BEST breed for Meaties?

[Oregon Blues]

Nearly any hatchery sells Cornish Cross. Several different hatcheries sell red broilers. The Freedom Rangers, Rossambros, and Kosher Kings each come from a different specific hatchery that is the only place to get that breed

I've got the hatchery names somewhere buried in my notes, but if you search this site for those names you will find them. Or just Google.

 

[Tool]

About how big do the cornish X get? I would like to start some meat birds, and would prefer to breed and hatch (its more cost effective). But for the first bit purchasing would be the route. Thanks in advance.

 

[kizanne]

If you get the cornish cross do they still taste like the grocery store chicken or do you get a better flavor with excerise and food variation?

 

[Tracydr]

You get better flavor than from the grocery store. The meat doesn't stink, isn't slimy and has a firmer texture.
You really can't breed and hatch Cornish X at home, though. They are a very special, super secret hybrid cross. Not simply crossing a Cornish with a rock. It took fifty years to develop and from what I understand, it's a four-way cross of very special lines of grandparents.

 

[booker81]

Quote:
Not like grocery store chickens - unless you choose to pack it with additional "flavoring", salt and water. That's my biggest kicker with store chicken - I don't want salt on it unless I put it on when cooking, and I don't like paying for water. Home chicken lacks this- which makes it much better in my opinion.

 

[Tool]

Quote:
Thanks for the info. I guess I'd better start looking for a local hatchery, and start setting up for a meat bird "run".

 

[Bluff Country Chicken]

Cornish Xs all the way. I've seen people mention concerns about them (heart attacks, leg problems, etc.), but I've had pretty good luck with them and find them to be pretty hearty. I raise them until 3 weeks in a brooder set-up. Then I move them outside to a moveable pen.

 

[kfacres]

Quote:
If you had "true", Cornish parentstock birds, you could come VERY close to making a cross that is quite comparable to the CX birds that are marketed world wide.

These hatchery quality mutt, "cornish" seedstock birds are a joke...

The parent stock of the CX birds, are identical to the birds people buy and butcher... THey are just in holliwood living, on a restricted diet.

Nothing is secret about the parentage-- 50 years ago they hand picked Cornish and W Rock parent stock, and over the course of time have mass selected for commercially acceptable traits... When you have a HUGE population, and you only keep the top 5% of your hatches... It doesn't take very long to make VAST change.