How do you put weight on your birds?

[BreeShu]

This picture shows a lot of structure differences, these birds are the same age at 18 weeks. American Bresse on the left and a Bielefelder on the right. Body length is about the same, but the width and depth are dramatically different, as well as the fleshing.

Thank you so much for your response. It really highlighted several points I need to focus on. My Roosters from my hatch are definitely looking like the Bielefelder. They by far have much more depth of flavor and a higher ratio of dark meat, which is why I don't just raise CornishX. I will have to check later, but I believe your point about the size of bone to meat ratio rings true for these boys also.

I will also have to start being a lot more critical when selecting my "holdback" for the following seasons. I relied a lot on the Brahmas, expecting their genetics to bulk up whoever they breed with. The current light Brahma roo I've selected to stay is twice the height of his sire at around 16ws, but that's just height.

I did start out raising for eggs, so a lot of my beginning selections were for egg size and color. I'm thinking I may have to get rid of a few of the named hens, but I just don't know who. They all are pretty round looking compared to their male counterparts.