Best meat birds, NOT Cornish cross

[Stephanie8806]

Not sure what exactly you don't like about the cornishx, but I decided that my meat bird project was not going to support any part of the commercial poultry industry and so I switched to growing freedom rangers and they are delightful. I landed on freedom rangers because they are bred responsibly, the fact that it's a family owned hatchery, and because we could grow them fast without having to spend a fortune to feed them for months on end. We grow them for 9 weeks and the majority of them weigh between 3-4 pounds by butcher day (some a bit more, some a bit less). They have a decent sized breast, but the thighs are really where the poundage comes from on this breed. Just thought I chime in and give you one more breed to look into in case you were looking for fast growing options as opposed to heritage breeds.

I think you stated it... I’m leaning pretty hard away from the CornishX because of poor breeding standards. The growth rate just doesn’t seem natural to me. I don’t mind something that grows a bit slower. I feel like it’s been messed with less, you know?
Than you for your input! I’ve been curious about freedom rangers. They seem like a decent compromise, between a commercial meat bird and a heritage breed. I’ve been considering a dual purpose bird, like Barred Rocks or Orpingtons

 

[Stephanie8806]

@U_Stormcrow Thank you for your experience! I’ve been considering a dual purpose, like Orpingtons or Barred Rocks.

I’m just raising birds for my family. Primarily for eggs, meat is secondary(as birds are more work per pound to clean than a four legged furry critter). I’m also not super concerned with them getting huge or growing super fast... although I’d like to stay away from anything that can’t be harvested in fall if hatched/purchased in Spring.

I would love to raise ducks or even geese, but the way our home is set up we have no water source for those birds. It’s a bit hard to explain, but even filling a kiddie pool would be super impractical for our setup.

 

[Stephanie8806]

@Egghead_Jr I am not interested in CornishX because they grow at such an alarming rate... and like you said, they need to be harvested within a narrow window. I’d be completely happy with a bird that is ready to harvest by 20-24weeks, but could go longer if things got busy or if we wanted to break up the butchering. I’d rather have something more toward the heritage side of things because it’s seems a little more natural(and a slightly “better”/more nutritious quality meat). Some may think it doesn’t matter much, but it matters to us.

My goal in raising meat birds is not the biggest+fastest growing fowl. We are a hunting family and we buy our livestock by the animal from good friends who raise them well... so apart from pork and red meat(beef, venison, etc), the majority of bird meat we consume are 100% wild(not corn fed) gamebirds: grouse, quail, chukar, and pheasant. We love them, and they are all small and can be tough. Even a small/heritage breed chicken is more substantial and more tender than wild birds. As hunting doesn’t carry a guarantee of harvest, I’m looking to supplement our freezer...

I already keep chickens for eggs(and to cull for meat as they start to age out) and I’m looking to integrate/add a few shorter term birds every year (hatched/purchased in spring, ready to harvest by Fall) specifically for meat.

I suppose with those goals, it may not matter what we raise... as anything would be at least on par size-wise with a wild grouse or pheasant... and better “quality”(ie more tender)

 

[Stephanie8806]

I so so so appreciate all the responses on this thread!! It’s certainly given me lots to think about, and some great experiences to reference! Thank you everyone!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Glad I had something to offer @Stephanie8806 - usually I'm taking from these threads.

Best of luck, whatever you decide, I hope it works well for you - given the situation as you've described it, a moderate growth rate older breed with some egg laying to use as meat birds is the way I would go, were I in your situation. Probably the Rock, actually, as its growth is significantly faster on average than the Orps that I am considering, or even one of the old stand bys, the Rhodes, Hampshires, or Delawares if you plan to feed them. All three of those breeds are often described as calm/docile in the references I have, which isn't optimal for free ranging.

 

[NatJ]

although I’d like to stay away from anything that can’t be harvested in fall if hatched/purchased in Spring.

They CAN be processed at any age. I wouldn't want to take the time to clean a day-old chick, but they would certainly be edible (just tiny.)

I have butchered bantam cockerels at 4-5 weeks. They tasted fine. The leg/thigh pieces looked like wings, and the breasts had about one chicken nugget on each side, but it all depends on how you want to cook it. (For little ones, I skin them instead of plucking--much faster to just rip it off. And no, you can't effectively skin a wing, but they have so little meat on a tiny bird that I just discard them.)

If you want hatch your own birds and eat the cockerels, I would choose a dual-purpose breed that lays well. Then choose the largest cockerel each year to breed from.

If you want to buy birds and raise them for meat, I suggest you just buy an assortment of heavy-breed cockerels and see what you like.

Sexlink cockerels may be a good choice--they have been bred to mature young (so the hens will start laying sooner). But that also means that, however big the cockerels will get, they will do it fairly quickly.

 

[RUNuts]

They CAN be processed at any age. I wouldn't want to take the time to clean a day-old chick, but they would certainly be edible (just tiny.)

I have butchered bantam cockerels at 4-5 weeks. They tasted fine. The leg/thigh pieces looked like wings, and the breasts had about one chicken nugget on each side, but it all depends on how you want to cook it. (For little ones, I skin them instead of plucking--much faster to just rip it off. And no, you can't effectively skin a wing, but they have so little meat on a tiny bird that I just discard them.)

If you want hatch your own birds and eat the cockerels, I would choose a dual-purpose breed that lays well. Then choose the largest cockerel each year to breed from.

If you want to buy birds and raise them for meat, I suggest you just buy an assortment of heavy-breed cockerels and see what you like.

Sexlink cockerels may be a good choice--they have been bred to mature young (so the hens will start laying sooner). But that also means that, however big the cockerels will get, they will do it fairly quickly.

Sounds like a quail. That is good eating. Not much meat, but worth it. The carcasses are 4-9 ounces. Leghorns are 1-2 pounds and are still worth eating.

 

[Stephanie8806]

They CAN be processed at any age. I wouldn't want to take the time to clean a day-old chick, but they would certainly be edible (just tiny.)

I have butchered bantam cockerels at 4-5 weeks. They tasted fine. The leg/thigh pieces looked like wings, and the breasts had about one chicken nugget on each side, but it all depends on how you want to cook it. (For little ones, I skin them instead of plucking--much faster to just rip it off. And no, you can't effectively skin a wing, but they have so little meat on a tiny bird that I just discard them.)

If you want hatch your own birds and eat the cockerels, I would choose a dual-purpose breed that lays well. Then choose the largest cockerel each year to breed from.

If you want to buy birds and raise them for meat, I suggest you just buy an assortment of heavy-breed cockerels and see what you like.

Sexlink cockerels may be a good choice--they have been bred to mature young (so the hens will start laying sooner). But that also means that, however big the cockerels will get, they will do it fairly quickly.

My worry with the Cornish cross and other chickens bred to grow is not necessarily early harvest. It’s late.

 

[Stephanie8806]

Sounds like a quail. That is good eating. Not much meat, but worth it. The carcasses are 4-9 ounces. Leghorns are 1-2 pounds and are still worth eating.

Quail are by far my favorite wild bird to eat. Tiny, but delicious. Haven’t tried domestic quail yet, but that will likely be next year or the year after

 

[Ridgerunner]

My worry with the Cornish cross and other chickens bred to grow is not necessarily early harvest. It’s late.

I appreciate that. My problem is that I don't have a lot of extra freezer space, especially during summer when I'm freezing tomatoes, berries, and other stuff until I have enough to make tomato sauce, jelly, or whatever. I save bones and carcass parts to make broth. I often have to can a batch of broth or sauce before I can butcher more chickens. Just managing freezer space.

With your experience with game birds, you don't know how old they are so you have to be careful how you cook them. The advantage with chickens is that you at least know how old they are so you have more options on how to cook them.

Something you might consider is to get one of those meat bird selections from a hatchery. These are the extra males they get when they hatch, most people want pullets instead of cockerels so they always have a lot of extra cockerels and they sell the chicks relatively cheap. You don't know what breeds you will get but read it carefully to make sure they are dual purpose males. Decide which of them suits you best for breeding. Plus you get to eat all the others.