Meat Chickens

C

Chicken Chaser

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Howdy,

I was wondering if there are any other good meat producing chickens besides the Cornish and the Broiler. -Chicken Chaser
 
I'm told Faverolles and TNN's make good eating. Both are quite small. Our big Wyandotes and Orpingtons are good for stews and curry but make a poor roast. You need to stop the fighting to avoid toughening the meat. This is done by putting the young cockerels in with a 'peacekeeper' cock. He needs to be pulled out at 6 months as they will then challenge him. At which time the cockerels need to go into the freezer. Not sure that system works with TNN's as all 7 ganged up on our Leghorn -never seen that group behaviour in our Wyandottes or Orpington cockerels.
 
Howdy,

I did hear that Orpingtons were quite a good meat breed, but I also heard that Chantecler chickens also good too. I was also wondering, is the Orpington hardy in the heat? -Chicken Chaser ;)
 
Orpingtons are very fluffy. Cold isn't a problem CC but I think we may have problems keeping them cool in Summer here. Expecting to spray the run with water a lot and cool the drinkers with ice packs.
 
orpingtons are all feather. not a good meat bird. Ixworths are excellent meat bird and reasonable layers if you can find good ones. Faverolles are indeed an excellent dual purpose bird and the cockerels are huge. Indian game cock crossed with light sussex hens make a good table bird, again it depends on finding good stock.
 
You need a good dual purpose breed or an all out meat bird for the best results. Other breeds can be very disappointing in the amount of flesh produced. There are meat types around that are not for intensive rearing, don't go off their legs and mature at around 4-5 months.
 
Could someone please explain what "going off their legs" means, as I have seen this phrase elsewhere but don't understand it. Thanks.
 
it generally mean that legs getting broken under the waight of the birds or the bird can't stand anymore from the same reason.
 
Howdy,

How fast do the Indian game/Light sussex mature? And how fast does the Faverolle mature? The main reason I'm looking for different meat breeds is because I don't want my birds to suffer by breaking their legs under the weight they maintain. Also, I could find any Ixworth chickens for sale nearby. So would y'all recommend against getting Orpingtons for meat? I know this is off topic, but what are y'all's favourite
dual-purpose chicken breed? Thank you for y'all's help so far! :D -Chicken Chaser
 
Salmon Faveroles needs long time to mature up to 8 months,Marans prytty much same 6-8 monhs.Jersey Giant would be easy to find where you are but also slow to mature.Sussex breed are to good to eat.I like anything growed in my garden even not so big like Green Legged Partridge Fowl(gamey flawor) For anything good you need to wait :D
Comercially grown chickens are all feamales as they put on waight much faster than males.
 
As Tygrysek says, but also occurs in later life for neurological reasons, not weight issues. We had a Bantam, Boris 1st, that went off his legs at two years old. Didn't respond to anti-inflammatories but improved with physio. Then the other leg went!
 
favs and lS X IG should be big enough at about 26 weeks, they will never get to the stage where they go off their legs but if you leave them too long the flavour will get a bit too strong in the males. i would imagine finding indian game cock and LS hens would be the easiest option. you could also cross IG to a number of different large soft feather birds like Rhode island Reds, marans, dorking if you can find decent size ones, or any other sussex colours. Like has been suggested before you can buy day old meat chicks which have been bred with slower growing extensive rearing approach that should take between about 14-20 weeks to mature. where abouts are you?
 
Howdy,

How fast does a non-crossbred Indian game mature? And what is their weight by that time? -Chicken Chaser
 
Off their legs doesn't necessarily mean broken legs. Some of the meat breeds grow and put on weight so quickly that their immature legs can't take the weight and they can't stand or the legs buckle which has the same effect as a broken leg and they need to be killed to avoid further suffering. They can be eaten if this happens.

Pure bred Indian Game are slow to mature and don't carry that much flesh. They are used as crosses due to their very wide breast bone shape.

Most of the old dual purpose breeds are not what they were as their meat function has been eclipsed by more modern types. They still have more flesh than the utility laying breeds which are concentrated on all out egg production.

So much poor and indiscriminate breeding has gone on in the last 10-15 years that you can no longer anticipate what you will get by going on breed reputation alone.
 
I'd start by looking for some traditional lines of Light, White or Speckled Sussex.
 
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