Dual purpose birds for meat

[triplepurpose]

For me one of the biggest issues that counts against the Cornish X rocks is not the management concerns or lack of flavor but the quality of life/welfare concerns. The extreme rate of growth strains the bodily systems and the way they are built makes it a strain to get around because a natural chicken form/mobility/behavior has been sacrificed to the point of semi-debilitation just for the sake of certain traits convenient to us.

Though its true that some strains are worse than others...

But I mean, think how uncomfortable growing pains are as a kid, then imagine the growing pains they endure. And think how much being overweight affects human quality of life, and then imagine a several hundred pound toddler. imho most of those broilers have simply been bred too far for the unforgiving sake of growth-rate economics at the expense of other things.

Of course, CX raised by caring small flock owners are way better off than those in certain other situations. But the extreeme to which they have been altered in itself infringes too much on welfare for my comfort.

There are other meat birds available out there now too that still have pretty impressive feed conversion compared to DP, but without the problems--it just requires paying a little bit more for your chicken and accepting a carcass that is actually chicken-shaped.

When I think of how "chicken" has become the cheapest and most widespread commodity meat around the world these days, frankly I kind of cringe... Nobody has a fundamental right to cheap meat at the expense of welfare.

Not meaning to ruffle anyone's feathers or sound judgmental btw. I know its not all black and white--just sharing my feelings on this.

 

[Parront]

For me one of the biggest issues that counts against the Cornish X rocks is not the management concerns or lack of flavor but the quality of life/welfare concerns. The extreme rate of growth strains the bodily systems and the way they are built makes it a strain to get around because a natural chicken form/mobility/behavior has been sacrificed to the point of semi-debilitation just for the sake of certain traits convenient to us.

Though its true that some strains are worse than others...

But I mean, think how uncomfortable growing pains are as a kid, then imagine the growing pains they endure. And think how much being overweight affects human quality of life, and then imagine a several hundred pound toddler. imho most of those broilers have simply been bred too far for the unforgiving sake of growth-rate economics at the expense of other things.

Of course, CX raised by caring small flock owners are way better off than those in certain other situations. But the extreeme to which they have been altered in itself infringes too much on welfare for my comfort.

There are other meat birds available out there now too that still have pretty impressive feed conversion compared to DP, but without the problems--it just requires paying a little bit more for your chicken and accepting a carcass that is actually chicken-shaped.

When I think of how "chicken" has become the cheapest and most widespread commodity meat around the world these days, frankly I kind of cringe... Nobody has a fundamental right to cheap meat at the expense of welfare.

Not meaning to ruffle anyone's feathers or sound judgmental btw. I know its not all black and white--just sharing my feelings on this.

I understand how you feel, the time I raised Cornish-X I let them go too long and they could barely walk. They were about 10 pounds dressed at 12 weeks. I do not know what strain they were -- it was the late 80's and I just got what was in the McMurray catalog for meat birds, there was only the one kind if I remember correctly. But, the amount of meat on them spoiled me -- when I butchered the Orpingtons, there was a lot less chicken there! And, the annoying orpingtons were 6 months old! They were pretty mellow up until that time, but I had too many and they were starting to attack any hen around, and the dog! They never attacked a child. The Brown Leghorn roosters, I had to seperate and whittle the numbers down to 1 at about the same time as the Cornish-X, they were only 1-2 lbs at 12 weeks. Tasty, though. I kept only 1 of those, beautiful guys. The kids had named him Mr. Cocker, could not eat Mr!

 

[theuglychick]

Great info!

We are trying our hand at Euskal Oiloa this year because we want to raise a heritage dual purpose breed to help with its conservation. We plan to process our cockerels, as well.

It all depends on what you plan to have for "meat" birds.

We grow out all of our spare heritage breed cockerals (and heritage cross cockerals) for the table they take longer than Cornish cross meat birds.

Cornish cross meat birds are the typical bird you would buy as chicken in the store. They grow in 6-8 weeks but their feed has to be closely monitored or they can very easily eat themselves to death. They also can develop leg and heart problems due to their fast weight gain. They can become sedentary but develop much more breast meat. They have the best feed conversion ratio but develop less flavor. Once you try well cooked home grown chicken especially heritage birds store chicken will seem rather bland. Not bad but I do notice a difference.

There are also red broilers that grow in about 10-14 weeks. They grow slower than Cornish cross so they have longer lives, tend to have fewer problems, develop more flavor but also maintain some good feed conversion numbers.

Heritage breeds take longer. Often 14-16 weeks or more. A lot of it depends on the stock you have. Someone who has heritage bred lines versus someone who bought hatchery stock... Often in my opinion not always but often they are like two different breeds. If you can raise chicks and free range them in the spring/summer is best for raising cockerals. They can forage for some of their own feed save you some money and they will produce healthier meat than purely grain fed animals.

Some people think heritage meat is tough especially free range. It's all in how you cook it. Low and slow. Yum.

With crossing two heritage breeds, hatchery stock or not you can sometimes get some hybrid vigor which can increase the bird size or breed for color sexable chicks at hatch etc. However raising threatened breeds can be wonderful too and you can continually breed for size among other things.

Red broilers and Cornish cross do not breed true. Some people have managed to keep one or two alive to try and breed their own meat birds but it isn't easy.

Breeds that are autosexing are wonderful dual purpose animals to keep as well.

Message me if you want to talk more about this topic. It was really hard for us(me especially) at first but we won't go back. Knowing what the bird ate and how it was treated and lived and even how it died is such a blessing. We do care about all of our cockerals they get love and attention if they get an injury they get care and treatment just like any of our other birds would.

 

[Parront]

Euska Oiloa this

Never heard of this breed. Where do you get them, are they good?

 

[Parront]

Great info!

We are trying our hand at Euska Oiloa this year because we want to raise a heritage dual purpose breed to help with its conservation. We plan to process our cockerels, as well.

Here is a link to someone who just butchered a couple of sex-link roosters with good eating results:
How young is too young?

 

[chickendreams24]

Great info!

We are trying our hand at Euska Oiloa this year because we want to raise a heritage dual purpose breed to help with its conservation. We plan to process our cockerels, as well.

Thanks

Never heard of this breed. Where do you get them, are they good?

I've heard the name but know nothing about them. Would you mind enlightening us please?

 

[theuglychick]

My apologies, in my typing frenzy I misspelled it, Euskal Oiloa. They're also called Basque Hens.

We don't know if they're any good yet. We researched a few heritage breeds and it came down to the Euskals and La Flèche. We opted for the Basques Hens but still may get some La flèche a little later.

We've got our foundation stock birds so we haven't processed any yet. Once we hatch some out it will be from those that we process.

Right now they're only a few months old. So far they're docile and quite large compared to my layers. Whether we keep them will depend on how they handle oppressive heat and humidity.

Never heard of this breed. Where do you get them, are they good?

 

[theuglychick]

Oh man, I feel like I've been called to the front of the class!

They're an old breed from the basque mountain range.
From what we've found and why we went with these is because they are great foragers, fairly predator-smart, and supposedly taste really nice. They are also known for their good nature. They were included in the slow food arc of taste. Although I'm not 100% certain of what that means, I'm pretty sure is a good thing, lol.

Ok, and I LOVE the Cream crele color of the Marrunda variety.

The la flèche chickens were black, and all of my black breeds suffer in the heat.

Here's a Wikipedia page!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euskal_Oiloa

Thanks


I've heard the name but know nothing about them. Would you mind enlightening us please?

 

[theuglychick]

Question for y'all... what is yalls preferred method of dispatching birds for processing?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Whichever way you can that's quick and sure. You don't want to flinch or close your eyes at the wrong time and just injure the bird or injure yourself.

I grew up swinging an ax and hammer. I'm confident I can hit the target though as I'm getting older I use a hatchet instead of an ax. If you aren't comfortable you can hit the target you might consider a killing cone and a knife. Or maybe lopping shears. However you can.

The main things are you don't hurt yourself and you do the deed.