What is the "best" heritage meat bird?

[Denninmi]

Just thinking ahead to 2012. What heritage breed is going to be closest to a BB in terms of meatiness, growth rate, and size, yet has the potential to live and reproduce naturally.

My Royal Palm/Sweetgrass crosses are small. I haven't done one of the adults yet, but honestly with the rising cost of feed, I am seriously considering just getting rid of the vast majority of my birds this fall, and starting fresh in the spring. Less winter drudgery that way. And, well, at 14 months old, they have been looking very, um, tasty to me lately....

So, what would be a good breed to replace them with next year, should they meat with an untimely demise? (pun intended).

 

[A.T. Hagan]

White Holland or Wishard Bronze will come the closest to what you are looking for.

But even the best of them won't have the growth rate or feed conversion of a BB White.

 

[NYRIR]

I have Narragansetts and Blue Slates. So far the Narragansetts look to be more promising as they seem larger. Sorry am so new to this I'm not much help ....but we decided we wanted a naturally reproducing breed too, and the Narragansetts seem to be fitting the bill so far.Ask me next spring

BTW, The Narrs are gorgeous too.

 

[cielo]

Does anyone have a recommended source for White Hollands? I'd like some in the future as well and am looking for a place to start.

 

[crperdue]

http://www.sandspoultry.com/

 

[mochicken]

One of my Bronzes is getting an attitude and I figured I would eat him but I am having a heck of a time talking him into climbing into the smoker, I tried sweet talking and everything, nothing works

 

[al6517]

Bourbon reds are very tasty and grow to pretty big sizes, many folks like the flavor of the meat and they can get quite large.

 

[sandspoultry]

Quote:
We will have limited numbers of hatchings eggs this fall once it cools down enough to ship again around the middle of September. Next spring we will have plenty of eggs. There are pictures of the birds and contact information on our website

Sharon

 

[cielo]

Great! Thanks everyone.

 

[Gotta Love the Drake]

Might be cheaper and easier to just buy new each year than try to feed stock over the winter.