In search of the best meat chickens

[S.A.W.]

Hello, I enjoy Backyard Chickens very much and love to read about what all of you are doing. I love poultry and have raised various kinds for most of 40 years. Now that I am retirement age, I have a new project: I wish to develop a sustainable flock of both egg producers and broilers, preferably just one breed for both purposes. I wish to get away from Cornish X because I must buy the chicks every year and I would like to see how cost-effective I can be in producing broilers. My husband has a great incubator and we are used to the whole process. Nothing will be new to us except processing ona larger scale, such as 25 or so at a time. Our two adult children and their spouses will be sharing the work and harvest with us. It is a dream of mine to produce healthier chicken than the mass produced (tastier also.) I reduced my flock of 21 down to 11 for the winter. I have bought a dozen barred rock babies 3 weeks ago in order to have young layers next spring. I want to avoid the dark coloring that remains in the feather pores and makes cleaning the skin of a processed bird so time consuming. Therefore, I plan to have only white chickens. The barred rock is not a perfect choice, but all I could get this late in the season. I would like to eventually try white Dorkings. They are rare, but I read that the Dorkings won the taste test for best flavored chicken in the world. If I am going to all this effort, why not get the best? I would love to hear from the rest of you.

 

[FortCluck]

I crossed my layers with my Black Jersey Giant roosters and made dual purpose meat chicks. I'm not sure on the weight besides their 7 day weight which was 5 oz, they're only 14 days old. I wanted to do dual purpose breeds because I plan on keeping some for layers and the rest will be meat chickens. I'm not sure when I will be butchering them probably between 20 and 24 weeks.

The black ones are Deleware/Black Jersey Giant and Red Sex Link/Black Jersey Giant. The white ones are Delaware/Black Jersey Giant.

 

[S.A.W.]

Interesting! Will the white chicks remain white, even though they are half Black Jersey Giant? I once had some Blue Jersey Giants. I loved them.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

If your motivatiob is cost, i believe you will find the Cornish X win when you factor in the cost of keeping and raising out breeding stock and feeding your broiler for months longer.

Im also skeptical of taste tests by breed, but i can see bow some might prefer the texture and flavor of an older bird over a typical Cornish x.

However if you're all set up to raise them yourself for your family, it sounds fun! Those white dorkings I've seen oon here are lovely.

 

[Koyote]

I've only been doing meat birds for a year, so I don't have a huge amount of experience. Tried Cornish x and was not happy with them. The meat was ok, but they looked scruffy and were lazy...maybe just a bad batch from TSC? I had a batch of French Bresse (blue foot) that turned out well. The meat is firmer and has a good flavor, but the birds are smaller and much more expensive to buy. In the end the extra price wasn't worth it to me. Also had a batch of Red Rangers. Not bad, good temperament, good foraging, but on the smaller size. The batch of Rudd Rangers were just about perfect for me; good temperament, decent size, good foraging/self sufficient. They are not white, but the light redish color shouldn't be a problem. I plan on breeding 3 of the Rudd hens with a Bresse Rooster this spring. Hoping for the size of the Rudds, but the meat texture of the Bresse.

 

[BlueBaby]

I don't know what area that you live in, but the Naked Neck's work for me over here. They lay large sized egg's well, and have less feathering to pluck if you want them for meat. They can be cross-bred to any larger breed like many have been doing to develop their own bigger meat bird.

 

[BlueBaby]

I've only been doing meat birds for a year, so I don't have a huge amount of experience. Tried Cornish x and was not happy with them. The meat was ok, but they looked scruffy and were lazy...maybe just a bad batch from TSC? I had a batch of French Bresse (blue foot) that turned out well. The meat is firmer and has a good flavor, but the birds are smaller and much more expensive to buy. In the end the extra price wasn't worth it to me. Also had a batch of Red Rangers. Not bad, good temperament, good foraging, but on the smaller size. The batch of Rudd Rangers were just about perfect for me; good temperament, decent size, good foraging/self sufficient. They are not white, but the light redish color shouldn't be a problem. I plan on breeding 3 of the Rudd hens with a Bresse Rooster this spring. Hoping for the size of the Rudds, but the meat texture of the Bresse.

Some of my Naked Neck's have White Breese mixed into them.

 

[Koyote]

I crossed my layers with my Black Jersey Giant roosters and made dual purpose meat chicks. I'm not sure on the weight besides their 7 day weight which was 5 oz, they're only 14 days old. I wanted to do dual purpose breeds because I plan on keeping some for layers and the rest will be meat chickens. I'm not sure when I will be butchering them probably between 20 and 24 weeks.

The black ones are Deleware/Black Jersey Giant and Red Sex Link/Black Jersey Giant. The white ones are Delaware/Black Jersey Giant.

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Have you processed any of the Jersey Giants before? Wondering how the meat is in terms of size, texture, flavor, etc. I was thinking about getting some in the spring, but would rather know from someone who has already been there/done that.

 

[FortCluck]

Have you processed any of the Jersey Giants before? Wondering how the meat is in terms of size, texture, flavor, etc. I was thinking about getting some in the spring, but would rather know from someone who has already been there/done that.

We are processing these in March so I won't know until then, but everyone convinced me to cross my chickens to use for meat so I did. I have heard that dual purpose breeds are very tender and not as mushy as store bought chicken. I wouldn't know though since this is our first time.

 

[FortCluck]

Interesting! Will the white chicks remain white, even though they are half Black Jersey Giant? I once had some Blue Jersey Giants. I loved them.

Yes, they're feathering out white. They're definitely LARGE chicks. Their feet are massive!