Sustainable Meat Birds

[BCMaraniac]

. Dang it, BCMaraniac! Do you know how much it hurts when my eyes do that!?!

A 20 pound chicken boggles the mind! That's turkey sized! You have to keep us posted on this project. I want to know if you get a 20 pounder.

If that happened, I am afraid my husband would want to go chicken hunting!! He says using a gun to kill something is less personal and easier to do.....and he would have quite a target. I don't EVEN want to think about plucking something that big!! If that is true, I would imagine that someone just wanted to see how big they could get them....at least I hope that is the case.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My suggestion is find a breed that you like and with every generation select the ones that are the closest to your ideal for that breed.  The culls will be very tasty when you eat them, and if you keep doing this you will eventually have your own strain of that breed that has the characteristics that you like.  Everyone has a different opinion on which DP breed is best, and someone else liking a breed does not mean you will, too. 

I consider this great advice. Pick the breed you want and eat the ones you don’t want to eat. Breed the ones you want to eat.

I’ll mention is that if you pluck your birds, a light feathered chicken gives you a prettier carcass. On a dark-feathered bird the pin feathers really stand out. If you skin them, it doesn’t matter. But this is a big reason the Delaware, New Hampshire, and White Rock were the meat birds before the Cornish X hybrids were developed. Any buff or white bird works.

The other thing is that since the Cornish X were developed, the older breeds once used for meat were no longer bred to maintain the characteristics that made them good meat birds, rate of growth and conformation, for example. In many ways today’s Delaware, New Hampshire, and White Rock are not that much different from any other dual purpose bird you get from a hatchery. Which breed you start with isn’t all that important. Just get one you like.

 

[wesj]

gona try Dark Cornish and a Light brama .. see if I can get some faster growing meat birds .... and want to keep comb small and very very cold hardy birds .. don't care if it takes 3-4 months to grow em as that would put it at a time when it is fall out to harvest ... would like to widdle it down to only one breed in the coop the crosses and want foraging, meat, eggs from them . I know ppl in the desert wana have ice cold water at all times to.