Breeding for meat

[jarcoo0153]

I purchased black jersey giants last year and I lost my rooster. Now I have black broiler (I was told they are dark Cornish x australorp cross) chicks that just arrived. I'm wondering if I'd get a good meat bird if I keep a black broiler rooster to breed to my black jersey giants. Any Ideas??

 

[Kadu]

Aw broilers are no good for mounting hens. They get fat and will not be able to get the job done.
I'd go with craigslist if I were you

Honestly, I haven't tried the black broilers, but the while broiler chickens I've had have never been interested in any flirting. All they want to do is eat eat eat.

 

[jarcoo0153]

These aren't supposed to get near as big and don't grow fast at all from what I've read. I've read that these lay good eggs too!

 

[donrae]

He'll probably do fine. I'd be more concerned with the Giant hens, myself. If they're really Giants and get big, they take forever to do it. You'll be feeding them for months and months to get any amount of meat.

Or, a lot of the hatchery Giants aren't really any larger than your average dual purpose bird, so why bother using them for meat? Go with the black broilers, breed them to each other. I know the hatcheries say the slow broilers don't "breed true", but honestly any offspring is going to have the same basic qualities as it's parents. maybe not the stellar production of the first time cross, but you're not going to get Leghorn scrawny offspring from breeding two broiler parents.

 

[jarcoo0153]

Okay thanks! I was wondering about their life span. I never had a Cornish rock cross live very long and they try to tell you these don't either but from what little info there is out there about them it seems they do live like a normal chicken. As for the jersey giants I may get rid of them they are 7 months old and still scrawny. I know they are hatchery stock but I haven't been as impressed as I thought I was going to be with them!

 

[FaerieChicken]

Aw broilers are no good for mounting hens. They get fat and will not be able to get the job done.
I'd go with craigslist if I were you

Honestly, I haven't tried the black broilers, but the while broiler chickens I've had have never been interested in any flirting. All they want to do is eat eat eat.

I have to disagree, My Rainbow Broiler (Slow grower) is huge, however he does a great job at getting the job done. Now he is open pastured, only penned when breeding. I have 6 beautiful babies from him, crossing him out over a Black Jersey Giant Hen, Black Australorp Hen, Cuckoo Marans hen, Partridge Rock hen. I must say, the BJG & BA offspring came out on the smallish side, possibly hens, but the Cuckoo Marans is a fair size as well is the male Partridge Rock crossing, there were 1 offspring of each except the PR which I got 2.

Quiet the little beauties.
This is Frankenstein, the roo daddy



Darn it, I don't have any pics of the babes on here, Ill have to get some to show you what they turned out to look like. I think I have them posted in the other forum....

 

[Curnow]

I have a similar question, would like opinions.

I would also like to breed for meat production I have several large breed hens such as Cuckoo Marans, Buff Orpington, Light Brahma. My roosters however are slimmer bodied. I have an Appenzeller Spitzhauben, and his son who is Spitzhauben/Easter egger cross. I have crossed my Spitzhauben with f my lighter breeds (Easter Egger, Sultan) and have produced some beautiful hens that are good egg layers. I used to have a Cuckoo Marans rooster, and although he was very nice, he was so large he was injuring some of my medium size hens, and he had to be rehomed. He did however help me produce some lovely Cuckoo Brahma cross hens, and a very large Cuckoo Olive Egger hen, and great egg produciong Cuckoo/Red Sex Links.

So far I have only bred for egg production, and young roosters have been sold before reaching maturity.

Do you think it would be possible to breed the Spitzhauben and Spitzhauben/Easter Egger to my larger breed hens and produce decent meaty birds with their male offspring.

I am not overly concerned that they may be slower growing. I'm Ok with that.

We have done Cornish Cross in the past for meat birds, and while they are definitely better than store bought meat, they are not as flavorful as I would like. Hence part of my reasoning for slower maturation.

Any input is appreciated!

 

[donrae]

Depends on what you want for "decently meaty".

You can't really overcome genetics. Those birds are never going to be large or really meaty.

Can you butcher and eat them? Sure.

Here's some pics of my egg production cockerel carcasses. These were multi-generational mixes, starting with hatchery dual purpose birds and adding some Leghorn blood a few generations back, plus some true Ameraucana, some barred Holland.
I never got weights on my carcasses, but you can see from the pics there's not a ton there. However, I've got to do something with them, and since I love hatching, butchering is always in my future.






this one just looks pitiful, right?

 

[Curnow]

Depends on what you want for "decently meaty".

You can't really overcome genetics. Those birds are never going to be large or really meaty.

Can you butcher and eat them? Sure.

Here's some pics of my e.gg production cockerel carcasses. These were multi-generational mixes, starting with hatchery dual purpose birds and adding some Leghorn blood a few generations back, plus some true Ameraucana, some barred Holland.
I never got weights on my carcasses, but you can see from the pics there's not a ton there. However, I've got to do something with them, and since I love hatching, butchering is always in my future.


Thank you for the pictures and description of your breeding. It was very informative and helpful.