good meat chicken

[Cargo]

Cackle Web site is down btw.

 

[Minniechickmama]

I had some extra Dark Cornish cockerels this summer and put them in the freezer at 14-weeks. They dressed out at about 3-3.5 pounds. The meat is good flavored and firm, like I would expect from this tight muscled breed.
I actually kept the biggest, broadest best of the 3 I had and I will be breeding him to some Jersey Giant hens and a NHRed, maybe an Orpington too. I am going to work on my own strain of meat birds so I don't ever have to buy those freak CRXs again. I then plan to take the better mix and cross it with a White Dorking if I can find some good ones to do that with.

 

[wvplucker]

Quote:
Please cross with all three and let us know the results. I would like to try crossing one with RIR or a layer like Golden Comet etc.

 

[litterbitt]

I have been eating both BCMarans and Blue Orp roosters that were "throw away" roosters I got for free... they were between 5 and 7 months. Delicious, and not very tough.

Liz

 

[anthonyjames]

Quote:
Steve,

Thanks. I was just wondering if they will dress out 3.5 - 5 lbs in 12 - 14 weeks and I am sure eat way less feed then CX and FR's.

 

[trimpy]

I am a couple weeks out from harvesting my meat birds. I have 10 Delaware @ 16wks, 15 @ 15wks and 10 BO @ 15wks. Its amazing how much larger the 10 older Delaware's are over the others... esp the BO's. The breast meat on the dels feels comparable to some 6mo old New Hampshire roos I ate a couple months ago... thin and long, but the leg quarters are considerably larger.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Quote:
Please cross with all three and let us know the results. I would like to try crossing one with RIR or a layer like Golden Comet etc.

I sure will. I was originally going to cross with Delaware but I ordered them from Sand Hill and when they were not able to send the Dels they replaced them with the Giants. That was another breed I was going to get next year to try anyway, so it is working out good. And those Giants are big birds, or at least the roos are.
I am going to have fun playing with my project over the next couple of years.

 

[PuckPuckPuck]

I am new to the game of chickens and still have many questions before I even start. I know I want 2 breeds for sure, Buff Orpington and Partridge Chantecler. I also want a meat bird to fill my plate but I don't want the rate of failure that the CX has been showing up in this forum. It has turned me off royaly. I looked up what I think is a good hatchery and they sell a White Rock X. I haven't heard of these yet so if you can educate me on them or on another kind other then CX I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[CountryFried]

Quote:
I would love to try JG but they say they take a long time to mature and eat like pigs.

Buff Orpington seam to be the best for me at this point, unless someone has a better breed.

My BOs got here today, I've no idea how long to expect them to get to market weight though

 

[Minniechickmama]

Purebred BOs will take between 12-16 weeks to reach a butcher weight depending on feed and exercise factors.