White Standard Chantecler: Fake or Fact?

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I ordered 15 White (Standard not Bantam) Chantecler chicks from Cackle Hatchery. I'm excited for this as a continuous meat bird production plan.
What are some facts, what is hype?
For instance, I raised Bresse. I was so excited about them, but I found out most of the information was Hype. They grew slow, females are the size of smaller Leghorns, and the meat was really chewy. (Yes, we fed the milk but no we didn't sit them in the dark for weeks.) They seemed to have failure to really thrive.
I kept a couple of the Bresse hens (I think only 3 are left) and put them in a chicken house with random chickens, as they are good layers.
I don't know who all has Chanteclers or have had them in the past.
@Folly's place @Apis mellifera

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I read they can be dressed out at 4-5 months, fact or fake?

 

[Folly's place]

True confessions; I've misplaced my notebook containing weights of my birds at different ages! As young adults, our largest cockerels were in the seven to eight pound range, and the pullets, six pounds or a bit bigger. Sorry I can't do better right now...
Mary

 

[DavisburgHENS]

Please allow me to introduce my very first post; I apologize if this is not in the suitable thread.

Today we had our last of 18 chicks hatch out of a purchase of 24 eggs. We’ve had partridge Chantecler crossed and now I have finally found the True Original White Chantecler. I have been looking for 5 years for a local source.

My understanding; this breed is endangered and very hard to get. I am raising these to help the breed. For eggs and meat both, while sharing this breed with others that have been seeking to help restore this Canadian Original.

I have also read that when industry began to streamline and look for the fastest and best breed for turn-over rates, the White Chantecler was abandoned and left to the more common farm place. This is what ai have heard lead to it’s decline. ( again, verification of this should be sought after).

I will try and share my wrights with you all, over the months ahead to help us all confirm any ‘hypes’ that folks wonder about. As for Thor weights now, I think another few days would be better for them.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Please allow me to introduce my very first post; I apologize if this is not in the suitable thread.

Today we had our last of 18 chicks hatch out of a purchase of 24 eggs. We’ve had partridge Chantecler crossed and now I have finally found the True Original White Chantecler. I have been looking for 5 years for a local source.

My understanding; this breed is endangered and very hard to get. I am raising these to help the breed. For eggs and meat both, while sharing this breed with others that have been seeking to help restore this Canadian Original.

I have also read that when industry began to streamline and look for the fastest and best breed for turn-over rates, the White Chantecler was abandoned and left to the more common farm place. This is what ai have heard lead to it’s decline. ( again, verification of this should be sought after).

I will try and share my wrights with you all, over the months ahead to help us all confirm any ‘hypes’ that folks wonder about. As for Thor weights now, I think another few days would be better for them.

Thank you!
I just got my chicks from Cackle Hatchery. I bought 15 but I only have 11 live chicks left. Shipping was very hard on them. They also had some wing feathers.?
Where are you located and where did you get hatching eggs?

 

[NatJ]

I read they can be dressed out at 4-5 months, fact or fake?

Any chicken CAN be dressed at that age, so I assume fact.
Whether they are a good size, and whether the meat has an acceptable texture, I do not know.

They also had some wing feathers.?

That's normal.
Chicks have tiny wing feathers at hatch, and those feathers grow a little bigger each day (including the days they spend in the mail on their way to you.)

What are some facts, what is hype?
For instance, I raised Bresse. I was so excited about them, but I found out most of the information was Hype. They grew slow, females are the size of smaller Leghorns, and the meat was really chewy.

If you compare with modern Cornish Cross chickens, ALL the heritage breeds will be very disappointing. Cornish Cross are REALLY GOOD at what they were bred for: produce lots of meat very quickly.

Chickens butchered at age 8 weeks tend to have tender meat, especially if they were kept in crowded pens (2 square feet per bird) with little motivation to move around.

If you raise heritage breeds the same way you would raise Cornish Cross (crowded pens, butcher at 8 weeks), you will probably have tender meat, but the birds will seem very small.

If you raise heritage breeds until they seem to be a "good" size, you will have meat that is much tougher than what 8-week birds give.

And even a Cornish Cross butchered at 8 weeks can seem "tough" if you cook it immediately after butchering, instead of letting it rest until rigor mortis goes away (a few days in the fridge.) So how you handle the meat after butchering makes a difference to the tenderness, too.

So if what you really want is the kind of chicken meat you find in the grocery store, you will only be happy with Cornish Cross. There is no other chicken that can be BIG at an age when it is also TENDER.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Any chicken CAN be dressed at that age, so I assume fact.
Whether they are a good size, and whether the meat has an acceptable texture, I do not know.


That's normal.
Chicks have tiny wing feathers at hatch, and those feathers grow a little bigger each day (including the days they spend in the mail on their way to you.)


If you compare with modern Cornish Cross chickens, ALL the heritage breeds will be very disappointing. Cornish Cross are REALLY GOOD at what they were bred for: produce lots of meat very quickly.

Chickens butchered at age 8 weeks tend to have tender meat, especially if they were kept in crowded pens (2 square feet per bird) with little motivation to move around.

If you raise heritage breeds the same way you would raise Cornish Cross (crowded pens, butcher at 8 weeks), you will probably have tender meat, but the birds will seem very small.

If you raise heritage breeds until they seem to be a "good" size, you will have meat that is much tougher than what 8-week birds give.

And even a Cornish Cross butchered at 8 weeks can seem "tough" if you cook it immediately after butchering, instead of letting it rest until rigor mortis goes away (a few days in the fridge.) So how you handle the meat after butchering makes a difference to the tenderness, too.

So if what you really want is the kind of chicken meat you find in the grocery store, you will only be happy with Cornish Cross. There is no other chicken that can be BIG at an age when it is also TENDER.

I raise 25-30 Cornish Cross every year. I waited for the Bresse to get to the size they said, and I still see no improvement over 2 years.
I think 5-6 months would be the timeframe I'd like to dress out the chickens so I'm hoping for a meaty bird by then.

 

[NatJ]

I raise 25-30 Cornish Cross every year. I waited for the Bresse to get to the size they said, and I still see no improvement over 2 years.
I think 5-6 months would be the timeframe I'd like to dress out the chickens so I'm hoping for a meaty bird by then.

I would not expect you to get very tender meat at 5-6 months (as compared with the Cornish Cross.)

But as long as you know that the Chanteclers will not perform like Cornish Cross, I probably don't know any more than you do

(Some people seem to be looking for a heritage breed that will perform almost exactly like a Cornish Cross, and of course they are doomed to disappointment. At first I was afraid you might be one of them.)

 

[DavisburgHENS]

Thank you!
I just got my chicks from Cackle Hatchery. I bought 15 but I only have 11 live chicks left. Shipping was very hard on them. They also had some wing feathers.?
Where are you located and where did you get hatching eggs?
View attachment 3013429
View attachment 3013430

 

[DavisburgHENS]

So nice to make my first contact with someone else here. Shipping is horrible. I have purchased 50 eggs from D&H in Ontario. Heather there is great- but a lengthy shipment and delayed shipment- even after 30 hours rest before setting. Shaken to separate I suppose, Not one came to fruition. I placed a control egg of my own, she hatched fine.

Sadly, I have just had to put one of our last chicks down- vinegar/sofa bath today. That’s never easy.

We live on 15 acres and south of Calgary. I found a seller on Kijiji in Irricanna Alberta. . She claimed to have has some shipped from Vancouver Island, a fellow out that way Shipped to her and she says she had a 50-60% hatch rate. Overnight shipping helped I suppose. She has two Roo’s from different bloodline, and claims them to be purebred. Without some DNA test these days, how can one really be sure. Maybe I will ask her next week when I see her. She has recently upped her costs now to $60/doz, you just can’t find them here in Alberta. I want to be more of a breeder ‘or Chicken Man’ as some might say, that uses for his own egg/meat purpose, but also tho assist others with selling/sharing the bloodline to ensure growth for this species.