Best Chicken to raise for food?

[ebonys_shadow]

I've been researching but having a heck of a time figuring out which would be best to raise...
I wanted to raise Cornish, however, they don't seem to live long enough since I would like to keep many for eggs to hatch...
They will have a big fenced area to run... However, I heard you shouldn't give them too much room to run around in our the meat will be tough, is that true?
We do have a Cornish Cross... a lady raised her as a pet with her other chickens & we've had her about 1 1/2 years... Believe it or not, she's around 5 years old... She actually came with another female & a male... They have both passed within the last year... Her health is bad as she's lost many of her feathers and sneezes allot... she gets around pretty good though... Anyhow, she is laying eggs and I have thought about incubating them... I'm not sure what our rooster is though, just a plain ol' rooster... What kind of chicken's would we get from her?
What are the best chickens to raise for meat, egg production, fast growth, ect?

Thanks

 

[FutureChickenMan]

Cornish crosses typically do not do well as pets, they're rapid growth strains their systems to the point of collapse.

That said, for a good meat bird that will produce a fair amount of eggs, consider the following birds: Delaware, Rocks (plymouth/barred, white) and the other dual purpose birds. You could get Dark Cornish for meat but their egg production isn't great. Now, you could do as some here have been discussing for a while, get a few Dark Cornish and cross breed them yourself with Delawares, Rocks or New Hampshire Reds. Of course you cannot expect the same results as the broilers (cornish x-rock) that you buy from the hatcheries, but they should be a decent egg/meat bird.

I haven't done the cross breeding yet but I plan to start soon.

ETA: if you breed your roo with your current cornish x, you will get a mutt bird. Cornish x's do not breed true.