What is the heaviest breed of chickens?

[Beekissed]

They don't have to end up so heavy they can barely walk, so you could try the CX without worrying about that. It really depends on what you feed and how much if they grow that fast. If you are in no hurry, you can slow their weight gain down and thus increase their mobility and health status. For simply pounds of meat for the freezer, they are and will be the biggest meat producer breed you can grow and they get there in the shortest time~even on slow down.

 

[AliceMae]

Please excuse my ignorance ~ does CX mean cross? And cross of which? How many different varieties are there? If you can select exactly what you want - what would be the top choices?

I really appreciate the input and the help!

 

[Beekissed]

Cornish/Rock Cross...Cornish and White Rock crossing(not as simple as that, but that is the basics, I think). There are many different true meat breeds and even more of what are considered "dual-purpose" breeds, meaning they are good layers with large, meaty builds.

Typical meat breeds aren't known for exceptional laying, though they can and do lay eggs....just not as well as the DP birds or the smaller layer breeds such as Leghorns or Rhode Island Reds.

 

[mohillbilly]

the one i like is faverolles

 

[flowerchild59]

My coronation sussex is huge, I weighed him a couple of months ago and he was 10 pounds. He is going to be a year old in may.
Sussex are traditional meat birds in england and my hens are just starting to lay consistently. Nice size (not yet large) eggs, I would say.

 

[triplepurpose]

The biggest chicken I ever saw was a Dark Brahma cock at an expo. I don't know what this guy weighed, but he DWARFED my chickens, and he looked like he could have given the heritage turkeys a few cages over a run for their money too... (However, ones you find at a hatchery will likely be nowhere near that size.)

 

[rarely bored]

(I'm a little tougher now and don't like to be hungry.)

Ain't that the truth! And once you've gotten over the

factor of eating your own birds, they taste better too.

 

[BirchHatchery]

i have rhode island reds black austrolops americanas and golden laced wyandottes all nice large breeds ive also raised the cornish rocks to breeding and layin age my cornish rooster just dies he was 2 years old 25 pounds im planin on gettin some cornish rock for meat and im raisin bronz turkeys also

 

[AliceMae]

Ain't that the truth! And once you've gotten over the

factor of eating your own birds, they taste better too.

As far as the taste - gotta tell ya, we cooked 2 store-bought chickens on a rotisserie last week and about couldn't eat them. The fat and greasy, oily drippings were awful besides the layer of ick on the under side of the skin l!!! poooo-weeee !

 

[AlienChick]

Funny you should post this; we were just thinking of this very same thing!

We just (first timers) processed a bunch of small barnyard mixes (just to get the hang of it) and now we're looking for some good dual-purpose birds.

We are thinking of getting Light Sussex but I was reading that most breeders nowadays do not breed for "meat" so the birds are thinner.

But I suppose that's probably true of all the dual-purpose breeds, right?