Especially here on BYC but in other venues as well, so many people are missing the important lessons on Broiler chickens. You see the comments all the time, about people that feel an inherent guilt about raising or consuming an animal that fits into an artificial construction what it should or should not be.
Such feelings of guilt, consternation, or fear, indicate that some are looking at it through the wrong lens. I, like most people here, bought some chickens because my wife wanted some and I thought it would be fun, and it has been. Some people do it as an extension of gardening, enjoying producing their own food. Some people do it out of fear of our food production systems. Some people like them as pets. None of the above are bad, or wrong answers, but you can't let that cloud your vision.
It goes without saying, but Broilers are bred to be the most efficient at feed conversion, period. It is this wonderful animal husbandry work that allows chicken to be among the most affordable sources of animal protein available. There is a reason that Beef costs more than Pork, and Pork Costs more than Chicken.
I raised my first Cornish X's this year and I'm already scheming how/where to raise another, bigger batch. The experience was such an awesome lesson in Animal Husbandry, especially for someone raised in suburbia. I might do a different meat breed, but that's just me indulging an interest or hobby, no different than golfing or bird watching.
If your goal is to be efficient, to learn to be sufficient, etc, then there is no better way to go.
If your goal is to get a different tasting chicken, if your guilt induces you to look for breeds that are better natural foragers, slower growing, etc, then you need to be honest with yourself. You are indulging your fancies, which is a luxury of your relative affluence. There is nothing at all wrong with that, but what you're doing is, at its core, no different than purchasing water, in a 20 oz plastic bottle, that was bathed in diesel fuel to get to the store, because you ascribe vague qualities to its superiority over tap water.
No one feels guilty about buying and raising Leghorns or Rhode Island Red's, even though they are mostly laying birds with marginal value as meat. So why the inverse? If you want your own flock of reproducing birds where you plan to eat some and keep some as layers, obviously neither the Cornish X or Leghorn is a good choice.
A Border Collie is not inherently better than a Pekingese, though a serious sheep farmer would only have one of those for purposes of his work. And, if you live in an apartment and have a low-key lifestyle, then you would find a Border Collie a horrid animal to live with. Similarly, if you want to have a couple pretty birds for some eggs and to teach the kids about life, biology, whatever, a Cornish X is a sorry choice. But that doesn't make it somehow wrong or less than.
Such feelings of guilt, consternation, or fear, indicate that some are looking at it through the wrong lens. I, like most people here, bought some chickens because my wife wanted some and I thought it would be fun, and it has been. Some people do it as an extension of gardening, enjoying producing their own food. Some people do it out of fear of our food production systems. Some people like them as pets. None of the above are bad, or wrong answers, but you can't let that cloud your vision.
It goes without saying, but Broilers are bred to be the most efficient at feed conversion, period. It is this wonderful animal husbandry work that allows chicken to be among the most affordable sources of animal protein available. There is a reason that Beef costs more than Pork, and Pork Costs more than Chicken.
I raised my first Cornish X's this year and I'm already scheming how/where to raise another, bigger batch. The experience was such an awesome lesson in Animal Husbandry, especially for someone raised in suburbia. I might do a different meat breed, but that's just me indulging an interest or hobby, no different than golfing or bird watching.
If your goal is to be efficient, to learn to be sufficient, etc, then there is no better way to go.
If your goal is to get a different tasting chicken, if your guilt induces you to look for breeds that are better natural foragers, slower growing, etc, then you need to be honest with yourself. You are indulging your fancies, which is a luxury of your relative affluence. There is nothing at all wrong with that, but what you're doing is, at its core, no different than purchasing water, in a 20 oz plastic bottle, that was bathed in diesel fuel to get to the store, because you ascribe vague qualities to its superiority over tap water.
No one feels guilty about buying and raising Leghorns or Rhode Island Red's, even though they are mostly laying birds with marginal value as meat. So why the inverse? If you want your own flock of reproducing birds where you plan to eat some and keep some as layers, obviously neither the Cornish X or Leghorn is a good choice.
A Border Collie is not inherently better than a Pekingese, though a serious sheep farmer would only have one of those for purposes of his work. And, if you live in an apartment and have a low-key lifestyle, then you would find a Border Collie a horrid animal to live with. Similarly, if you want to have a couple pretty birds for some eggs and to teach the kids about life, biology, whatever, a Cornish X is a sorry choice. But that doesn't make it somehow wrong or less than.
