help with meat bird breed

[Egghead_Jr]

You'd be surprised what you can find when you start looking and find the right places to look. Red Sussex will be available to you. Not to forego anything just to obtain them, make sure they are up to standard and table bird inclination of that variety. Dorking will also be available if you look.

What you see in local ads is not what you want. You want the best stock you can possibly find. Stock that is and has been bred to the standard. You may have to travel some but I've a strong inclination they are in Ireland if you look hard. Don't settle for "oh this was easy or this is the breed but it's hatchery crap". Get good quality, standard bred, birds. If you go to another breed or variety that's fine but only do so if it's of excellent quality and is bred for table.

 

[DanEP]

White rocks are a pretty good dual purpose bird too if you can get them there. They grow faster than Orpingtons and the ones I've had were better layers also.

 

[theharve01]

thank you all for the help and advice. @Ridgerunner i do understand your idea on strains. and i think selective breeding is good, as you say though "once you know what you are doing". i will only be butchering about 50 hens a year for the first few years. i will just be selling meat to work colleagues, neighbors and family. and maybe in some markets. i am keeping track of every cost incurred to find out exactly what price to be selling. i do hope to one day open my own meat shop next to my house. but at the moment its just small scale to find out where the pitfalls are etc. what can go wrong. i also get a lot of my feed from my canteen in work, which helps with the feed bill. and all my animals are free ranging.

@mixedbreeds i have not seen this breed of malins for sale in ireland.

@Mosey2003 i will look into seeing if there is one of these organisations. i dont know of any. there are a lot of people that show chickens. this might be a place to start. but some of these show chickens may or may not be a good example of the breed for its intended purpose. i understand that living in America that you wont know what we have here. what i did find odd, is that Americans seem to have more access to European breed chickens than we do in Ireland. im not sure why this is.

@sumi regarding the broilers we have here. have you ever purchased them before. i was talking to some guy selling ross broilers. but i dont know what breed/breeds they were. i was also looking to find the Cornish or Indian game bird, are these the broilers that they sell on donedeal. would you think it would be possible to buy these to start my own flock to hatch my own broilers from, or would it be like people keeping Cornish cross to lay and hatch. its supposed to be not very successful. i dont want to get into buying day old chicks all the time. id prefer to hatch my own meat chickens.

thanks again all

 

[Mosey2003]

If there are poultry shows, there must be a poultry association running them. Show birds *should* be good examples of the breed's intended purpose, as that is the original point of showing. Whether they are in Ireland or not, I do not know, but I wouldn't assume they aren't.

 

[sumi]

@theharve01 If you're on FB, look up the poultry breeders club of Ireland. They're good for getting you in touch with breeders.

I personally haven't bought or raised any broilers, I don't eat chicken, so the best I can recommend is asking around. If you're in one of the southern counties, try Ger O'Leary from Macroom (O'Leary's Poultry), he sells broilers sometimes and his birds are healthy. he also delivers as far up as Dublin and all the way across to County Kerry. He would also be a good man to ask about breeders, etc.

 

[theharve01]

thank you both, thats great. i will get on that today. i did find the Irish poultry society. i have emailed them. they dont really have much of a website, but hopefully they can help with breeders too.

thanks again

 

[Ridgerunner]

About the 1950's a hybrid chicken was developed that took over the commercial meat market. They had a great feed to meat conversion rate and grew so fast they could be butchered at 6 to 8 weeks and still be larger than many dual purpose chickens at 20 weeks. Since they were butchered so young they were still tender enough to grill or fry. They were developed by selective breeding, no GMO's, hormones, anything like that. The parent breeds used to develop them include Cornish (Indian Game) and Rocks, probably some others. They are generally called Cornish Rock, Cornish Cross, Cornish X, or sometimes just broilers. They are not a breed but are a mix, very carefully bred. They grow so fast that around 8 weeks they start having heart attacks, their skeleton breaks down, or they have other lethal medical problems. It is hard to keep them alive long enough for them to lay eggs. Even if you manage that the males often get so big they can't mate, you would have to use artificial insemination.

Different strains of these have been developed. Two I'm aware of are the Cobb and the one you mentioned, Ross. So your Ross should be the hybrid Cornish Cross broiler. If you are just into meat production you cannot beat the Cornish Cross with any dual purpose bird, their feed to meat conversion and growth rate just can't be beat.

The Indian Game (Cornish) are a dual purpose breed the way Orpington or Sussex are a breed. The Indian Game were used as a parent stock when developing the Cornish Rock broilers because they have a lot of breast meat compared to other breeds, hence the names, but they are totally different critters.

Some people have been successful in keeping Cornish Cross broiler pullets alive long enough to cross them with dual purpose roosters to get a chicken that is a better meat bird than the dual purpose chickens. If you can manage this you can develop your own strain of meat bird. They will still have some of the medical problems caused by fast growth but not as bad as the Cornish X broilers.

There is another type of meat bird, often called Rangers. I don't know what they might be called in Ireland. These are also a hybrid mix but have been developed to grow a little slower than the Cornish X broilers and be really good for pasturing. These can still have the medical problems of the Cornish Cross broilers but not as severe. They could be a lot easier to work with if you are interested in hatching your own. Here is a thread on this forum where someone is playing around with crossing Ranger hens. I think he is doing it mostly for fun instead of seriously trying to develop his own strain but it might be interesting reading.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/crossing-my-red-ranger-hens.1281099/

I'd suggest you get a few Cornish Cross broilers, some Rangers if you can, and a few different dual purpose breeds and raise them. See for yourself how they grow, how you need to manage them, and the differences. It may cost you a year in getting started but I think you will be ahead in the long term.

 

[Parront]

About the 1950's a hybrid chicken was developed that took over the commercial meat market. They had a great feed to meat conversion rate and grew so fast they could be butchered at 6 to 8 weeks and still be larger than many dual purpose chickens at 20 weeks. Since they were butchered so young they were still tender enough to grill or fry. They were developed by selective breeding, no GMO's, hormones, anything like that. The parent breeds used to develop them include Cornish (Indian Game) and Rocks, probably some others. They are generally called Cornish Rock, Cornish Cross, Cornish X, or sometimes just broilers. They are not a breed but are a mix, very carefully bred. They grow so fast that around 8 weeks they start having heart attacks, their skeleton breaks down, or they have other lethal medical problems. It is hard to keep them alive long enough for them to lay eggs. Even if you manage that the males often get so big they can't mate, you would have to use artificial insemination.

Different strains of these have been developed. Two I'm aware of are the Cobb and the one you mentioned, Ross. So your Ross should be the hybrid Cornish Cross broiler. If you are just into meat production you cannot beat the Cornish Cross with any dual purpose bird, their feed to meat conversion and growth rate just can't be beat.

The Indian Game (Cornish) are a dual purpose breed the way Orpington or Sussex are a breed. The Indian Game were used as a parent stock when developing the Cornish Rock broilers because they have a lot of breast meat compared to other breeds, hence the names, but they are totally different critters.

Some people have been successful in keeping Cornish Cross broiler pullets alive long enough to cross them with dual purpose roosters to get a chicken that is a better meat bird than the dual purpose chickens. If you can manage this you can develop your own strain of meat bird. They will still have some of the medical problems caused by fast growth but not as bad as the Cornish X broilers.

There is another type of meat bird, often called Rangers. I don't know what they might be called in Ireland. These are also a hybrid mix but have been developed to grow a little slower than the Cornish X broilers and be really good for pasturing. These can still have the medical problems of the Cornish Cross broilers but not as severe. They could be a lot easier to work with if you are interested in hatching your own. Here is a thread on this forum where someone is playing around with crossing Ranger hens. I think he is doing it mostly for fun instead of seriously trying to develop his own strain but it might be interesting reading.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/crossing-my-red-ranger-hens.1281099/

I'd suggest you get a few Cornish Cross broilers, some Rangers if you can, and a few different dual purpose breeds and raise them. See for yourself how they grow, how you need to manage them, and the differences. It may cost you a year in getting started but I think you will be ahead in the long term.

This, X's 2 -- don't forget, you can eat your mistakes!

 

[Compost King]

Not knowing a thing about Irish Poultry I did some research since its too hot to be outside and I have Air conditioning and wanted the illusion i was doing something productive... I can't find any information on what breeds of meat chickens they raise in Ireland. I did find this website with contacts of people who would know https://www.ifa.ie/sectors/poultry/contacts/ emails and phone numbers. Thats where I would go if I was in Ireland and looking to find out how to get started raising meat chickens.

 

[melanie_s]

This is a great thread for me, as I'm interested in raising heritage meat birds also. Except I just want to do it for fun/interest, rather than profit. And I'm not in Ireland. Good luck to you!!