Breeding meat birds question!

[Brooks_]

I don't know how to say it other than I want no part in CX. Just not what I want from a chicken.

 

[Ridgerunner]

With these breeds in mind, if I hatched this barnyard mix, do you think I'll be able to produce decent looking meat birds? I'm hoping to sell so the "looks" will mean a bunch.

I'm mainly going to agree with the others. The CX are the ones you buy in the store for a reason. They grow fast and have a great food to meat conversion rate. The carcasses are what many people expect a meat chicken to look like. They are butchered so young they can be cooked with any method though they may get "mushy" if you use certain slow moist cooking methods. As fast as they grow to butcher age you can grow more batches of them. You get a fast turnover. You can't breed your own.

The Ranger types are sort of like the CX. They also grow fairly fast and have a decent food to meat conversion rate but they are not up to the CX standards. They can be butchered young enough so you can cook them any way but may have a bit more flavor or texture because they are a bit older, especially the cockerels. Maybe butcher at 12 weeks instead of 6 to 8, so half as many batches. Breeding your own is extremely challenging and not usually that successful.

Dual Purpose chickens are going to grow fairly slowly compared to the others and they will not get nearly as big no matter how long you wait to butcher. The carcass will most likely be mostly dark meat, not the nice breasts the others can develop. To get much meat in them you have to wait to butcher so you may be limited in how you can cook them. The pullets are going to be really small compared to the cockerels. With the CX and Rangers the pullets are smaller than the cockerels but can still be decent sized. You can breed your own dual purpose. I personally like to raise and eat dual purpose but I'm not raising them to sell.

If you are planning on selling meat, you cannot compete with the professionals. Theirs is a finely tuned mass-production machine, from laying eggs to hatch to marketing. You can't meet their prices. You need to find your niche so you can charge prices to support your operation. Marketing may be your biggest challenge. You also need to know the laws and regulations for selling meat where you are. Your operation is probably going to be too small for the Feds to be interested but each state, city, or county may have their own rules. If you know the requirements you may be able to design your business to avoid many of those.

Still will probably hatch 25ish chicks as an experiment but I was wanting to know some expert opinions on what to expect

I strongly agree with trying it yourself so you can see what you are dealing with. Don't trust some stranger like me over the internet, see for yourself. And trust yourself.

 

[smoore7489]

I'm mainly going to agree with the others. The CX are the ones you buy in the store for a reason. They grow fast and have a great food to meat conversion rate. The carcasses are what many people expect a meat chicken to look like. They are butchered so young they can be cooked with any method though they may get "mushy" if you use certain slow moist cooking methods. As fast as they grow to butcher age you can grow more batches of them. You get a fast turnover. You can't breed your own.

The Ranger types are sort of like the CX. They also grow fairly fast and have a decent food to meat conversion rate but they are not up to the CX standards. They can be butchered young enough so you can cook them any way but may have a bit more flavor or texture because they are a bit older, especially the cockerels. Maybe butcher at 12 weeks instead of 6 to 8, so half as many batches. Breeding your own is extremely challenging and not usually that successful.

Dual Purpose chickens are going to grow fairly slowly compared to the others and they will not get nearly as big no matter how long you wait to butcher. The carcass will most likely be mostly dark meat, not the nice breasts the others can develop. To get much meat in them you have to wait to butcher so you may be limited in how you can cook them. The pullets are going to be really small compared to the cockerels. With the CX and Rangers the pullets are smaller than the cockerels but can still be decent sized. You can breed your own dual purpose. I personally like to raise and eat dual purpose but I'm not raising them to sell.

If you are planning on selling meat, you cannot compete with the professionals. Theirs is a finely tuned mass-production machine, from laying eggs to hatch to marketing. You can't meet their prices. You need to find your niche so you can charge prices to support your operation. Marketing may be your biggest challenge. You also need to know the laws and regulations for selling meat where you are. Your operation is probably going to be too small for the Feds to be interested but each state, city, or county may have their own rules. If you know the requirements you may be able to design your business to avoid many of those.


I strongly agree with trying it yourself so you can see what you are dealing with. Don't trust some stranger like me over the internet, see for yourself. And trust yourself.

Thank you everyone for your input. I am not selling to be my main source of income, rather as it'll be part of the operation. I have a bunch of people wanting meat that is locally raised and humanely raised. Im a big believer and supporter of permaculture so these birds will be raised efficiently as well as meet other purposes in my operation (fertilizer,etc). I'm not a fan of the many health problems cx can get so I was hoping to look for a similar bird. I saw McMurray ...or some sikilar hatchery sells "Ginger Broilers" and wondering if anyone has grown them? I may try multiple types my first round to see which I like better. I just like to have SOME direction to look into

 

[Ridgerunner]

The closest you will come to the CX are the Ranger types. A few years ago the alternate were all called Rangers but it seems some hatcheries are now offering others often called some type of broilers that are Ranger types. Those Ginger Broilers look interesting.

If you can my suggestion is to raise a few different broilers and rangers side by side. Try to raise them under as much the same conditions as you can. Same time of year, same food, same housing, same butcher date. Your conditions and methods are unique to you. Your results will be different from mine. See which ones work best for you.

 

[caelfi]

So this year will be the first year I'm wanting to raise birds for their meat. Im not a fan of Cornish X so I've been looking into other types and what they're bred with. I currently have Orpingtons and Wyandotte. The roos i have are mixed breed with the top roo being HUGE and a cross between barred rock, orp, and Rhode Island red. Other roo is his offspring from a orp mom. The other two are just mixed Easter Eggers... but have to say they are bigger than most Easter Eggers I've seen (idk the mix, just that the mom was EE)
With these breeds in mind, if I hatched this barnyard mix, do you think I'll be able to produce decent looking meat birds? I'm hoping to sell so the "looks" will mean a bunch.
I was hoping to shave some pennies and hatch instead of buying mainly chicks.
I can post pictures if that will help more. And can keep up to date if there's much interest in this. (Still will probably hatch 25ish chicks as an experiment but I was wanting to know some expert opinions on what to expect)

If you are wanting a quality tender meat the meat birds need a different diet from your regular birds. They need a higher protein content food. I use Cornish rocks they have very tender juicy meat usually only take 7-8 weeks hatch to table. The Rhode Island Plymouth Rock will make a nice meat bird but it will take 6 months of food to get them there. You might consider the overall cost as opposed to time frame. You might get consider those things before you decide.
10 cornish cross will go through about 2 1/2 50# bags of meat bird food I used naturewise 22% protein meatbird food 19-20 dollars per bag so I spent about $50 on feed. I sold 8 of my meat birds to friends and yielded those 8 birds totaled $182.after hatchlings and feed I netted about $110.
I dont know how much the slower growing birds will cost you for your meat. I already have friends lined up to buy more chicken from me in a few weeks for my next batch.
If you decide to sell meat be sure to check your states guidelines first.

 

[caelfi]

Thank you everyone for your input. I am not selling to be my main source of income, rather as it'll be part of the operation. I have a bunch of people wanting meat that is locally raised and humanely raised. Im a big believer and supporter of permaculture so these birds will be raised efficiently as well as meet other purposes in my operation (fertilizer,etc). I'm not a fan of the many health problems cx can get so I was hoping to look for a similar bird. I saw McMurray ...or some sikilar hatchery sells "Ginger Broilers" and wondering if anyone has grown them? I may try multiple types my first round to see which I like better. I just like to have SOME direction to look into

We play and cuddle our meat birds, they are out in a chicken tractor that I move every day. I give them clean fresh water everyday. They have shade and grass. My chicken tractors I built are 6’x8’ , I feed them as much 22% protein food they want during the day, but they also eat bugs and plants. My chickens are happy and treated humanely I beat the prices at the store for no hormone, no antibiotic, free range chicken. I still made a decent profit. I do not spray chemicals on my yard at all. Not even fertilizers. Each day when I move the tractors I water all the droppings well into the ground. My grass is looking great. It gets fertilized, trimmed, and we benefit nutritionally and financially. So far it is working out well.
There is no telling what the chickens you buy at the store have been through. My meatbirds. Are Cornish rocks the have great flavor and they had a lot of meat and were juicy. The meat had great texture. I even have people that buy the feet to eat.

 

[caelfi]

I'm mainly going to agree with the others. The CX are the ones you buy in the store for a reason. They grow fast and have a great food to meat conversion rate. The carcasses are what many people expect a meat chicken to look like. They are butchered so young they can be cooked with any method though they may get "mushy" if you use certain slow moist cooking methods. As fast as they grow to butcher age you can grow more batches of them. You get a fast turnover. You can't breed your own.

The Ranger types are sort of like the CX. They also grow fairly fast and have a decent food to meat conversion rate but they are not up to the CX standards. They can be butchered young enough so you can cook them any way but may have a bit more flavor or texture because they are a bit older, especially the cockerels. Maybe butcher at 12 weeks instead of 6 to 8, so half as many batches. Breeding your own is extremely challenging and not usually that successful.

Dual Purpose chickens are going to grow fairly slowly compared to the others and they will not get nearly as big no matter how long you wait to butcher. The carcass will most likely be mostly dark meat, not the nice breasts the others can develop. To get much meat in them you have to wait to butcher so you may be limited in how you can cook them. The pullets are going to be really small compared to the cockerels. With the CX and Rangers the pullets are smaller than the cockerels but can still be decent sized. You can breed your own dual purpose. I personally like to raise and eat dual purpose but I'm not raising them to sell.

If you are planning on selling meat, you cannot compete with the professionals. Theirs is a finely tuned mass-production machine, from laying eggs to hatch to marketing. You can't meet their prices. You need to find your niche so you can charge prices to support your operation. Marketing may be your biggest challenge. You also need to know the laws and regulations for selling meat where you are. Your operation is probably going to be too small for the Feds to be interested but each state, city, or county may have their own rules. If you know the requirements you may be able to design your business to avoid many of those.


I strongly agree with trying it yourself so you can see what you are dealing with. Don't trust some stranger like me over the internet, see for yourself. And trust yourself.

When you raise your own Cornish rocks or CX you can feed them better quality food and raise them in a much better cleaner environment, so I wouldn’t mix the birds themselves, just the way commercial growers raise them. If done right they do produce a quality high protein juicy bird for the table. They will continue to breed CX, but home producers make all the difference in the quality of meat. The bird isn’t the problem the producer is the problem.