What does Fryers mean?

[Billy Bob Neck]

I remember my Grandmaw (God rest her soul) calling her chickens "Fryers". Is this a type of chicken? If not, what would be yer best guess of the type of chicken she had.

BBN

 

[babychickfarmer]

Cornish Cross Chickens..they are specially bread to grow faster so you can have nice plump chicken when they're young

 

[greyfields]

Not exactly.

Before Cornish Crosses came along (1950's) all the cockrels born to egg laying breeds/crosses were turned into meat chickens and raised to about 3 lbs live weight. A fryer was simply a young chicken around 2 lbs dressed weight. They were most often leghorn cockrels.

There is still a law on the books in Washington regulating the labeling of "fryers", the age of the birds, the origin, etc.

The meat chicken industry changed a lot and now you do not see the term very often, except to mean a smaller chicken than a roaster. Terms do vary by region. But generally today you will hear the term roaster or broiler instead of fryer.

With that said, I still sometimes see bags of feed labeled "broiler starter/finisher" and "fryer starter/finisher". There is no difference.

 

[wynedot55]

as said a fryer is a rooster that weighs 3 to 5lbs.anything over that is called a rooster.but the truth is most all broilers are fryers.an the spent hens from egg farms are called stewing hens.