What are exactly meat birds?

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
What you are talking about is a breed of chickens that has been developed over years of selective breeding to grow very fast and produce a lot of meat for a specific amount of feed, say they have a good feed to meat conversion ratio. It is the most cost effective way of growing a lot of chicken meat. They are not intended to live out their life in a backyard flock but are bred specifically to produce a lot of cost effective meat. They grow faster than their skeleton, so they can have bone deformations and joint failure. They can grow so fast that their organs cannot keep up.

It is not gene splicing, feeding hormones, or anything like that. It is purely selective breeding over many generations, much like you develop a breed that lays a lot of eggs every year. Or that you breed certain horses to run fast and some to pull plows. Selective breeding.

 

[Country Parson]

Keep in mind that Pharaoh Quail have been breed for thousands of years to achieve maximum meat efficiency and artificial reproductivity. By artificial I mean they were intentionally bred to never go broody, to lay eggs as early as 6 weeks, and to be butcher size by 8 weeks (if not before). Even the ancient world produced an "odd" and somewhat unnatural bird that would never survive in the wild (it would simply lay lots of eggs, never go broody and thus never reproduce on its own).

The contemporary industry meat chicken isn't all that different from what humans have been trying to do for thousands of years. I'm not saying there isn't consequences (nor am I saying those consequences should be considered prohibitive). I'm just saying its nothing new.

 

[Rin]

Not only all that but assume Cornish X's were outlawed and all chicken factories had to suddenly switch to less productive breeds. Not only would prices of chicken sky rocket but there'd be notably less of it to go around. Chicken is a huge part of diet - not just in america and the lack of cornish X's would badly gimp available food.

Honestly, after my first go at them - I wont do it again. They're freaky and gross and personally not something I'm comfortable dealing with again. But for someone who's willing - more power to them as they are an interesting bird to observe and because of their fast growth they're wonderful for trying techniques on as you'll see results of them faster. Such as feather sexing techniques or the effects of vitamins and environmental influences. I also found I feel a lot better butchering them with the knowledge that doing so was doing them a favour.

 

[schellie69]

When I can raise my own meat birds I will got with something other then Cornish crosses but that is just me. If I need a fast way to grow meat for my family then they would be my choice. They have their propose.

 

[eatmorechicken]

Quote:
Correct me if i'm wrong, but arn't cornish cross broilers the standard meat chicken around the world excluding the greater part of asia. Just visit the Cobb Vantress website and view distributors, they are everywhere. English Ixworths were defamed in the 1950's because of american bred hybrids. Its nothing new. I'm not sure why you never experienced them before. Maybe they are not available to the public like they are here. I personally never had problems with cornish cross if I gave them room to grow with a little sunlight and grass. Many of them lived as long as my layers. But when I kept them inside with an unlimited supply of commercial feed, i experienced all of the problems you stated. Its the method of rearing not a genetic discrepancy.

Keep in mind that the breeds we call "heritage breeds" were the latest, most productive, and most innovative farm phenomena of there time. Every single one of those breeds were the product of years of careful selection and HYBRIDIZING. People raised them because they produced more profit than earlier historical breeds. Sounds alot like the commercial birds of our time.

And no, our meat birds are not GM. The feed that they eat is. Try to find non GM grain...its hard. There is some controversy of making GM salmon being available to the public, but chickens are not.

 

[Bossroo]

I too came from a very small town in Europe ... my parents owned German Shepherds as did our neighbors as well as Doberman Pinchers, Russian Wolfhounds, etc.. When I was 9 years old, we came to California, I was shocked to see a Chihuahua.

I couldn't believe such a small creature existed!

 

[slc]

Quote:
Industrial broilers are not fed hormones, however, they are fed arsenic (roxarsone,arsenilic acid) to make them grow faster.

http://www.iatp.org/iatp/publications.cfm?accountID=421&refID=80529

 

[Saltysteele]

there is arsenic in all kinds of animal foods, where they are meant to grow quicker.

it isn't necessarily bad. yes, in larger doses it can kill you. so can aspirin, tylenol (essentially any over-the-counter or Rx drug), vitamins, alcohol, etc., etc., etc.

i'm not arguing the virtues of aresenic, but let's not turn this into an "any animal that grows quickly has to be on harmful drugs that are going to kill us, our children and essentially destroy the whole world" argument. if used correctly (like anything), it is not harmful