Help me choose a meat bird/heritage bird for meat.

[yankeehill]

What are my options for meat birds? Is there a chart out there comparing the breeds and their weights at certain ages? It seems that the Jumbo Cornish Rock Cross is popular, but after seeing these at a friends, they just look pitiful - they can't stand for very long, ate their food while laying down, breathed with their mouths open, and just looked pitiful to me.

What other options are there out there?

 

[jillscoop]

The Jumbo cornish rock are a hybrid "Frankesteins" imo. Some people use them because the feed conversion rate and the finish rate are both amazing. I don't like the look of the hybrids either and I'd rather wait a few more weeks for my meat to look healthy. The other benefit of the heritage meat bird is that you can incubate it yourself with a couple laying hens whereas the hybrids must be purchased as chicks driving your cost up.

Okay,all that being said.... Bared Rocks, are a good choices as well as Orpingtons, and Brahma. These can be processed at 12 weeks.

I'm currently raising White Jersey Giants. My Jerseys are really sweet easygoing birds. They will get extremely large and make excellent meat birds, but the Jersey Giants take 23 weeks to finish. Mine are free range so they forage most of their own food off the bugs in the pasture. If I were going to provide most of their food out of a bag they do not have a good feed conversion rate so i would stick with the Orpingtons & Brahma if they were raised in pens.

Hope that helps
Cheers

 

[NYREDS]

if you're strictly looking for meet the Cornish Rocks are the best. You can slow them down a bit by limiting daily feed availability which improves the meat & appearance.
Personally I don't think a 12 week old Rock, Orpington or Brahma would make a satisfactory meat bird. They haven't developed much of a carcass by that age. As to Giants I've raised them & it's more like 52 weeks 'till they finish not 23 weeks.
The standard breeds, as adults, make great soup or steewing chickens but IMO not great fryers or broilers.

 

[yankeehill]

I've heard of the Jersey Giants they get big! - WIki says 10# for hens, 13# for cocks...but they take 23 weeks? Nearly 5 months....I need something quicker - we're in Maine, and our season is shorter than others...we'll have snow on the ground come Halloween sometimes.

I really don't care for the look of the Jumbo Cornish Rock Cross, but I almost think that for this year, it will be what I go with...that or the Freedom Ranger...those are 12 weeks, right? And my other option if I don't raise some now is to buy the grocery store meat...which I am growing more and more opposed to these days.

I'll raise them in a tractor - free range them a bit, but I have a dog that likes to chase chickens, so unless we can break them, I can't really free range too much.

 

[yankeehill]

Is there a difference in the flavor of chickens?

 

[NYREDS]

I've heard of the Jersey Giants they get big! - WIki says 10# for hens, 13# for cocks...but they take 23 weeks? Nearly 5 months....I need something quicker - we're in Maine, and our season is shorter than others...we'll have snow on the ground come Halloween sometimes.

I really don't care for the look of the Jumbo Cornish Rock Cross, but I almost think that for this year, it will be what I go with...that or the Freedom Ranger...those are 12 weeks, right? And my other option if I don't raise some now is to buy the grocery store meat...which I am growing more and more opposed to these days.

I'll raise them in a tractor - free range them a bit, but I have a dog that likes to chase chickens, so unless we can break them, I can't really free range too much.

Giants won't reach those weights in 23 weeks.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

if you're strictly looking for meet the Cornish Rocks are the best. You can slow them down a bit by limiting daily feed availability which improves the meat & appearance.
Personally I don't think a 12 week old Rock, Orpington or Brahma would make a satisfactory meat bird. They haven't developed much of a carcass by that age. As to Giants I've raised them & it's more like 52 weeks 'till they finish not 23 weeks.
The standard breeds, as adults, make great soup or steewing chickens but IMO not great fryers or broilers.

Agreed. But you can cook several whole like Cornish game hens and they sure are tasty!


And Freedom Rangers won't be much larger at 12 weeks.

 

[yankeehill]

So the only really quick growing, high yield meat bird is the Cornish cross?

(Hubby said we'll get 25 of them next payday - gotta make it til then!)