Has anyone raised Dark Cornishes as meat birds?

[CathyB59]

I've raised Cornish Xs for meat birds, but I'd like to try something different. Has anyone raised Dark Cornishes as meat birds? How long do they take to get to 6 to 8 pounds? Any other breeds that make good, fairly fast growing meat birds? I'm willing to raise all males since they grow faster and bigger.

Thanks for any input.

 

[draye]

I've raised Cornish Xs for meat birds, but I'd like to try something different. Has anyone raised Dark Cornishes as meat birds? How long do they take to get to 6 to 8 pounds? Any other breeds that make good, fairly fast growing meat birds? I'm willing to raise all males since they grow faster and bigger.

Thanks for any input.

I have eaten the Dark Cornish, just recently too.
They were about 20 to 22 weeks old. I didn't weigh them though, gestimation weight would be about 4 to 4.5 lbs dressed. They had fairly large breasts and a good amount of meat on the drum stick.
Delicious

 

[AVizcaya]

I raise Dark Cornish and Dark Cornish crossed over Barred Rock. To get the pure dark Cornish to 6-8lbs you are talking 28weeks. These are NOT fast growing birds. The younger you butcher the more bone to meat ratio, they don't really start to flesh out until AFTER 20weeks. My crosses are fleshing out younger and with more vigor. We like a big bird and today I have finally come to the PERFECT comprise in how to cook them and achieve a mind blowing culinary experience.

Butcher, rest for 4 days, freeze.
Time to cook 2 chickens!

Day 1. Remove hind quarters, wings, and breast meat. Slow roast hind quarters and wings with moisture added (wine, cider, beer, water...) Slice breast meat into tenders, season and put into fridge for later use.

Day 2. Make stock from carcass. Use scrap carcass meat in soup for dinner (dumplings, chicken pozole, chowder, noddle...)

Day 3. Dip cut and seasoned breast meat into buttermilk and flour.... fry it up with some potatoes.... Three amazing days of meals, plus leftovers for my family of 4.

I could never find a roasting technique that seemed to do the breast meat justice, so I decided to quit fighting it. Plus, because we like our chickens big, we never have fried chicken anymore, so....

With WAY more information than needed, crosses(any crosses, with cornish for larger breasts) are best for faster growth, maybe look into the Freedom Rangers if you don't want to breed your own crosses