Broilers

[amy]

Can someone please tell me what I want to raise for my meat chickens: males or females??

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

Both I think. I do the femails a bit early and they are the ones I part up, the peices are a nice size and the breasts are not so thick in the middle you have a time cooking them even. The boys I sometimes leave late and they are the ones I more likely leave whole for roasting. Personally I need more chicken in peices than whole so if I could I'd get more girls but often I just do the straight run.

 

[bmarshall61]

Okay another dumb question. Will these boiler hen, Cornish X, ever lay and has anyone tried raising their own boilers?

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

They do not lay well, and most will not make it more than a year as they are genetic crosses that are bred to gain huge muscle without much else, so they go into heart failure. I had one cross off a cornish hen that only lasted 2 years too, so the first generation out is not much better.

 

[bmarshall61]

Thanks April, I suspected as much. Never thought about them having such a short life span, maybe that will make them easier to kill and dress for the freezer.

 

[Silkie-lover33]

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[Silkie-lover33]

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[Silkie-lover33]

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[Silkie-lover33]

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[Silkie-lover33]

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