Hi! I am considering purchasing 50 FRYING PAN cockerels from McMurrays today. Has anyone bought these meat birds? Any thoughts? THANKS!
They aren't really meat birds as such in the sense that the CornishX is a meat bird. They are males of laying breeds. That said, they are what people put on the table 60 years ago. They will be a lot smaller than the Cornish, and will take longer to reach a butcher size, but they are tasty. A lot of old timers prefer them because that is what they grew up with.
Agreed, they are not real "meat" birds, just roosters of egg types you'd butcher at 12-16 weeks for maybe a 3lb bird or so. In comparison, a cornish x rock meat bird will be 3lbs in probably 5 weeks and have double breasts.
THANKS for replying! Since I didn't hear back from anyone right away, I made an executive decision and ordered dark cornish.....I hope it was the right decision!!!! Yikes! I hate having to learn the hard way...... Thanks again!
Please let us know how they dress out and what you think of eating them. I have read and read on meat birds, and have about decided this is what I would like to try. Will be watching for your results!
I am also doing Dark Cornish this year. This is my first experience with meat birds so I'm just feeling my way along in the dark!
Quote:Ditto !! The leghorn roos are NOT worth the effort at least in my experience. I also had ordered this and we received 25 leghorn crazy, flighty roos. I ended up selling them to an elderly couple to put in their freezer. Our broilers dressed out with 3 times as much meat as one of those crazy things ! You will be very pleased with the Dark Cornish too. They do not look heavy but when you pick them up they are solid. We love ours, they are very curious, excellent at fending and foraging for themselves too.
Broilers and the 'frying pan' special are two different types of chickens and both serve a different purpose. Most people don't realize that a broiler is not meant for frying. What purpose you have in mind for the chicken is where you need to decide which birds you want to raise. Broilers are the big thick fast growing chickens that are full breasted, wide set legs usually the cornish cross rock or a freedom ranger type. When roasted they are juicey and tender. If you have ever tried to fry one of these for 'fried chicken' you will find the larger breasts will not cook evenly and they take huge amounts of time to cook through to the center. While it can be done it is a not a good idea to fry them. Broiler - cornish cross rock For 'fried chicken' you want the leghorn cockerals (or other roosters being offered) that are processed at about 12 - 14 weeks. They have a long thin breast. When cooked it fries up easily and constitantly without having to worry about burning or over cooking the outside to get the inside meat cooked properly. Frying Pan Special - leghorn - (photo belongs to a member here but I forget who.) Notice the difference in the breast and thigh. You don't want to try and fry those big honkin' broilers.
Quote:i prefer the dark Cornish over Cornish X any day of the year! not only because of the meat quality (yum) but also because they aren't so darn HUGE but still have alot of meat on them. also i agree 100% with the broilers vs fryers post. broilers are roasty/ baking birds. it's much easier to fry the "thinner" roos. although they are slim in appearence, they do have a surprising lot of meat on them.
