What's the best heritage breed for a meat bird?

[imthedude]

Title says it all. I want some straight run heritage birds for the freezer. I've slaughtered some buff orp, barred rock, and delaware cockerels, and while they were OK, they weren't the greatest. Is there one breed that stands out from the rest? White rock maybe?

 

[imthedude]

bump....

dark cornish maybe?

 

[Ridgerunner]

It's not the breed, it's the strain. Before the onset of the Cornish Cross broilers, the meat breeds were usually Delaware, New Hampshire, or White Rock. These were chosen mainly because the light colored feathers gave a prettier carcass when plucked. You can see the dark pin feathers much easier than the light colored ones.

But these breeds were bred and maintained for maximum meat production. Unless you reinforce certain traits in each generation of chickens by selecting your breeders for these traits, you quickly lose those traits. Hatcheries do not select for those traits that give you good meat production. They are in the business of mass producing chickens for backyard flocks, not specialty meat birds. That's what the Cornish Cross is for. You are not going to find good dual-purpose meat birds from a hatchery. It is not a breed thing. It is purely the way they select their breeders.

To give an example, I saw an article a year or two back where a breeder that knew what he was doing split a flock into two flocks. Both flocks had the same genetics. By selecting breeders from own flock for small size and breeders from the other flock for large size, over the years he had developed two different flocks that had an average weight difference of 9 times. The larger birds were 9 times heavier than their cousins, the smaller flock.

Someone posted an advertisement from the 1930's for Delaware chicks. They claimed that their strain of Delawares would weigh 4 pounds at 12 weeks and were very proud of that result. If you can find any birds that can do that, you are doing great.

Not all breeders breed for size and not all breeders know what they are doing. Some that claim to be breeders just take hatchery birds and offer those as purebred chicks. If you can find a breeder that knows what they are doing and are breeding for the traits you want, you can get birds that will perform pretty well. Those chicks, chickens, or hatching eggs will not be cheap. They are a valuable commodity. And unless you learn about breeding and truly learn how to pick your breeders, you'll be back to hatchery quality chickens in just a very few generations.

It does not matter that much which dual purpose breed you get. It matters what strain of that breed you get and how you maintain them.

 

[LilyD]

Title says it all. I want some straight run heritage birds for the freezer. I've slaughtered some buff orp, barred rock, and delaware cockerels, and while they were OK, they weren't the greatest. Is there one breed that stands out from the rest? White rock maybe?

I think what you have for heritage meat birds is very subjective. I would definitely obtain breeder birds from a breeder not a hatchery because the hatchery quality birds are not going to be a good example of the species. I have heard white rock, delaware, cornish (real cornish not crosses), hampshires are all good breeds for meat.

Personally I raise Cochins and Light Brahmas because those are birds that I use for egg laying. When I hatch out in the spring there are always cockerels that hatch out and they make for fine eating by about 20 to 24 weeks. I am also raising Dorkings to try out because their meat flavor is supposed to be superior to other chickens. Once my breeding stock grows up I will be hatching some for eating but there are others on here that could tell you all about how the meat tastes. I have delawares as well and they taste just fine but aren't as great as layers in my opinion as my other birds so while I still have a few here I am not breeding them specifically for meat or eggs.

I think chicken just like any other product should come from good parent stock and if you start with a good beginning and let them free range to get as much goodness from the land as possible that the meat will taste great. It's up to you which one you like best.

 

[brahmabreeder]

My brahmas would make decent meat birds. I have SQ brahmas and my oldest chick I hatched this year is a cockerel and weighed 4lbs. 7 ozs. at 12 weeks of age. The only disadvantage to these birds is they don't really fill out until they are older. They get their frame then their meat. I have yet to eat them yet but I plan on eating a few at the end of the year. I am working on caponizing some chickens so I plan on caponizing one or maybe two brahmas this weekend along with some hatchery R.I.R..

 

[LilyD]

My brahmas would make decent meat birds. I have SQ brahmas and my oldest chick I hatched this year is a cockerel and weighed 4lbs. 7 ozs. at 12 weeks of age. The only disadvantage to these birds is they don't really fill out until they are older. They get their frame then their meat. I have yet to eat them yet but I plan on eating a few at the end of the year. I am working on caponizing some chickens so I plan on caponizing one or maybe two brahmas this weekend along with some hatchery R.I.R..

I am processing 6 of my brahma roosters tomorrow. They were hatched in the end of March of the beginning of April and are right around 10lbs now and getting obnoxious lol. They are right around 18 weeks right now and are huge. That's pretty much what I have been eating for meat birds recently. Here is a picture of a few of the brutes. I have 18 total that I need to do but going to try and do batches of 6 just because it's better time wise for me.

 

[Island Roo]

I processed some Brahmas last year at 16 weeks.
The average dressed weight was 4.5 pounds. But -like you said - they have a large frame so they were a bit scrawny.

But just thinking about meals we had ...

This year my brahmas are going to 20 weeks. Their teenager/puberty antics are hilarious!

 

[LilyD]

I processed some Brahmas last year at 16 weeks.
The average dressed weight was 4.5 pounds. But -like you said - they have a large frame so they were a bit scrawny.

But just thinking about meals we had ...

This year my brahmas are going to 20 weeks. Their teenager/puberty antics are hilarious!

That's finally why I needed to start processing them. The crowing isn't so bad except for the one bird who likes to start at 4am :/ But the girls and my keeper roosters who have been here over a year were telling me in no uncertain terms that they needed to go. If one of them would go anywhere near the hens Hercules would chase them all the way back to the coop and hold them there so they couldn't leave until I got there and shut them back with the other roosters (They are let out on alternating schedules but sometimes the roosters will jump the fence even though it isn't their turn). Out of the ones I did today one was an extremely aggressive rooster who would attack other roosters, hens or people ( not sure how he made it to processing) and 5 others that were pretty big. I have a customer who has not picked up his hens and roosters so if they haven't been picked up by the end of August I will have to process them as well. They do look a bit scrawny when you look at the bird as a whole but the legs and thighs are huge compared to some other birds I have raised. and they do have decent breasts just not mondo huge ones like CRX. I got about 20.8lbs of meat from 6 birds (this includes legs thighs, deboned breasts and wings). I didn't leave them whole because I know I will have more to do and wanted room in my freezer lol.

 

[brahmabreeder]

How old were the ones you processed?

 

[LilyD]

How old were the ones you processed?

Between 18 and 20 weeks they were from two separate hatchings one was smaller than the other two but the other two were huge. They do look so much smaller without their feathers though lol.