Chicken breed for fryers

[Iggysfam]

What breed of chicken is best to raise for fryers?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

What's used commercially and by most small holders are Cornish/Rock crosses. They grow the fastest on the least feed intake.
They're ready as Cornish game hens at about 3.5 weeks and as broilers at 6 to 8 weeks.
They work quite well as fryers too. If you buy fried chicken, it is a CornishX.
Unless you want a heritage breed. If so, we can suggest others.

 

[jvls1942]

any young chicken will be a good fryer.
I agree about the cornish/rock X ..
but buff orpingtons, Rhode Island Reds,white rocks, all worked well for us, too.

even leghorn roosters were common when I was a kid.
mostly because back then the feed mills would give you 25 L H chicks for each 100 pound bag of feed you bought.
then everybody would kill off the roosters for fryers and keep the pullets for eggs.
it doesn't pay to raise a L H rooster for roasting. they aren't that profitable.

.......jiminwisc.....

 

[ChxGa]

What's used commercially and by most small holders are Cornish/Rock crosses. They grow the fastest on the least feed intake.
They're ready as Cornish game hens at about 3.5 weeks and as broilers at 6 to 8 weeks.
They work quite well as fryers too. If you buy fried chicken, it is a CornishX.
Unless you want a heritage breed. If so, we can suggest others.

What heritage breed is best for broilers/fryers?
Thanks!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum from Louisiana. Glad you joined.

You'll notice this is an old thread. Nothing wrong with using an old thread, sometimes there can be some good stuff in it, but you are more likely to get someone's attention if you start your own thread. A lot of us tend to ignore the old ones.

Your question is one of the most common asked on this meat bird forum. There is no clear answer for what is "best" for every one if us on here. We all have different criteria. Are you only interested in volume of meat? Does age matter when determining when to butcher? Age can affect flavor and texture as well as size, especially with boys. Are you going to eat both boys and girls? Many only eat the boys.

My suggestion is to look through this forum and try to find 3 or 4 different threads on the topic and read them. Then come back to this thread or start a new one and ask any specific questions you have.

 

[jvls1942]

I will give you my opinion.
stay away from the multi colored breeds.
white, like white rocks and a good breed.
I had good luck with buff orpingtons also.
If you are going to freeze them whole, butcher the females.
roosters have long legs and take up too much space.
if you butcher roosters, cut them into pieces for freezing.
also, if you don't need a whole chicken for roasting,
cut the females up also.. saves a lot of space in the freezer.
we have recipes that use only legs and or thighs , so we
make up packages of just those pieces.
backs and necks are good for flavoring soup.
filet the breasts from the bone and put the bone
with the backs and necks..
we very seldom cook a chicken whole..
when we raise cornish/rocks X. we have a special
rotation for butchering..
I can explain that in a different post.