Which chicken for meat??

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Frenchchickens123

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Hi, I hope someone will be able to help me make my mind up! I would like to get some chickens for the purpose of meat, however I would like to breed from them to get more meat chickens. I don't mind just buying a couple and waiting for the eggs and subsequent chicks. I live in France and have just done the last lot of meat chickens I had but these were a hybrid type (bare necks) and useless for breeding. I would prefer a chicken that has a good weight within a relatively short period of time less than 20 weeks if possible. I am swinging more towards the Orpington but am worried they may look big and just turn out to be fluff and a big carcass with not much meat. Any advice from someone with more knowledge on this would really be appreciated and I can think of getting them next week! :-) thanks xx
 
I have an Orp Cock and have done a little research (Others here know so much more) but from what Ican gather the Orp has become a bit of a "show off fluffball" to what it was originaly intended for as a Utility bird. However, there is good meat on my bird ... but a hell of a lot of fluff too ....

If you're going for meat only there might be better options ? ....
P1000327.jpg
 
if you want something useful i would go for either sussex type birds, ixworth or maybe indian game. some people will cross an indian game cock with light sussex hens and these produce quite decent birds. the light sussex hens will lay a decent number of eggs too. i wouldnt get orpingtons as they look a lot bigger than they are, definately not what i would describe as a table bird! they are also not that good a layer.
 
We breed faverolles and specialize in a large strain, we grow all our boys on and the surplus one are used for the pot, they make a lovely sized bird with plenty of meat.

I agree with MM, indian game because of their build are a very useful cross if you want slower maturing meat birds. :-)17
 
I agree with mightymohan - Indian Game is my Favourite here as they have a good breast on them. I have had Orps for the pot and the breast is just too narrow without sufficient meat to make it so worthwhile...

I would go for utility type Sussex or Ixworth if you want dual purpose but for me, Indian Game wins hands down for meat.

There are some good Table Hybrids you can create too. More info here:

Hybrid Chickens for the Table...
 
Hi, thank you all so much for your posts. I have been looking on the old Internet and trying to find some of the breeds in France. I cannot find any ixworths or Indian game. I have Sussex and can find wyandottes so maybe a hybrid is the way forward? Faverolles is also a good idea as they are easy to find. It's hard because the French obviously use different breeds and trying to find something is relatively hard as many are hybrid types. I may have to ask the OH as he is French! But doesn't want to know about the chickens!! I shall keep looking :-)
 
What about Poulet de Bresse or I remember reading Le Fleche were rated as excellent table birds

I keep the English Cuckoo Marans which make a good meat bird, but I am not sure about the French Marans

All the best
Sue
 
Look for La Bresse Gauloise, however as with all pure breeds they are slower growing, so probably won't be table weight until about 26 weeks (unless you like small chickens)

I was just wondering why you felt the cou-nus were bad for breeding? Certainly the ones I had last year were very, er, active; and the boys made a fantastic carcass at 14 weeks.

Personally I found it a lot easier to order in my meat birds as day olds (95c each) than to worry about running the incubator for 3 weeks. I had a mix of cou-nu, soli ferme (Hubbard J867) and Cendré. Both the cou-nu and the cendré were the better carcass I felt. The Hubbard hybrid left a very "hairy" carcass once plucked, and I couldn't be bothered to singe them at the time - they were also feisty b*ggers. the girls, though, were very petit and made good egg layers.

This year I only have the cou-nu and the cendré. :)
 
Hi, thanks for the advice. The cou-nus were good as meat chickens they had lovely brown meat in the legs and by the time I did them they weighed as a finished weight 2.3-2.8 kg with lots of meat. They tasted very good too. As per breeding I did manage to get some eggs incubated as I have kept two females. The chicks are looking good so far at 6 weeks, I guess because they free range so much they take a bit longer my last lot I did at 26 weeks as I don't think I fed them as much as I should have ( I am still new to chickens and have only kept them them 6 months and this was my first batch of meat chickens). I may be a bit fussy but the cou-nus are ugly b*ggers to look at too and some of my males were agressive with me one in particular would come out of the coop in the morning and chase me and attack the back of my legs! The cendre though sounds like a good one I have been doing some research. The only reason I wanted to breed too was for the fun as well as having my own meat chickens. Thanks xx
 
There is a cross of Cornish Giant (not Cornish/Indian Game) on White Rocks. They mature quickly but don't go off their legs. Available from a commercial hatchery in Wiltshire as eggs or d/o & probably growers as well. A friend has reared them, been very happy with them in every respect and has bred on from them as well.
 
Do you have a feed/flour mill close by (rather than getting pellets at a Poiunt Vert or similar). If you get the "poulet engrais pour le poulet de chair" rather than normal poussin deuxième or poulet/poulette, it has a higher protein %age and the meat birds should fatten up faster.

Also, if you restrict their space a bit, they will spend more time eating the pellets rather than grass.

The commercial cou-nu should be table teady in 12-14 weeks. I did my last one at 19 weeks lat year, and it was a bit "over done" and it certainly didn't weigh any more than the ones I did at 14 weeks.

I don't know how you can say the cou-nus are ugly, they are sooo pretty - especially the girls - but I suppose they are a marmite breed lol!

This is a half grown cendré at about 9 weeks
Growerwithredfeathers.jpg


I found them very easy to pluck (I do them wet, by hand) and they were about 2.3kg dressed at 14 weeks. They had exceptional breast meat - not like a cornish rock, but long and slender, but each side weighed almost 300g each!

Don't forget that the commercial meat hybrids are a terminal breed, so if you breed further, you aren't guaranteed what you will get at the end ;)

Good luck :)
 
It's their bare necks! Although I had a few which had beautiful feathers and colouring. With all my chickens I feed grain only it's a mix of wheat, oats and barley. I wanted to have meat chickens fed an all 'natural' diet. I have managed to sort out a run for my new meaties so hopefully will put weight on more quickly. I will also feed a bit more corn this time as I don't normally give them any... I will also make more feed available to them as last time they had a feed in the morning free ranged all day and a feed again in the evening before bed. I guess it's all a learning curve. So I will be getting some more cou-nus as I know where to get them (last time got them at 7 weeks for 3.50 € each and got ten), this option will be best as I have too many friends now asking for a nice free range chicken and I don't think they would want to wait 4/5 months to get one!! I will try breeding some again as my last chicks is possibly maran X cou-nus which would also explain their slow growth! As mentioned before I was very happy with the last ones meat was very tasty and tender although a bit too much meat as there's only two of us and the first was 2.8kg lasted us all week! Still thanks all for your advice and support I will keep you updated on my new ones and probably will need more advice anyway :-)) xx
 
Hi, well I got a couple of Sussex! I was in a big market the other day they had all sorts Gris cendre, cou-nus, Sussex and a meat chicken which was all red (don't know what breed). I always wanted a white chicken so my pulley is a light Sussex but the cockeral is not a colour I have seen, he is a sussex but grey/blue all over and on his back and cockeral feathers on tail are like a buff colour. He is beautiful and very heavy for a young cockeral nice legs and breasts all ready! So I will have to wait a couple of months as I thing they may be around 20 weeks or so old but I don't mind as I have way too many chickens at the moment. I was also thinking of crossing my Sussex cock with one of the cou-nu hens see what I get? What do you guys think?? I also bought a big bag of corn for my meaties, any ideas how much they need daily to help th gain weight? At the moment they are fed 65% wheat 25% oats and 10% barley. Any advice would be great :-) x

ps I will try to take a photo of them over the weekend and post it
 
What are the cou-nou and cendre?
Have you thought about these. http://www.pouletbresse.com/site/
I think these are the standard French free range meat chickens, ready in 18weeks.
 
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