Best Chickens For Eating

[Bogan]

I too was raised on a farm and we ate the Chickens right off the yard. Our Chickens were Game Breeds - mostly Wheatens, Duckwings and Black Breasted Reds. They were very tasty because they were free range and I think the meat is different with the game breeds. After I left the farm for the military - I noticed that Chicken no longer tasted as good. Once I realized the problem many years later I tested my theory. A free range "game" Hen tastes much better than other Hens.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I too was raised on a farm and we ate the Chickens right off the yard. Our Chickens were Game Breeds - mostly Wheatens, Duckwings and Black Breasted Reds. They were very tasty because they were free range and I think the meat is different with the game breeds. After I left the farm for the military - I noticed that Chicken no longer tasted as good. Once I realized the problem many years later I tested my theory. A free range "game" Hen tastes much better than other Hens.

Of course, people have different tastes. My dad used to think he HATED chicken because all they ever got were the free-ranged roosters or spent hens. He thinks Cornish X are tasty, but it took him years to eat chicken once he was off the farm.

 

[minnow]

I'm no chicken expert either, but I do believe that there are many factors that affect the flavor of your food. How chicken is handled from the time it is slaughtered, to the time it reaches your mouth also has quite an effect on the flavor. Properly handled, well-seasoned and well-prepared chicken is my favorite kind!

 

[DannyB440hp]

well if you know so much about chickens what is the best one's for eating and the best one's for laying Danny .

 

[cassie]

well if you know so much about chickens what is the best one's for eating and the best one's for laying Danny .

Though nobody asked me I will chime in. The best chicken for eating, hands down, is the Cornish X. However, they do have their quriks and if you are not willing to accommodate them you are better off to raise something else. As for egg laying, my neighbor swears by his Production Reds. They lay nice big eggs and plenty of them. I have some Wyandottes that aren't worth a hoot. Out of eight hens I am lucky if I get three eggs per day. Today I got one egg. I have no idea if this is typical for the breed or not.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

A good old heritage stock (standard bred) Plymouth Rock is all anyone needs. It was Americas favorite and the envy of the world. Good layers with 200 eggs per year and if standard bred a nice carcass for table.

Game flavor comes from development of muscle tone. Meat birds don't have much flavor at all due to being butchered by 10 weeks, pastured meat birds have some flavor with the exercise. A 20 week old dual purpose cockerel has great flavor and texture. Though they say over a year is stew I roasted a few 14 month old birds after breeding them. The leg meat reminded me of duck. Roast as 325F and covered some as the added muscle needs moist slow heat or it will be tough.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What do you mean by “best”? Best can have so many different meanings to different people that it really means nothing until you tell us what you mean by “best”. Just asking what is best without telling us what you mean is like asking what color is prettiest. Everyone has an opinion and it’s going to be different.

If you mean pure volume you can’t beat he specialists, the Cornish X for meat and the commercial hybrid laying hens for eggs. The Cornish X are designed to put on a lot of meat really quickly and to be very efficient converting what they eat to meat. But there are restrictions. They pack on weight so fast they have to be eaten at a pretty young age or fed a greatly restricted diet or their heart just quits or their skeleton breaks down. You have to process them when they are ready. They taste like store chicken because that is what they are. The older they are the more flavor they have. The flavor of cockerels especially change too once they hit puberty. Since they are used to them many people prefer the flavor of store chicken and don’t like the stronger flavor with older chickens. The texture changes with age too so you have to change your cooking methods to slower and with more moisture. What they eat and how much exercise they get has some effect but the biggest part of flavor and texture is age.

The commercial hybrid layers are designed to produce a lot of large eggs, efficiently converting feed to eggs. They have smaller bodies so they don’t have to use much feed to maintain a larger body. They are so finely tuned to produce a lot of large eggs that they can develop medical problems, especially later in life or if you feed them a high protein diet. The higher protein diet the larger egg they lay which can lead to medical problems. But if you feed them right and manage them right you just can’t beat them for egg production.

I prefer the dual purpose chickens for meat. I like the flavor of the older chickens. Since mine forage for a reasonable amount of their food they are not as expensive as where people have to buy all they eat. I like that I can butcher when I want, they are not going to eat themselves to death. I get a lot more eggs than I can use from just a few hens. They don’t lay as many or as large an egg as the commercial hybrids but mine forage quite well so efficiency in feed isn’t that important to me. I also like that I can hatch my own replacement chicks. You can’t do that with the Cornish X unless you greatly restrict what they eat. You can do that with the commercial hybrid layers but they are so small there is not much meat on them when it comes to eating them.

So tell us what you want and we may be able to answer the question for you.

Welcome to the forum, by the way.