need help on deciding what type of meat chickens to raise

[speedy2020]

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Where is the best place to get fast growing and friendly Delaware?

 

[Lotsapaints]

Where is Kent? It's always best to find someone close so you can just pick up the eggs and not have to deal with USPS if not then try shipped eggs I've had my best luck in the fall and spring....

 

[miss_thenorth]

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I have barred rocks tha I use as dual purpose, but someone just told me that if you cross with a dark or white cornish, you will get a bigger bird. As it is, my BRs finish out at 4 lbs consistently. I do realize that even if you cross, with a cornish, you won't get the monsters but having a bit more meat in a shorter amount of time works for me. Hopefully that way, i won't have to support the meat bird industry.

 

[plantmgr]

If you're raising chickens to butcher, I would suggest going with the Cornish Cross Broilers. I've raised them from Hoovers hatchery in Rudd Iowa for 6 years. They are ready to butcher in 6 weeks, and they are fabulous. My son won grand champion at the County fair with these all 6 years.

If you want eggs too, just get a different breed that lay well like Gold Stars or something. You'll get more bang for your buck.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

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I would say any type of cornish birds are mainly for meat and I would be willing to bet that they are not good layers. Both of the broilers red and slow are considered in my opinion a colored / freedom broiler. Regardless of color they are ready to process at 12-15 weeks and forage better than a typical commercial broiler. However none of them will lay any substantial amount of eggs. I would say they all would lay about the same.

As far as differences go.... https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=438262

 

[plantmgr]

but if you're going to eat them, why would it matter if they laid well? You could get two different breeds. One for meat and one for laying.

 

[Lotsapaints]

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Many people on here love to hatch and you get boys if you hatch and many try to be self sustaining with their chickens so for me I'm looking for a chicken that lays well enough and who's cockerels can be worth butchering so I have Delawares who were the broiler chicken before the Cornish x and who can reproduce which if you tried to keep the Cornish long enough to lay eggs it's difficult to keep them alive long enough to raise more. It's hard to free range CX's and they need to be fed correctly or they fail to thrive.....

 

[plantmgr]

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Many people on here love to hatch and you get boys if you hatch and many try to be self sustaining with their chickens so for me I'm looking for a chicken that lays well enough and who's cockerels can be worth butchering so I have Delawares who were the broiler chicken before the Cornish x and who can reproduce which if you tried to keep the Cornish long enough to lay eggs it's difficult to keep them alive long enough to raise more. It's hard to free range CX's and they need to be fed correctly or they fail to thrive.....

That sounds like perfect sense. I didn't get where you were coming from I guess. I have never hatched my own chicks yet. My son got a new incubator for his birthday, so we are planning to do that this spring.

 

[Lotsapaints]

once you start hatching ... well then you'll really understand as it's an addiction

 

[Bossroo]

You will soon find out that hatching your own is a very EXPENSIVE hobby. If one is honest with oneself, and account for the real dollars that it costs to hatch one's own, one will realize that it is far from sustainable in the pocketbook. Think of it as in golf... the pros make money, everyone else spends tons of money at the golf course.