Buying meat birds...

[greyfields]

I will recount my experiences with bullet points:

1) I worked chicken barns as a teenager. After the experience I did not eat chicken for about 12 years.

2) When I met my wife in England, I discovered the label rouge poultry scheme.

http://poultrylabelrouge.com/

3) I ate one. It was raised ethically. And most importantly, it was the best tasting chicken I had ever had. It was not wet, insipid, tasteless and boring.

4) Returning to the US, I thought I'd give chicken a chance again having been off my plate for more than a decade. I was frustrated that there were no alternatives to the $0.99/lb Wal*Mart chickens.

Even organic producers are using Cornish Crosses in modified pastured system. I give them the edge for morality's sake, but the chicken is still not as good as it could be.

At least, though, organic birds are not brined to 20% moisture content. This is cynically done as 'marinade' commercially based on "consumer feedback". Really, they are selling you salt water at chicken price. It is also because Americans are often terrible cooks and are terrified of chicken, so cremate it. The extra moisture ensures "most chicken" even at the hands of a crappy cook.

5) I discovered I could get the same birds, the lable rouge birds, from Freedom Rangers. They are gone now, but JM is selling the same birds.

As they are slightly older, they have a fuller flavor. Since they range, they have a better texture to the meat.

I honestly defy all recommendations and cook my chicken a touch on the rare side. I savor and enjoy every bite.

My customers tell me they've never had chicken so good and I seel everything I can produce. It's not lucrative doing broilers, so I don't go out of my way to meet demand. But, it makes it a) satisfying and b) my customers pay for me to eat my own birds. They're essentially free to me, adn that's a good thing.

6) We did do Cornish X initially as a side-by-side comparision. Due to environmental conditions, they suffered badly. The extra disease resistance of the Colored Range Broilers suits me perfectly. And honestly, they do not take that much longer to produce than the CornishX did.

Remember, in Europe, an organic bird must be 82 days old to be slaughtered. This is precisely what the Colored Range Broilers are tuned towards, a longer growing period, but not *that* much longer.

Imagine what our CornishX would look like at 82 days? Too big, if still alive. Also, the FCR gets horrible after about the 8th pound live weight.

I couldn't be more pleased with my results and it's certainly not uneconomical at all to raised the CRBs.

 

[chickenannie]

Quote:
Unhealthy animal ??? Frankenstein monsters ??? Lack of a "real life" ??? The Cornish X were selectively bred to be raised in confinement NOT on a pasture. Raise them the way they were meant to be raised and you will have great success. My wife is a great gourmet cook ( my waisteline will attest to that) and she too finds the Cornish X to be very tastey just like me. The taste is in the FAT and the SKIN, and they are unhealthy ! Doctors urge their patients to trim away the fat from meats before cooking and to buy only lean meat to be heart healthy and avoid obesety. Some people even remove the chicken skin before cooking. We found the taste of the older chickens to be too fatty and tougph,but keep the skin for flavor. So we butcher our Cornish X with full breasts as 1-2 lb. game hens at 30 days or 4-5 lbs. friers for BarBQue at 42 days. Occationaly , as the tempertures permits in our environment of extreams, I will butcher a couple for 8-10 lbs. roasters a couple weeks later. So taste is in the view of the beholder. The Cornish X fits our needs to the "T" .

Bossroo, to respond to what you wrote. I didn't say the CornishX tasted terrible, I said they tasted bland compared to my other breeds. I still serve my CornishX and eat them and they are definitely better than storebought birds, and plenty juicy and all that. But they lacked the incredible flavor and taste of my free-range dual purpose cockerals.

My Cornish X were on pasture for the first 2 months, then it was too cold for them, and they were indoors the last month.

But watching them eat, eat eat, all day (and night, if they could) like gluttons and then barely be able to walk was definitely not "normal" chicken behavior. I know they're bred to do that. But it is like the skeleton of an 8 year old boy with the weight of a 300lb man on it. It is not natural. The fact that the organs and legs give out if you don't butcher the bird at 8-12 weeks is not natural and is unhealthy for the bird. I tried it because I wanted the experience of raising Cornish X (and having the meat) and that was the observation that I walked away with -- that there is something very unnatural about those birds.

 

[willheveland]

Boy this thread could go on and on.It's got to be real confusing for a newbie trying to decide what bird is best for them.
After awhile on here you can tell who will answer a post and even what they will say.
Most people that are regulars probably know by now just by the avatars who likes what.
How people can argue taste,since no two taste buds are the same is beyond me.
I guess everybody should just get a handful of each breed and go from there.Your gonna see your experience was different than others you read on here.Those chick catalogs are coming too.MMM"s was out yesturday.Just don't think there's only on way to go.Your going to have to do it a few batches to get it down pat.

Will

 

[PurpleChicken]

In response to Chickenannie's observations of Cornish being "unnatural" I have to say my wife came to the same conclusion and actually told me not to order them again. That was the only time she has ever said that to me and I'm a nutjob when it comes to ordering birds and eggs.

 

[dancingbear]

I raised Cornish X several times, they did ok, except for the last batch, I had heavy losses in hot weather. I won't raise them again.

My question is this: If somebody has done really well with the rangers for meat, and prefers them, why should they go to all the trouble of teaching Cornish X's to act like normal chickens, (which isn't "exploiting their downfalls" , it's "overcoming their downfalls"), when they can just get rangers that already know how to act like chickens?

It seems to me to be the old "vanilla vs. strawberry" debate. It's a matter of personal preference, and what works well for your own personal set-up/environment.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
I'm not sure if anyone wanted to teach Cornish how to act like a regular bird. It was more the way they act that turned some people off, including myself.

In my case my Rangers did so much better than my Cornish did most likely because they suited my environment better than Cornish did and because of my own lack of experience dealing with Cornish.

My message to people is how cool and productive a Ranger can be, not how bad Cornish are.

Personally, I like strawberry and Vanilla. If I'm going to make a roast or smoked chicken for family and friends I'd reach in my freezer for a Cornish. They are larger and have a flavor more people are used to. If I'm gonna make a rotiserie bird or pot of soup for myself then I'm reaching for a Ranger. For fried chicken or soup I'm gonna pull out a standard 3 pound roo.

I know I'm gonna order Rangers again this year. I'm not so sure about Cornish but I almost feel obliged to try them again. We'll be ordering more turkeys and muscovy meat ducks too.

 

[willheveland]

Hey does Freedom Rangers or colored range broilers pay a kickback for promoting their stock?

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
Not that I know of. I'm not sure how much money is made from selling
25, 50, or even 100 meat birds at a time. I've been told Joel from JM has
been both surprised and overloaded by the many small orders he has
received.

I recommend them for three main reasons.

1-They are great birds and I like to share knowledge with fellow BYCers.
Many members here simply aren't interested in the growth rate and
behaviors of Cornish. Some of us actually want a meat chicken that acts
like a chicken.

2-JMhatchery has been great to deal with, not only with Rangers.
His Muscovy meat ducks are incredible.

3-I want JM to stay in business so we who love the Rangers will have
access to the breed. They are a cross like Cornish X are so they do not
breed true. If they did I'd start a seperate flock of them myself.
When Freedom Ranger shut their doors it was a very sad day for a lot
of people.

Let's face it. The big Cornish suppliers have a virtual monopoly on the
meat bird market. I wouldn't be surprised to see them buy out JM or
force him out of business somehow. There is no honor or ethic in the
factory chicken business.

Lastly, once we got into our backyard chickens which started at 5 birds
and is now over 100, including my quail, we knew we would want meat
birds eventually. If it wasn't for Greyfields talking about this mystery
"Freedom Ranger" breed then we never would have known they existed.
I can say with confidence, in some applications Rangers are superior
to Cornish X. I can also say in many applications Cornish are the better
choice. I'm glad I had that choice.

 

[Bossroo]

Quote:

 

[Brunty_Farms]

When I say exploit their downfalls I mean just that. All I'm doing is helping them live a better live in the 6 weeks they are here. They never overcome their downfalls, the downfalls are genetic.... and time is not on their side.

The reason for this is simple. The freedom rangers will not reach 3.5 lbs dressed weight in 42 days... PERIOD... thats the whole key for anyone trying to make any kind of living of of meat birds.

It's a customer prefrence, The majority always rules. I have more customers that would prefer the "Bland" taste of these chickens as many will put it over the tougher and more flavorfull rangers. Most customers want the leanest possible meat possible and they prefer to add their own seasonings and flavors to the meat. Which is fine by me. I do my best to make sure that the pasture will be lush and full of insects to help enhance the meat to the best of my ability.

I have had success with the colored rangers in the time that they are "supposed" to be raised ethicaly which is 82 days. It works great for me if I have people that demand this type of bird. But for the normal person that comes up and ask for a good chicken I don't refer these to anyone. You have to acquire a taste for it. You have to appreciate the flavor of these birds and understand the more time and effort that goes into them. Which in return they are $4.00 a pound instead of $2.40 or $2.50.

For me it's not a prefrence of what I prefer. It's a prefrence to my customers. They want a young tender bird with the most flavor, with the cheapest price tag. They don't want to see orange, black, or red pinfeathers that maybe I missed,

And the BOTTOM line is that the reason I stick with the cornish x over any other breed is the fact I can achieve a 3.5 lb bird in 42 days. With less than 1 % heart or leg problems. The ones that die end up subcoming to the weather not genetics. Which I personaly believe it's from putting them through a cornish x basic training camp