Dark Meat Breeds

[JazminesZoo]

Hello,
Our family are all dark meat lovers ~ We fight for the legs & wings!

I have heard their are some breeds that are all dark meat or at least mostly ??

I mean Turkey/Geese/Quail/Duck/Chicken/Guinea ~ Any breeds ring true to this ?

THANKS!!

 

[Azriel]

I'm not sure, but I think ducks are all dark meat. My DP roos had great dark meat, not aot of breast meat, but I'm not crazy about the breast meat, so the DP birds work good for me. Mine were Orps and RIR butchered at about 4-5 months and free range.

 

[kfacres]

the older it gets, the darker it gets... goes for any species.

If you want DARK, go silkie...

guineas are mostly dark, duck and goose is as well...

think of it this way... birds with bigger breast, have more white meat-- and the opposite.. no breed out there is completely dark, just that some have more light meat than others.

 

[galanie]

Quail are 100% dark meat. Coturnix quail have lighter colored meat, but it's still "dark meat."

By the way, if you're fighting for the wings, those are white meat

Tell your family that and get all those tasty wings for yourself! Orpingtons tend to have a greater percentage of dark meat to white meat than most other breeds of chicken.

 

[ramirezframing]

silkies are dark, even some of their organs are dark lol.

 

[Stephanie739]

mmmmm this is why I want to raise ducks. I am not very excited about chicken breasts anymore, so its almost wasteful to eat them. If I eat an animal, I want to enjoy it, not take the life lost for granted.

 

[nes]

Our commercial breeds (CornishX) have dark meat, they were free-ranged

.
The dark meat is not greasy either, I don't like dark meat but I love ours!

 

[Erica]

Agree with Nes, free ranging makes more dark meat, even on Cornish x.

But if you want really dark, go silkie. Their meat is almost black. Some time ago industrial agriculture cottoned onto one bird breed that was shown to be able to make huge amounts of omega 3 fats naturally... I'm guessing it was the silkie (darker meat is usually higher in Omega 3).

 

[JazminesZoo]

Thank you so much for all your helpful input! I want to raise yummy egg layers, and raise meat birds, but I want the meat we all like.

 

[FarmerRob]

Try Muscovie ducks (but don't eat the eggs, the birds are just too delicious to was by eating it as an egg and Jumbo Ringneck pheasants. For eggs I would stick to something like a Golden Comet chickens or a Khaki Campbell ducks--they will give you excellent production. When they have finished producing efficiently send them to the stew pot.