Meat bird comparison

This is a comparison between a batch of meat birds purchased from Meyer Hatchery in Polk, Ohio last year and a batch purchased from Mt. Healthy Hatchery in Cincinnati, Ohio this year.

The Meyer batch was 15 chicks mail ordered. We live off the beaten path in Tennessee and it took 4 days for delivery. 1 chick was DOA and 3 others died within the next 48 hrs. We dressed 11 chicks.

The Mt. Healthy batch was 50 chicks and I was able to pick them up while traveling through Cincinnati. 1 chick died within 48 hrs and 1 chick died at 4 weeks. We dressed 48 chickens.

For the first 5 weeks the Mt. Healthy chick's had these huge butts. Most people that saw them thought they were turkey's. Once they were dressed it's where the gizzard was located.

The Meyer chicks had their gizzard more up inside the cavity.

The Mt. Healthy chickens finished better. Much fuller breast than the Meyer chickens.

The Mt. Healthy chickens seemed to be much more aggressive. Especially at morning feeding after being on restricted feed. The last 2 weeks I had to wear gloves during feeding to protect my hands from being pecked.

Both chick's were very active.

Plucking the Mt. Healthy chicken was more difficult. The feathers on the wings was very difficult to remove. Lots of pin feathers remained. This was with an automated chicken plucker. We rented one and I do not believe the motor spun the pluckers fast enough. Which could of lead the the plucking problem.

The Meyer chicken was hand plucked and the feathers came out with ease.

The innards of the Mt. Healthy chickens seemed to come out easier in one hand full. The bottom cavity was more difficult to clean. Very boney.

The Meyer chicken cavity was much easier to clean.

They were all raised cage free in our barn. Feed the same feed. They were both given grass to eat. The Meyer batch had pine shavings as bedding compared to shredded leaves for the Mt. Healthy batch. The Mt. Healthy batch seemed to be cleaner and smelled better. I attribute this to the leaves as bedding.

The Mt. Healthy bird ate the same amount of feed and dressed out at a pound more. Most carcasses from the Mt. Healthy batch weighed between 5.5 lbs and 6 lbs. The Meyer batch weighed between 4.5 lbs and 5.5 lbs.

The Mt. Healthy chicken cooked better. Was juicier than the Meyer chicken.

It was obvious that these birds came from 2 different stocks.

In my own opinion, I liked the Mt. Healthy chicken better. I feel it was a better bird from start to finish.

 

We did our first processing at 8 weeks. I have about 12 left that we are processing from day to day to see how they grow each week. I plan on saving a couple hens to get the notorious double, triple and quadruple yolk eggs I've heard about.