Heritage meat bird questions?

[Newchickenguy]

Can someone tell me there experiences on rasing heritage non cornish cross hybrid chickens for there meat? I would really like to here from someone who has done it for years, as this implies a system of what works and dosent, but anyone can answer.These are some of my questions.

Like what type of chickens do you have? At what age do you process them? How many a year do you process? Whats your favorite way of cooking them? Whats your favorite way of preserving them, freezing or canning? Are the heritage chickens you process really as tough as nails as some people would suggest? Will they taste better or worse than store bought? Do you have a certain time of year that you prefer to process your heritage chickens? Any other information would be helpful, I just really would love for you to share your story!

As you can tell I am just looking for tips on the overall system that people with experience have. My chicks arrive in 2 weeks and I plan on raising a self sustaining flock for both eggs and meat. I bought 15-20 st run NHR, german blood line non hatchery chicks to start my flock. I really am not trying to be rude when I say plz dont post if your expericne is with hybrid chickens. I may someday raise these myself and in no way judge people who do. But I can place another post for that later. Thanks in advance.

PLZ DO NOT POST IF YOUR EXPERIENCE IS WITH CORNISH CROSS HYBRID CHICKNES!

 

[cameronfarm]

Hi,

I have Dark Cornish I originally brought in for heritage meat birds, we also process all over run cockerels in the fall. I have experience also with one batch of commercial cross's that were given to me.

Here is what I have learned in a nutshell.

1) Light roosters average out to about 3 - 4 lbs. Heavy roosters 4 - 5 lbs.
2) Dark Cornish will weigh out about the same as RIR or a little more but with more breast meat.
3) They take about 16 weeks, sometimes as much as 20 to get a decent size.
4) I can detect no distinguishable difference in taste between any breed, including Commercial Cornish Cross raised naturally.
5) Heritage breed meat has more texture, probably due to the longer grow out. Not in a bad way, just noticeable.
6) It often takes 2 heritage meat birds to make one meal for a family of 4 or more.

This year I have made my own heritage Cornish Rock cross, I will try to post back in the fall to report the results. Next year I will cross the cross with another breed to see where I can take the line. My goal is to create a naturally mating strain of bird that averages out to 5lbs or more in 12 weeks as well as retaining the texture of the heritage meat.

Now here is some food for thought

1) Since heritage roosters take 2x longer or more to grow out they cost twice as much in grain and labor.
2) Heritage birds will almost always weigh in less than the commercial strain, so its costs twice as much for less.
3) You will never be able to compete with grocery store prices, which limits your market (if you are trying to run a business)
4) Most USDA poultry processors charge more to process poultry with colored plumage, further increasing your costs. (they have a reason)

 

[Newchickenguy]

Thanks for your input. I would like to say however that I am aware of the benifit of a chicken reaching process weight at 8wks as opposed to 20wks, in terms of cost of feed to amt of chicken harvested.. However I didnt create this post for people to warn me of what I might be missing when using heritage meat birds over cx. Or the extra cost involved.

I just want to here about peoples storys with raising heritage meat birds. I am not interested in cornish cross chickens or any and I repeat any information of the comparing cornish cross with heritage.



P.S. Bet you can tell what one of my pet peeves is. Lol