Which are better?

[Poultrybreeder]

I have heard that either the Creveceour or the Houdan could be used as meat birds. I am aware that not everything is true, but is this, and if so, which would be better for breeding chicks for this purpose? Thanks, have a great day and God Bless everyone!

 

[cavemanrich]

Any chicken can be a meat bird. All comes down to quality, size, and growth to maturity rate. Crèvecœur chicken is an ornamental with moderate egg production. (120). Houdan is a dual purpose with slightly better egg production. (150). I personally would not focus on ether as a meat producer.
Here is the only way I think it would work to some degree. It would not be economical compared to raising broilers, but good in other ways.
By your name, I assume you would be hatching your own chicks. (chicken, or incubator regardless). If you can, then do lets say 50 at a time. 50% will be one gender and the rest the other. At about 5 months, give or take, your cockerels will start to act up. It is that time you start to eat them. The meat is still tender enough that they are not just soup birds. Yes, they are still smaller than broiler chickens, but so what. Just do 2 instead of 1. This way you are utilizing the chickens for their intended purpose. Do you want me to tell you what the hatcheries do to the males at sexing process of day old chicks??? Yes not all,but the few that they keep are used as peanuts in the extras they ship. Pullets is what the majority of chicken owners want to purchase.
So now you are left with 5 month old pullets. These are desired chickens that can be sold for a decent price, as many peeps do like started chicks. In short while, they will start laying. If you keep large flocks, your option of course is to sell the eggs.
If you strictly want to focus on meat birds, then I suggest Cornish X Rocks, or Red Rangers. Your feed to meat conversion ratio is the best with these. Red Rangers mature slower, so many peeps like that option. CornishX are ready to eat at 8 weeks. Yes, if you free-range them and limit their feed, they mature somewhat later. You may be faced with processing a larger number and sending to freezer camp.
WISHING YOU BEST......

 

[Ridgerunner]

I am not a great believer in breeds, to me strain is more important. An example. Several years back I read an article with photos where a breeder had split a flock into two. I’m not sure of the breed but it looked like White Rocks. He started selecting one of those flocks for large size, the other for small size. I don’t know how many generations it took but he had two flocks of the same basic breed and from the same ancestors where the average weight in one flock was 9 times the other. That is the power of strain above breed.

If someone is breeding to a standard, like our SOP so they can be shown, you will probably get a fairly standardized bird, but if someone is breeding to emphasize something else like egg laying then the size may be way off. Or maybe you get someone that really doesn’t have standards, they just get the breed and let the birds breed at random. While certain breeds should have certain tendencies to blindly rely on breed carries risks.

Another issue for meat birds is what are your goals for them? Different chickens of the same breed grow and mature at different rates, let alone different breeds. Some are more efficient at converting feed to meat. You might butcher them at different ages. Some people only butcher cockerels while others may also butcher pullets. Half of what you hatch will be pullets. If I remember correctly you are wanting to have a commercial operation where you sell meat. What chickens will your market want age, size and sex? If sex is important you may want to investigate how to breed sex links. You can identify sex at hatch with those.

I don’t know what chickens are available in your country. As best you can I’d suggest you investigate what is available and how close they grow to your goals. That’s not just size but how long does it take to get to that size. A Jersey Giant is a huge bird but for quite a while it is mainly bones. It takes a lot of time and feed to put meat on those bones. For some people with certain goals that can work out great, but for others it will not be what you want.

 

[Poultrybreeder]

Thanks

 

[Poultrybreeder]

I have decided to try a project of crossing the CX with the Buff Orpington. I know it will be difficult, but I want to try. I have been learning a lot as to slowing down the growth rate of the CX, so that they might live to breeding age. I really don't think I will change my mind again after going through like 5 breeds and crosses for meat. The goal is to have a slower growing meat bird than the Cornish Cross, but slightly faster than the Buff Orpington, I want them to be more active than the regular Cornish Cross. I know I could just order Freedom Rangers or some other active Broiler, but I want to be able to breed more, instead of just buying more chicks all of the time, like I have stated in previous posts. Thanks! Have a great day and God Bless!

 

[cavemanrich]

I also subscribe to the Arizona thread. Here is a link to a post by one member that does things with a scientific approach. She does very well with both meat birds and egg layers. Read some more of her post, or contact her about getting some fertile eggs.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/arizona-chickens.31227/page-6181#post-19256930

 

[Ridgerunner]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/toad-raising.1152440/

Another link to someone who is doing a lot as you plan. I don't know how much detail this thread goes into on exactly what he has done but you might get some incite that could really help you. He's crossed Cornish X with a dual purpose birds and is developing how own "line" of meat birds. His birds look really impressive.

 

[333113]

I have heard that either the Creveceour or the Houdan could be used as meat birds. I am aware that not everything is true, but is this, and if so, which would be better for breeding chicks for this purpose? Thanks, have a great day and God Bless everyone!

The reason that Crevecoeurs were so highly sought after as meat birds is that they have very short muscle fibers, meaning that the meat is very tender. A number of French breeds have been developed specifically for meat, including Crevecoeurs and Bresse (so highly popular and commanding such high prices that their carcasses are sold in French markets with the heads on, to validate that they are actually Bresse breed!)

You will want to check out Jeannette Beranger's Crevecoeur project on Facebook. She has developed the Crevecoeur breed in this country to a very fine eating bird.

I understand that some people raise Crevecoeurs as ornamental birds because of their crests, but I would not put them in the "ornamental" category. They are very practical eating and laying birds. I have had Crevecoeurs for over 20 years, and they are excellent production birds. I raise mine in cages with a covered roost. They are not in the least weather-sensitive. I am just getting started with Houdans, almost five years now, so cannot vouch for them in the same way.

Connie Abeln

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I have decided to try a project of crossing the CX with the Buff Orpington. I know it will be difficult, but I want to try. I have been learning a lot as to slowing down the growth rate of the CX, so that they might live to breeding age. I really don't think I will change my mind again after going through like 5 breeds and crosses for meat. The goal is to have a slower growing meat bird than the Cornish Cross, but slightly faster than the Buff Orpington, I want them to be more active than the regular Cornish Cross. I know I could just order Freedom Rangers or some other active Broiler, but I want to be able to breed more, instead of just buying more chicks all of the time, like I have stated in previous posts. Thanks! Have a great day and God Bless!

You could try to contact and obtain eggs from members who have started this type of project. It's started often, not all succeed in raising laying age CX, and few are successful.

Another option that would be easier than doing your own CX to dual purpose cross would be to purchase Dixie chickens (aka Pioneer chickens). These are an interesting hybrid bird available from hatcheries. The genetics are so diverse to begin with there's no problem raising and breeding these onto themselves for many generations to come. With rigid selection of few breeders each year for meat yield you'd create a stable line in no time. By that I mean there is quite a variation in offspring from hybrid parents. You need to keep the best birds to breed each year to move forward and create a consistent line. I'm sure the line would be set F3 generation.

From parent stock you get F1, breed best F1 to F1 to get F2, F2 to F2 to make F3. Once to this generation your choices for breeding would be set into the line and breeders could be kept for multiple years, breeding F4 back to F3 and so on to keep genetic diversity with a line breeding plan.

This is a good article on selecting breeders for meat quality:

https://livestockconservancy.org/images/uploads/docs/ALBCchicken_assessment-1.pdf

And a follow up article for ongoing selection once you've set the line:

https://livestockconservancy.org/images/uploads/docs/ALBCchicken_assessment-3.pdf

This article is more about retaining heritage breeds but can be used for maintaining an established line.