Disappointed in our meat birds

[JacinLarkwell]

The only chicken that surprised me was a Barbeziuex chicken. The meat on this chicken has a different color, texture and taste, in comparison to the Cornish cross. Everyone must try this chicken, its a cross between a pheasant and duck.

Where did you get yours? I'm all for trying new birds, its just a matter of finding places I can get them from

 

[3KillerBs]

I think they call it a hunters recipe....It's a basic stew with red wine with no set ingredients.

Probably Chasseur. I've never had it, but I looked up French chicken recipes to name my French Cuckoo Marans.

 

[CNJ]

Where did you get yours? I'm all for trying new birds, its just a matter of finding places I can get them from

I bought hatching eggs from FoxFire Farms on eBay, they are very reliable. https://www.ebay.com/str/foxfirefarmspoultry

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Yes it was Coq au Vin. Oh yes the lime leaves are a must in Thai type recipes. Now you got me curious about Barbeziuex Chickens. lol

We are replacing our stolen Maran layers along with our blue Egger birds (This time trying a bantam EE and Legbars) Adding Egyptians and Naked Necks. We had our birds stolen during one of the foods scares only a few Phoenix and Black Swedish escaped the thieves… so starting over.

We decided to add the Egyptians because they do well in heat and are willy.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Oh the kind of look like the white faced Spanish

 

[HiddenFawnHomestead]

We were excited to try raising heritage chickens for meat but are very disappointed in our first batch. We got 4 Buckeyes and 4 Calico Princess hatchlings at the recommendation of the chicken expert at the feed store. We fed organic chick start (23% protein) from the beginning, put them out in a plenty big enough coop (about 4' x 3' x 6' tall with roosting bars inside) with a medium-sized run (about 12' x 12') attached. We harvested them at about 17 weeks according to what we read online and based a little on our schedule.

Our first disappointment was that they were much smaller than we expected - they dressed out at an average of 2-2.5 pounds. Our second and biggest disappointment was that the meat was very tough. We were hoping to use these for roasting, grilling, and frying rather than just soup or stew. We're wondering where we went wrong. Were they the wrong breeds? Wrong feed? Not enough feeders? Too much height for flapping around and jumping to the roosting bars? Too much room in the run? Too hot this summer?

Thanks for your input! We didn't want to do Cornish Cross for meat birds, but if that's truly the best route to good yield of good meat we might reconsider.

We raise freedom rangers that we order through freedom ranger hatchery. I have tried both the regular reds & the color yields and feel like the color yields grow better, plus, because many are white-ish, they pluck cleaner
Don’t be disappointed, because trust me, I could tell you stories about all of my chicken mishaps. You’ll figure out which breed & which methods of raising them work best for you. It took us 8 years, and honestly, this year wasn’t as successful as it should have been with my birds, but I’m not giving up

 

[cassie]

The Cornish X is by far the best meat chicken out there. Nothing else comes close. You get more chicken per pound of feed with them than with anything else. They do have their quirks, and if you are unwilling or unable to accommodate them you are better off with another breed.

 

[cassie]

I fed mine broiler starter, grower, and finisher when I could get it and turkey starter grower and finisher when I couldn't. I put Broiler Booster, a supplement available from MurrayMcMurray(sp), in the water from start to finish. Mine did very well. Keep in mind that they are not heat tolerant.

 

[HiddenFawnHomestead]

The Cornish X is by far the best meat chicken out there. Nothing else comes close. You get more chicken per pound of feed with them than with anything else. They do have their quirks, and if you are unwilling or unable to accommodate them you are better off with another breed.

They’re the most common meat chicken, doesn’t mean they’re the best. My friend raised 7lb freedom rangers easily. I have raised both Cornish & freedom rangers in my 8 years of doing so, and I have seen the health of the Cornish vs FR and it’s a huge difference. With that being said, many people are trying to go back to the heritage breeds & not do production birds, like myself, and as fast growing as Cornish are, that’s why we don’t want to grow them. Your chickens that you raise yourself, despite being a breed that I personally don’t want to raise, are still so much healthier and happier than the ones in the stores, so I consider all of us lucky that we have the knack for raising our own meat like this

 

[Acre4Me]

The Cornish X is by far the best meat chicken out there. Nothing else comes close. You get more chicken per pound of feed with them than with anything else. They do have their quirks, and if you are unwilling or unable to accommodate them you are better off with another breed.

Yes! We just butchered 18 CX yesterday. Straight run that were 7.5 weeks old. All lived and stayed healthy. However, we carefully plan to be able to butcher them at the 7-8 week age mark. Given the increased cost for feed right now, getting 18 meat birds in 7.5 weeks was nice. We did have to be vigilant about water-they drink a lot, and they do have their quirks. But, we cannot fully free range since the garden is right outside the coop/run area and the separate pen we have for meat chickens. Although these are like grocery store chicken in terms of size, shape, and quantity of breast meat, they are quite a bit tastier!