Good meat bird breed.

[PineappleMama]

I started a topic in Breeds because I was confused on this myself...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=280726

According to Henderson the only chicken that is purely raised for meat is the Cornish, but there are boodles of Dual Purpose, and then there are the ones that are strictly layers. I wondered why? Is there some particular reason you couldn't eat a Buttercup? Or that you wouldn't like the eggs from a Cornish? It's all a bit confuzzling so I thought I'd ask if peeps who've actually raised these birds agreed with what type they'd been put in. So far no takers.

We may end up out Denton way, and if so I think I'd like to try a small farmish type thing (clearly I'm still in the early stages yes?) so I'm pondering the idear of meaties in addition to layers (what originally got me to this site)... but I don't like the idear of having to buy them, ship them, etc every year so I was thinking Dual Purpose... but then I went and started overthinking... again... and got myself all muddled.

In any case, point of the post was that if you want a list of meat birds, Cornish is it. But the list according to Henderson (minus all the scrolling) is in that topic I started.

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
Cornish do lay eggs, but they tend to be small eggs and they aren't all that prolific as layers. So, people tend to get them for their meat (I do) rather than a bird to keep them in eggs. You can eat any bird, I reckon, but some are a waste of time and feed. Leghorns are great layers, but for meat I wouldn't do it again if you paid me. So, people tend to get them only for eggs. But some birds have both good size to them and grow fast, as well as lay a good quantity of eggs, enough to make it worth while to keep them as layers. Those are then called dual-purpose.

A lot of folks subscribe to the notion that only the Cornish Rock Cross is a meat bird. I'm not one of them.

 

[Southerngirl]

I have had really good luck with the Buff Orpington roos. Meat was VERY tender at 6 months. I am going to try and caponize some of them in the spring for juicy roasters. I bought 25 roos from cackle for like I think I paid $17. They really make a great farm/table bird. That was the main reason I ordered this breed to try this year. The Dark Cornish are also a favorite. Those suckers are HEAVY HEAVY!!!!!! I am going to cross my Dark Cornish roo over some Light Brahma/Barred Rock/Rhode Island Red hens and see what happens. I bet I get chicken either way!!!!

 

[michaeldaugherty]

Quote:
I have fed out alot of birds Dark Cornish an Buckey they have alot better taste than XROCKs. But it takes twiced along to grow thim out!!! I like the Red Cornish X Rock better than the white. They grow a bit slower but do good on full feed or open < RANG > I never tryd the Freedom Ranger yet.