In your opinion…best sustainable meat breed

[FeatherQueen3]

I would like to get a sustainable line of meat birds going. I plan to incubate eggs to keep the line going.

In your opinion, what is the best breed for this, and why?

 

[bhaugh]

Conturnix quail. Why? Hatch quickly grow out fast and lay well. Most have not been outlawed by HOA so can be included in most homes. Can live in relatively small spaces. Great colors and tame well.

 

[FeatherQueen3]

Conturnix quail. Why? Hatch quickly grow out fast and lay well. Most have not been outlawed by HOA so can be included in most homes. Can live in relatively small spaces. Great colors and tame well.

I am considering them. We have eaten them in the past (neighbor shared) and they were delicious.

 

[bhaugh]

I breed for temperament as some get aggressive and cause problems in flocks. I don’t cage mine in small cages. All birds imo deserve to have a good life until the are processed out.

 

[Ridgerunner]

In your opinion, what is the best breed for this, and why?

I don't believe there is any one breed that is "best" for all of us for meat. What traits do you consider to be important in a meat bird. For some people it is size. Some want the best size at a specific age. Some prefer more dark meat than white. How much does egg laying matter to you? Some people prefer a white or buff bird instead of a dark feathered bird if they pluck because you get a prettier carcass with the pin feathers. If you skin or part out the bird that might not be as important. And so many other possible criteria.

All chickens within a breed are not created equal. Some people breed for meat, others may breed for better egg laying. Some breed for show. Some don't really breed for anything other than hatchable eggs. Even chickens of the same breed can widely differ.

If you have preferences for what makes a good meat bird to you then we can discuss it in more detail. We do those discussions all the time and you will find we have some pretty wide-ranging opinions. Often those discussions are fun.

One suggestion is if you already have an egg laying flock to hatch from them and see how that suits you. Many of us do that, that's why they are called dual purpose. Eggs and Meat. Or get a few different breeds that look good to you and try them in your conditions. See for yourself what works best for you.

 

[FeatherQueen3]

I don't believe there is any one breed that is "best" for all of us for meat. What traits do you consider to be important in a meat bird. For some people it is size. Some want the best size at a specific age. Some prefer more dark meat than white. How much does egg laying matter to you? Some people prefer a white or buff bird instead of a dark feathered bird if they pluck because you get a prettier carcass with the pin feathers. If you skin or part out the bird that might not be as important. And so many other possible criteria.

All chickens within a breed are not created equal. Some people breed for meat, others may breed for better egg laying. Some breed for show. Some don't really breed for anything other than hatchable eggs. Even chickens of the same breed can widely differ.

If you have preferences for what makes a good meat bird to you then we can discuss it in more detail. We do those discussions all the time and you will find we have some pretty wide-ranging opinions. Often those discussions are fun.

One suggestion is if you already have an egg laying flock to hatch from them and see how that suits you. Many of us do that, that's why they are called dual purpose. Eggs and Meat. Or get a few different breeds that look good to you and try them in your conditions. See for yourself what works best for you.

I don’t think there is any one that is best for all of us, either. But you probably have one the is best for you, and you probably have a reason why. That is what I’m looking for here. I don’t currently have any requirements other than they are able to breed and lay eggs in which I can incubate to keep the flock going… and they need to taste decent.

 

[Ms Biddy]

We have a sustainable meat flock. We hatch and butcher year round. There is always chicken in the freezer and we're going on 5 years now. I use clan mating to keep a closed flock and eliminate the need to add outside birds.

The breed I chose was Hmong chickens, although they are more of a type than an actual pure breed. I started with someone's "utility" line and chose them because they're vigorously healthy and have all the other traits needed for a self-sustaining meat flock.

They aren't huge and fast growing like Cornish cross. This is a heritage style bird. You can choose whatever breed you want, but I think health and disease resistance is possibly the top trait needed in a long term project like this. Of course, a nice dressed out carcass is important as well as mothering ability.

Regarding quail, if going for efficiency utility pigeons are probably even better. Squab reach 1 lb in 30 days with 100% care provided by the parents who start a new nest almost immediately after last hatch. My chicks don't reach that size for 6-8 weeks and I don't usually butcher them until 4-6 months for a 3-5 lb dressed carcass. But I'd much rather pluck and process chickens, and lb for lb it seems like a lot more work with smaller birds.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Taste and texture a very individual preference and, in my opinion, is influenced a lot more by what age they are butchered than by breed. They all taste like chicken to me. The differences in tastes by breed is something else I can't help you with.

The Cornish X are generally butchered at 6 to 8 weeks, before they have developed much taste or texture. We generally don't butcher dual purpose birds until much later because of the size. When they hit puberty the hormones have an effect on taste and texture. The texture affects cooking methods you can use. Some people consider the taste to be gamey and don't like it. Some of us prefer that taste. Pullets also have some aging effects but nothing like the cockerels.

you probably have one the is best for you, and you probably have a reason why. That is what I’m looking for here.

I don't have a purely meat flock. I like to play with genetics and like the eggs too. There are only two of us so I can get two meals out of a fairly small pullet or hen. Size just isn't that important to me. I also do not like to spend a lot of money buying high quality breeder's chicks. If I were concentrating on the size only it could be well worth it to spend money for great stock to start with but size isn't that important to me. When I select which cockerel to keep if all else is equal size is the tie breaker. Well, size is more important than that, I will not keep a runt. The more criteria you have the harder selective breeding is.

I started out with a few different breeds of hatchery stock, dual purpose size. A few year later I got some hatching eggs from a neighbor that had Ameraucana to get the blue egg gene since that was one of my goals. Every three or four years I bring in a new breed or color of a breed to get specific genetics. One year I wanted the Buff color so I got 18 Buff Rock males. I got that many because I wanted the boys to eat and so I could select the best out of the lot for breeding. There is a tremendous difference in the same breed from the same hatchery. It was pretty easy to select which ones to eat until I got to the last three. By that time there was so little difference in them that any one of the three would be a good choice.

I learned I need to hatch about 40 to 45 a year to keep us in meat. I eat both pullets and cockerels. Some people only eat cockerels and sell the pullets to help pay for feed. If I only ate the boys I'd have to hatch and raise twice as many chicks. I don't have the facilities for that and I don't want to build them.

I typically hatch around 20 in late February or early March, depending on how much meat I have left in the freezer, so I don't run out of meat before these reach butcher age. After that I hatch either with the incubator or broody hens, depending on when the hens go broody. Some of that is to manage freezer space. With my garden and orchard, freezer space becomes pretty critical in the late spring and summer. I freeze chicken carcasses to make broth. It is a constant balancing act of making jam and jelly, broth, vegetable soup, and butchering chickens as they are ready. I could buy another freezer but I don't want to spend the money or have a good place to put it. I can manage with what I have.

I don't know if any of this helps you or not. There are a lot of people on here where meat is the goal for their flock. Hopefully some of those will respond. Depending on who does respond you can get a really wide range of what breeds they like to use.

 

[imacowgirl2]

For me, my goal is a sustainable flock that can produce birds that dress out around 8 lbs at 14ish weeks. I need my hens to go broody often enough and lay enough eggs that they can raise most of the chicks for me. My goal is a multi-generational flock that always has multiple ages, so I can process a few birds here and there vs having to butcher a whole group of them at once…I already spend 10-15 full days/year helping butcher cattle and hogs, I don’t want to add multiple full long days for chickens too. I pressure cook 100% of my birds, because of our busy schedule, so I skin them out instead of plucking, which eliminates the consideration of having to set up a pluckers and a lot of boiling water every time I butcher.

I need big bird early because I am feeding a family of 7…when I used to buy grocery store birds, a 5.5-6 lb bird couldn’t quite feed the family, so I would have to do two. A 7-8 lb bird will give me enough for a meal plus maybe a few leftovers. I want them to proceed early for feed costs, labor time, but also for flavor. Im particular about my meat taste and texture, and haven’t learned yet to love the deep flavor that comes from older birds.

The birds I chose to start with were Freedom Ranger hatchery New Hampshires, because they come from the Henry Noll line which has been specifically bred for meat for 50+ years. Last year with my first group I had live weights at 6-9 lbs at 13 weeks and dressed weights between 4.5-6 lbs. This year I’m getting more serious and keeping breeding records and weights and breeding from multiple pairs to try to find the best birds to produce those big birds early. My second batch I bought from them early this year (because my breeders weren’t going to raise enough chicks to fill the freezer in time) are 14 weeks right now with live weights ranging from 7-10.5 lbs, with most of the roosters at 9.5 pound or more. Overall I’m very pleased with these birds…I hope with just a little work I can get just a bit more weight on them a bit earlier and meet my goal. I’m also going to try to retain their ability to auto-sex at hatch — the females have broader, darker dorsal stripes with a large dark spot on their head while the boys supposedly have a white patch on their wing between their elbow joint in their chick down (I’ve never seen this yet) and smaller/no spot on their head.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I can tell you it is NOT Pekin ducks.

I'm starting to think its Rabbits, honestly.