Best meat bird that breeds true?

[RaresightFarms]

I am looking for a meat bird that breeds true. I want to be able to produce my own stock, and cross-breed if I feel like it. So that seems to eliminate the popular Cornish X (which I am told does not breed true).

The main thing I am going for is size, quickly. I want a bird that is broiler weight as young as possible. (I want to breed my own food but I do not have a lot of extra space just for broilers, so I can't have a whole bunch at staggered ages up to 6mo just to keep a constant production.) I do not care about feed to weight ratio if it means I have to spend more on feed per pound of meat, so long as they grow quickly. I am looking at a max of 3mo old when processed.

I don't care at all about meat color. In fact, darker is better. I might eventually cross a Cemani roo with one just to see if I can produce a black-fleshed broiler. (yes, that might take me a few generations. That's fine, its just a project.) I don't care about egg production as long as they don't have fertility problems.

 

[Spangled]

Are there meat birds that breed true?

I don't think so.

The meat birds that I know of are the result of generations of cross breeding so that the chickens have a super-charged appetite so that they eat lots of feed and gain weight quickly. The cross breeding makes it basically impossible for them to breed true since with some breeding programs they use dwarf chickens, etc., etc. The next generation is usually uneven in growth (big chicken here, small chicken there), but still could be better than breeding and harvesting something that breeds true like a New Hampshire or a White Rock that will never reach broiler size in 12 weeks.

Maybe look at White Chanteclers or Buckeyes. Still, they won't be anything like a broiler in growth or texture.

Maybe you could work with Freedom Rangers for a couple of years to come up with something along the lines of what you're wanting. Some of the roosters can at least still breed hens when they reach sexual maturity at around 15-16 weeks ... meaning they are still able to walk around. Freedom Rangers reach 4.5 - 5 lbs in 10-11 weeks if fed properly, etc.