Feed for best tasting meat?

[cakachur]

This is our first try with meat birds and I wonder, what feed should I go for to create the best tasting meat? That is the whole idea, right? Backyard chickens should taste better, not just be fed the same thing they are getting at the factories. Other than free ranging, and various treats and fresh vegetables, is there a product designed to maximize meat flavor? Thanks.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Best is such a nebulous word, we all have our own preferences. Are you raising Cornish X or chickens that can be butchered later? Age can have a noticeable effect on flavor, especially cockerels going through puberty. Some of us like that flavor, some don't.

How are you going to cook them, with herbs and spices? You just might hide any subtle flavors you get from what you feed them. I don't know what to suggest you feed them, maybe herbs if you grow them and they will actually eat them. I would not feed fish very close to butcher day. This might be a great time to use trial and error, see if you notice a difference.

Though i like the flavor of my older dual purpose birds I don't raise them for flavor. I raise them so I know where my meat comes from, how it was fed and raised. It would be less expensive to just buy chicken at the store and flavor it when I cook it.

 

[Trotamundos]

My neighbour recommended cracked maize 'para mucho sabor' I will soon find out as I have 6 young cockerels nearly ready.

 

[snow5164]

I doubt you’ll notice a meat flavour , you might notice if you feed them too much fat !

Getting good meat with a nice amount of fat is all about consistency and the proper nutrition. I feed one bag of starter then they are on 18% grower til butcher day

 

[Geena]

My neighbour recommended cracked maize 'para mucho sabor' I will soon find out as I have 6 young cockerels nearly ready.

In my experience if you finish them with some cracked corn you'll mostly just get a LOT of extra fat. Once I tried finishing with around 50% meat bird pellets and 50% whole oats on some pasture raised birds, and they seemed to take on a slightly nutty flavor.

 

[potatoesgonnapotate]

So I think the feed I was giving my Cornish crosses contributed to them being a little more gamey than the red rangers that I had out on grass sooner. It could also be the breed, but next year will be a year of experimenting with that. The barred rocks I just butchered were actually the fattiest ones I've butchered of the 4 breeds I tried this year (Cornish cross, red ranger, sagitta, and barred rock). They were also the oldest so that could have something to do with it. I am crazy, yes...but I wanted to try the 4 to see if the flavor was significantly better with one or the other. So far the red rangers and Cornish crosses we've eaten have all been great, and with the Cornish crosses being significantly less expensive than everything else I tried, I think I'll stick to those for meat until I'm trying to run a fully self sufficient homestead with a flock that I hatch my own dp birds from. I do give everyone some scratch grain in the evenings, and I give them lots of extra produce from the garden, weeds, and grass clippings. We have a peach tree so they love when the extra ones fall, or when I give them one that has a bug in it. I do joke about pre-seasoning them by feeding them things that I'd season meat with, but I'm not sure that it actually holds any weight.