Fastest maturing meat bird

[Ashleighevans15]

hi there!!

I’m curious as to what your favorite meat bird is? I’m looking for a moderately fast maturing bird that is breedable. Recently did Cornish X, but want to be self-sustaining and breed my future meat birds. There are so many different birds that I can’t decide!

Thoughts? Thanks!!

 

[Iguanahunter]

Supposedly Slow Grow Cornish broilers breed true, if the reviews are to be trusted. And they grow faster than the rangers.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum, glad you joined.

You could write a book on this topic, this may become a long post. No dual purpose bird can come close to matching the growth rate of a Cornish X. I think you know that. You can try Rangers, they come close but are not that easily bred either. They also grow fast and get big.

Before the Cornish X was developed in the 1950's, certain breeds like Delaware, New Hampshire, and some strains of White Rock were the go-to commercial meat birds in the US. Not sure what country you are in so I don't know your history but I'd assume it is similar but maybe with different breeds. When the Cornish X took over hatcheries stopped breeding these birds for meat qualities and they are not really any better for meat than many other dual purpose breeds available from hatcheries. If you can find some private breeder breeding these breeds or other dual purpose chickens for meat you can get a pretty good start on your flock but these birds are likely to be pricey. This topic alone is worth two or three chapters in that book.

Different hatcheries have different people selecting which birds of any breed get to breed. They may be selecting for different traits. Don't expect a bird of a specific breed to be identical to a bird of the same breed from a different hatchery. There will be a lot of similarities but rate of maturity is usually not a trait that gets a lot of emphasis.

I once raised 18 Buff Orp cockerels from one hatchery. There was a lot of difference in maturity rates and size in those cockerels. Only three of the 18 met my criteria for which one to keep, compared to the others. The point is that the more you have to choose from the better your odds of getting a good one.

There are so many different ways you could approach this. You could get a mix of breeds from a hatchery, grow them out, and see which suits you the best. Then go with that breed from that hatchery. Or keep trying other breeds or other hatcheries until you find one that is acceptable. You can always eat the mistakes.

If you are not worried about purebreeds your options open up. Get a selection and breed your best birds, probably best layers for hens and early maturing/best size for the males. In very few generations you will have a bird closer to your goals as long as you carefully select your breeders.

Several people on this forum have tried breeding Cornish X or Rangers to each other. Most of them are really disappointed, it's just too hard to keep them alive and them not get so big they have trouble mating. Others have tried crossing dual purpose birds to a Cornish X or Ranger, usually the best results come from a dual purpose rooster over pullets from these. A lot of these are still disappointed but some have managed to get hatching eggs and develop their own meat bird that matures faster and gets bigger than typical dual purpose birds. Usually this involves restricting the feed and letting them get a lot of their food from foraging. This is a hard way to go, most that try are disappointed. Still, if you want a self-sustaining flock and are not happy with dual purpose birds you might try it.

My approach was to get several different breeds from hatcheries and keep the best for breeding. it didn't take that many generations to notice improvement. My main goal was not to get the largest cockerel I could but more to improve the quality of the worst since these are the ones I'm going to eat. That largest cockerel is for breeding. They will never approach the Cornish X or Rangers for productivity but they are better than a typical hatchery dual purpose bird.

 

[nicalandia]

Your best bet would be to feed restrict Red Rangers as much as possible(so they are not obese when they are sexually mature).. I've tried that with Cornish X broilers with limited success.