What are your favorite meat birds??

Stephanie8806

Songster
Feb 18, 2019
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Central Washington State
Hey there! I wondering what people’s favorite meat birds out there are! We raise chickens for ourselves, and the feed cost ratios don’t really matter to us. We also have sufficient space, so raising a longer maturing breed is also not an issue.

Currently, our family raises dual purpose breeds, primarily having fun trying out mixed flocks of as many different breeds as we can get our hands on! Our main priority is eggs, and we have the added butchering benefit to phase out older (1-1.5 yr old) chickens so that we constantly have new laying stock rotating in. That being said, we are thinking that next year we may build a separate pen to specifically house meat birds. If they lay, great. If they don’t that’s fine too, as we will have a separate flock to meet those goals.

What breeds are your favorite for meat? Do you prefer the quality from one breed over another?
 
I am going to stew a Barbeziuex hen with a red wine base, this week end. The meat on this chicken taste a little different from other heritage breeds. I'd say, its unique. The whole chicken is like dark meat. However, they take long to get big enough to eat.

I have raised Breese, Orpington, Jersey Giant, Australorp, Cornish X, Dark Cornish and White Plymouth Rock. In the end, they all taste like chicken, but out of all these breeds, the White Plymouth Rock's egg producing quality was the best and the Cornish X was the best meat bird.
 
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As I said in another thread earlier this week, for me, the best meat bird is the one I hatched, raised, butchered, and prepared for table myself. Like you, I have space, and like you, I turn over older hens before year 2. Egg laying is important, but not the most important.

I have a culling project.

As you have the space, and you have a broad selection of birds, and feed efficiency isn't critical, you might consider doing something similar.
 

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