In search of the best meat chickens

[Koyote]

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.

Not sure about the dual purpose vs heritage, but all of mine have been much better than the mushy store bought chicken. The bresse had the best texture so far, but I wish they were bigger and not as expensive. A bresse-Jersey Giant might be in my future.

 

[FortCluck]

Not sure about the dual purpose vs heritage, but all of mine have been much better than the mushy store bought chicken. The bresse had the best texture so far, but I wish they were bigger and not as expensive. A bresse-Jersey Giant might be in my future.

My Delaware is dual purpose and a heritage breed. I don't eat meat so I'll have to have someone in my family try them and tell me what they think. I'm just providing the meat! Gives me a purpose in life!

 

[Koyote]

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

I've seen the naked necks before, but never had any myself. What's the advantage of using them for meat birds?

 

[FortCluck]

I've seen the naked necks before, but never had any myself. What's the advantage of using them for meat birds?

Less feathers and easier in warm weather because they can handle it

 

[S.A.W.]

I appreciate all of the suggestions and sharing experiences. I once grew some Naked Necks. They sure get around because in a flock with several roosters of different breeds, most of the new chicks were naked necks, lol. They were good meat, but as far as flavor, I haven't had several breeds side by side in a taste test so can't tell you much, except that any chicken I raised tasted better than that from the grocery store. The Cornish X grow fast and I love how they make fryers, but I have to pay several dollars per chick just to get them. I thought of trying to cross them myself, but someone said there have been numerous strains of genetics used and I would not have great success just crossing Cornish and Rock chickens. I am going to try these Barred Rocks and see how they do. I hope if any of you know of a source for white Dorkings, you would pass along the info to me. I would like to try some of them just for fun.

 

[NHMountainMan]

I’ve got the same ambition with none of the experience. I’ll be following along in hopes of learning from your experiment and outcome.

 

[Koyote]

S.A.W. I've only done small batches of birds, not more than 10 at a time. We just skinned them and didn't worry about the feathers. Is it worth the money for tub plucker or do you do it by hand?

 

[S.A.W.]

S.A.W. I've only done small batches of birds, not more than 10 at a time. We just skinned them and didn't worry about the feathers. Is it worth the money for tub plucker or do you do it by hand?

I have done hand plucking mainly. My husband taught me and we can pluck in a short time, but last year we bought one of the cheap pluckers that we attached to a drill. It is a cylinger with fingers all around. My husband fixed a plastic barrel to catch the feathers. He doesn't like using it much because it tends to spray moisture from the wet chicken feathers back onto the clothes and face of the person operating it. When we did 7 chickens not long ago, we just did it by hand. I would like to have a tub plucker and if we start processing 20 or more at a time, we may get one, or at least will use the plucker we have.

 

[Fairview01]

If sustainability equates to simplicity and you dont want to muck around with having 2 different breeds to get to what you want, the heritage large fowl white cornish is the way to go. I am admittedly prejudiced in my opinion.

These are birds bred to be meat birds and not to be confused with dual purpose that do neither well, below average egg layers, slower grower, very tasty. When it comes to a meat bird these are the supreme meat birds of yesterday.

 

[BlueBaby]

I've seen the naked necks before, but never had any myself. What's the advantage of using them for meat birds?

There are no feather's to have to cut through on the neck where you need to make your cut.