Best Breed to Breed for Meat?

[greyfields]

Quote:
I made a bozo mistake initially with my Dark Cornish. I got more roosters than I wanted and sent all but two to auction when I purged cockrels the last time. I came home to find my big, massive, super Cornish I was going to breed dead stuck in the electric netting. So I'm left with Dark Cornish #2 who isnt' as big and I've always been a little disappointed with. What I really need to do is upsize my terminal sire.

The DC x BR is the first cross I did.

 

[kstaven]

Why not go back in history to an older meat cross that doesn't require multiple generations of line breeding? That is a Cornish x Dorking.

 

[tuskajones]

Cornish X are great meat birds, and the turn around is about 7 to 8 weeks. I raised 15 this past spring, and plan to raise more, this year. I have friends who are begging me to raise some for them after they tasted them. You will go through a lot of feed, and get plenty of manure for the compost bin, but the taste is well worth it. T

Hey Muddler6--How much feed did you go through for your 15 birds? I have 25 super cornish x monster birds on order from Myer Poultry near Johnstown, PA and need to figure how much feed to order (I am trying to go organic). I figure 300 pounds minimum and maybe 500 pounds max?


Also, where do you get your birds processed?

Thanks!

Kelly

Sewickley/Allegheny County, PA​

 

[lynxpilot]

I'm doing Cornish Cross for the fourth year going now and have had virtually zero mortality problems. The only ones that we have lost so far have been our RIR layers to various causes, mostly dogs. Like you, I wanted to get my own operation going using a dual-purpose so this year I ordered 100 straight run White Rocks along with 100 Cornish Cross. I'm going to use the Cross for meat obviously and cull most of the males for meat from the White Rocks. I'll save the pullets and a few cockerels from the WR's and breed from that. I was kind of winging it on choice of breed, and have no experience breeding my own meat birds. Would be curious if anybody else just went with a straight breed for meat and eggs.

 

[FutureChickenMan]

from my research, most like the cornish to cross with rocks or other heavy breads as the cornish has a nice long and deep breast.

 

[FutureChickenMan]

Quote:
I made a bozo mistake initially with my Dark Cornish. I got more roosters than I wanted and sent all but two to auction when I purged cockrels the last time. I came home to find my big, massive, super Cornish I was going to breed dead stuck in the electric netting. So I'm left with Dark Cornish #2 who isnt' as big and I've always been a little disappointed with. What I really need to do is upsize my terminal sire.

The DC x BR is the first cross I did.

I have the following crosses in mind.

Dark Cornish x Barred Rock
Dark Cornish x Black Giant
Dark Cornish x Rhode Island Red
Sussex x Leghorn
Sussex x Black Giant
Marans x Leghorn
Marans x Eeaster Egger

The only crosses I'm really looking for good results are the DC x BR, DC x RIR and the Sussex x Leghorn. I'm thinking the DC x BR and DC x RIR will give a decent meat bird that matures quickly but not at the insane rate of the production Cornish Xrocks out there. The Sussex x Leghorn cross it to get (hopefully) a good winter egg layer. Winters are pretty cold in my parts and I don't expect leghorns to hold up as well as a sussex, hence the cross. Who knows, it might end up being a waste of time but it will be an interesting journey.

If you think of any other crosses that you've had success with from the stock I have coming let me know.

Stock I've got on order: Black Giants, Dark Cornish, Barred Rocks, RIR's, Leghorns, EE's, Marans and Sussex.

I can usually find BSL, RSL and RIR locally but all the other breeds are virtually impossible to get at the local feed stores.

 

[greyfields]

Reverse crosses don't work anywhere near as well as using the Cornish as the terminal sire.

I have eaten an Indian Game x Dorking and rather enjoyed it. I just don't have Dorkings at the moment to experiement on. Also, like I've said, the Freedom Rangers are going to be hard to top for sale at the market.

How much food will you need? We cannot answer that question because it is a function of how large you want to raise them. The feed needed for a 5 lb live weight meat chicken versus a 12 lb bird are going to be quite different. Here is your rule of thumb:

For each pound live weight you want to gain, you need 3 pounds of feed. So for 1 meat bird raised to 10 lbs live weight:

1 x 10 x 3 = 30 lbs

This is called a Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR). Most meat chickens will advertise a FCR of 2.2-2.5. But, for us small people, waste is a bigger issue so it's just safe to use 3.0 then have a bit extra.

My final advice is to plan the processing date well in advance. If you are a bozo and miss the target date by a week, you will be out of food very quickly and will be scrambling and have much bigger birds than you anticipated. This can destroy any profitability you may have had worked into your pricing... and there isn't much there. I profit as much $$ off selling 2 dozen eggs as I do a whole meat chicken which takes 8-10 weeks of my life to produce.

 

[FutureChickenMan]

good info greyfields. I don't plan on selling my birds for meat, they're for my family to eat. The eggs on the other hand...

 

[greyfields]

Yeah that's the issue I have with my own meat crosses. They just look a bit different. I mean, they don't look anywhere as pathetic as a "dual purpose" chicken. But, I wouldn't sell them as the breeding currently stands. I would gladly serve them, though. It's real chicken!

Two more things to keep in mind:

1) Cooking Times: All commerical chicken in the US is 'marinated' in salt water and in some instances injected. This 'marination' makes our commercial chicken falsely 'juicy' and of course it makes it heaver. It's great to sell water at chicken price per pound.

I suggest everyone gets a cookbook from pre 1950 (either US or English) and adopt those cooking times. Otherwise you'll overcook most your meat and it will be dry.

2) 'Dual Purpose' This simply means "meatier than a Leghorn". They are not satisfying at all as roasting chickens, unless you are a very experienced chicken eater and don't mind experimenting. They just aren't as meaty. I know people read books and think "dual purose makes sense" but really it's nothing special.

 

[muddler6]

Quote:
Hey Muddler6--How much feed did you go through for your 15 birds? I have 25 super cornish x monster birds on order from Myer Poultry near Johnstown, PA and need to figure how much feed to order (I am trying to go organic). I figure 300 pounds minimum and maybe 500 pounds max?


Also, where do you get your birds processed?

Thanks!

Kelly

Sewickley/Allegheny County, PA

O.K. first things first, I grew up in Sewickley, PA so that caught me off guard. Graduated from QV in 1989. Now that I have that out of the way (I didn't think anyone around there still had birds). Mine Cornish X went through about 300 punds of feed. I started with medicated chick starter had them on that for a couple bags (be carefull, they do have a tendancy to waste feed, they will play in it if they finish eating and there is more in there), after a couple bags of medicated starter, I gave them starter grower from Tractor supply until they were 6 weeks old and then gave them grower finisher from Agway (No real reason for changing feed suppliers, it was just where I happened to get it from). Be ready to butcher them yourself or have someone lined up to do the work when they turn 8-9 weeks old or the roosters will start breaking their legs, this happened to a friend of mine who was not able to get his in to be precessed until 9 1/2 weeks, it is just not right for the birds to go through that.
I'm still shocked about someone from Sewickley being on here!!!