Heritage vs Broilers

[charliewhite]

Taste: I'm not sure I've ever eaten a heritage chicken before in my life. I've pretty much only had broiler. I've heard some good things about the flavor, and firmer texture of heritage chickens. Also, I can't really taste "gaminess," so that shouldn't be a problem for me. I have often found chicken lacking in flavor compared to other meats, so heritage might be better in that respect. I've also read some horror stories about heritage meat- they look and taste like rubber chickens. What are your opinions?

Production: When animals get older, they get tougher. I'm pretty sure that broilers are slaughtered at 7 weeks, and that's why their so tender. From what I've heritage birds they can take twice as long to reach the same size. Yikes! Are there any breeds of heritage that can reach the same weight as broilers, only a few weeks later! The New Hampshire Red is supposed to be faster maturing, but how much faster? Which heritage would you recommend for the fastest production?

Also, I'm not really sure how hybrid chickens work. How do two normal chickens consistently produce something that is incapable of living after 10 weeks!

Heritage seems to be the only option for sustainable meat, because you need to order new batches of broilers, but they seem to be much less efficient.

What do y'all think?

 

[azelgin]

In my opinion, if you're planning on raising a bird for table fare, there is no way to beat the feed efficiency of the broiler crosses.
Heritage breeds take a long time to reach any sort of size for eating. Even though you 'll have to order new (broilers) chicks for replacements, the savings in feed will more than offset the cost.
I have heritage breeds and still buy eating chicken from Albertsons. Unwanted young roosters go in the pressure cooker and become taco meat.

 

[Arielle]

The cornish cross is a hybrid-- each of the parent lines have been very carefully selected so that when bred together a super fast growing chicken is the result. THis is natural production at it's finest.
edited to add-- meaning no use of growth hormones!


A s for taste, when I keep my broilers longer, they taste more like y heritage birds of the same age.

WHen birds are allowed to run and play, the muscles get stronger, and tough er and stringier. Just cut into smaller peices for a stew rather than a roaster.

I agree young broilers are tasteless-- and that can work well in many dishes.

SO I like both.

Finding GOOD heritage lines bred for meat is a real challenge I have spent 2 years looking for meat lines. My only caveate is that I have yet to personally test these lines. I am waiting for chicks or eggs from 3 lines. THe birds I bought from the hatchery ( Meyers and McMurray) are fun layers but very poor meat birds. Only good for a stew. However I value my time and would like more meat on the hens to be worth my time butchering.

So I am moving to real heritage lines as I can find them. Not just the SOP mind you, but production traits as well.

 

[blucoondawg]

The cornish cross is a hybrid-- each of the parent lines have been very carefully selected so that when bred together a super fast growing chicken  is the result.  THis is natural production  at it's finest.
edited to add-- meaning no use of growth hormones!


A s for taste, when I keep my broilers longer, they taste more like y heritage birds of the same age. 

WHen birds are allowed to run and play, the muscles get stronger, and tough er and stringier. Just cut into smaller  peices for a stew rather than a roaster. 

I agree young broilers are tasteless-- and that can work well in many dishes. 

SO I like both. 

Finding GOOD heritage lines bred for meat is a real challenge I have spent 2 years looking for meat lines. My only caveate is that I have yet to personally test these lines. I am waiting for chicks  or eggs from 3 lines. THe birds I bought from the hatchery ( Meyers and McMurray) are fun layers but very poor meat birds. Only good for a stew. However I value my time and would like more meat on the hens to be worth my time butchering. 

So I am moving to real heritage lines  as I can find them. Not just the SOP mind you, but production traits as well. 

I agree with this. If you are planning on ordering dual purpose breeds from a large hatchery and using them for meat you will likely be disappointed. These birds seem to run small likely due to mass production and not selecting for desirable traits. You're best bet would be to pic the breed or breeds you want to use and find breeders with lines of larger birds. They will grow slower and likely will never reach the carcass size of the Cornish x but they are good eating and as far as feed consumption goes I don't know that they really eat much more than the Cornish x as they don't gorge themselves like the Cornish and they forage better if allowed space to range

 

[punk-a-doodle]

I have not personally found a Cornish X, pastured or otherwise, that has as much flavor or as good a texture as a heritage (though I did have a hatchery Naked Neck once with as little flavor as a Cornish X). I hear people say that they have had luck getting Cornish X to be as flavorful and firm as a heritage bird by butchering later, but it is not something I've personally experienced. The red rangers I've had were extremely flavorful, but they are not for me personally simply because of issues I have with corporate control and supply. I'm personally after a bird of a reasonable size that can live a long and healthy life, that thrives in my area, that can subsist purely by free-ranging with no added food if necessary, that will lay reasonably well, that broods and raises young well, that is intelligent enough to take care of itself without being flighty, and that has rich flavor and texture. I have not been impressed by what I've seen come out of the large hatcheries, and think that some really stretch the definition of heritage.

I picked up four Dorkings (three huge reds from Horstman, one Silver Grey of much lesser quality from unknown origins), and hope to breed heavily and cull heavily to improve on type. All four were being 100% free-ranged night and day in coyote country when I bought them. They get a barn and additional feed at my place but I know that they can take care of themselves if need be. I've been extremely pleased with their eggs, personalities, and size. I've been elated at how docile the roos are said to be with each other and how well mine get along. I'll see how they do here in the spring as far as brooding and raising chicks goes. Once I build up numbers, I'll see how they stack up flavor wise. The thread here about butchering Dorkings makes me hopeful about future dinners. I have two breeders picked out that I'd like to buy from in the future if the Dorkings continue to impress. Some other breeds I considered were standard Cornish, Marans, Bresse, Basque (they are supposed to be really friendly though and I worry I may not be able to butcher super friendly birds), Cubalaya, Naked Neck, Delaware, and Australorp.

I'd say do some taste tests before you decide and also cement your goals. If your main concern is fast production, Cornish X is going to be the fastest grower as far as I know.

 

[pipemum]

I'm unintentionally running my own heritage vs CX comparison right now--the hatchery sent me just as many packing peanuts as they did CX. So, granted they are just 'hatchery' birds, not actually heritage birds. I'm not impressed with the dual purpose (the hatchery sent brahmas as the peanuts). They will not be ready to eat for weeks and weeks. I've already butchered 7 of the CX (at 6 weeks). In the time it takes for the brahmas to reach butchering size, they will FAR surpass the CX in feed costs. I'm guessing the feed costs will be double, if not triple the costs of the CX..it'll depend on when these peanuts decide to start crowing--I only hope they are at a decent weight by then. Currently, the brahmas and CX are housed together, and are feed 2x a day--certainly the CX would outeat the brahmas if they had unlimited access to food. Both seem to forage quite well. By "forage" I mean they both seem to destroy my yard and garden equally well, lol.

I've butchered 13-week (early to crow) and 20 week roosters (RIR). Both were puny (obviously the 13 weeker was small) compared to the CX, and tasted like....chicken! To be honest, I crock pot ALL of my chicken, so I cook a fossilized chicken and it would probably end up tender and juicy.

In my mythological house, I'd probably have lots of land, lots of time, and would raise nice big dual-purpose birds and not have to rely on a hatchery. In reality, I live in a city and can't have roosters. "Free range" is in my yard and seriously limited to a couple hours a day or less because of repeated coyote attacks. The CX is the perfect meat bird for me and my situation.