed my best rooster to the Dark Cornish hens.

Hello, this sounds really cool, I am planning on doing something similar, already incubated my heritage stock (have 1 week old cornish dark + light as well, and Bresse). I plan to later on get hens from cornish cross or some Label Rouge meat birds to cross.

I was also wondering how to keep the cornish cross hens from dying prematurely, I was planning to reduce commercial feed and give them more greens and lower calories food. And then once they are bigger, let them free range with only limited feed supplementation.

How do the Cornish Cross eggs look like? Are they similar to the heritage cornish? If I have a mix of heritage + cross in the same area can I tell them apart?

Would you guide me through the pictures you posted? Like what generation and at what age were those weights and so on? Which ones are the hybrids?