Best meat birds, NOT Cornish cross

[iwltfum]

Again I haven’t done a complete study, but raising them side by side in the same brooder it’s easy to say that there’s a better conversion. Really what you’re getting is a quicker turnover and a heavier breast. If the Brahma chick eats a teaspoon of food, the Cornish will eat a cup.

I'd love to see your numbers if you ever do a comparison. I know cornishx are bred for feed conversion and they are exponentially more efficient in converting feed to meat than standard dual purpose birds. I believe the short growth period is sort of a by-product of good feed conversion.

 

[Torinik]

My Brahma Cockerel was just under 20# @ 10 months. Hens were 12-15# also Right at the 10 month mark. These are my heritage meat breeders. I will snap a picture of a 4 week old Brahma next to one of my 4 week Cornish.

You must have a really good strain of brahma's. Your pictures at 4 weeks look about what mine used to look like compared to the CornishX. But I have never been able to get anywhere near 20 lbs, let alone at 10 months. By 6 months mine were still bones and feathers, only by 9 months were they worth processing. I'd say mine stopped growing by 2.5 or 3 years old, and by then they would be between 10 and 15 pounds. They certainly eat a lot less than any meat chicken, they stand around doing nothing a lot too.

Anyway, I like the brahma's a lot for a coq au vin but not for anything else. How often would one want a coq au vin for supper? I'd say about 5 times a year in my case. I had a lot of leg problems that took me years to sort out (and sometimes still shows up, fortunately rarely now). Lots of people like to keep and breed them but unfortunately don't pay enough attention to the birds future well-being. When I finally had good, healthy stock to breed for eggs and meat, the best fell prey to a predator and by then I didn't feel like hatching hundreds anymore to get the good qualities out. I also didn't want a coq au vin twice a week.

Your post got me interested again though... 20 pounds at 10 months, that's huge... and I still wonder if I could ever breed to that size.

 

[nicalandia]

Considering adding some meat birds to our flock, and am wondering about some of the best breeds for meat, apart from the CornishX?

None, no other bird comes even close.