Meat birds

It's like this......

Cornish Cross bra size.......44DD

Layer Breed bra size.........32AA

baymule said:

It's like this......

Cornish Cross bra size.......44DD

Layer Breed bra size.........32AA

Click to expand...

Yep... Your right about that. I raised Jumbo Cornish Cross Roos for the table - they were huge @ 9 weeks and deliciously juicy tender as broilers.

@ 9 weeks they are so big it's hard for them to walk. I kept water and food.on opposite sides of the pen so they had to get a little exercise.


Their toes are just as long as my fingers. Huge bigs at 9 weeks old.


Wings are also huge.


Waste not want not... Peel the legs/toes (easy) for making the best chicken broth you ever tasted.


They make a great looking bird for the oven rubbed ith olive oil and sprinkled with salt & pepper


Even better stuffed and ready to eat


It's all my wife and I can do to eat 1/2 a chicken. Notice how big the breast meat is - 44DD


Freeze the carcass & leftovers. When you get 3 or 4 carcasses make & pressure can delicious chicken soup. Save the bones from making soup to combine with legs to make awesome tasting chicken broth.

I fed them 21% meat bird 12 hours on 12 hours off and constant water mixed with 1 capful of Bragg's Organic ACV per gallon of water since day 1. I lost 2 birds due to piling. If it gets chilly at night they pile into a big ball, the poor bird on the bottom of the pile gets squished to death. Other than that they we're easy to raise and we'll worth the effort when you finally take that first bite.

Also wanted to add they are a lot easier to pluck than BOs are.

Here's a growth / feed rate chart. Both times I raised Jumbo Cronish Cross they we're pretty much spot on according to this chart.

I would like to try raising about 50 or so jumbo Cornish cross roos. Butcher some @ 2 to 3 weeks for Cornish game hens, butcher some more @ 5 to 6 weeks for fryers and the rest @ 9 to 10 weeks for broilers.

CrealCritter -- Do you raise yours (assume pics from yours?) penned or in tractor on some grass?

And -- how do you peel your feet? Baymule posted how she did hers a while back & now I don't remember sr moments! Do you find the meat has texture & not just "mush meat"? Some of the birds you buy that are the fast growth, seem to have meat that is like pressure cooked, that is texture like tuna, sorta.

The nice thing about these birds is the short time start to finish. It does take planning because when they are ready, they are READY!! Can't survive much beyond that time & you could lose your flock....so be ready to butcher.

That is a great looking bird from the oven!

Feed them slower and you won't lose them. We have never lost one from being overweight and we often keep them 12 weeks or more. 12 hours on, 12 off for a few weeks then they go in tractors, which we move every day, and we feed 2x/day. We wet their food so they digest better and stay hydrated. When they're healthy there's flexibility in butchering. Which is a nice thing for us busy folks!

And I think they taste great. Not as much flavor as heritage but no complaints about texture. My husband wants to get away from the CX's but I like the meat, prefer it for anything except soups.

NH Homesteader said:

When they're healthy there's flexibility in butchering. Which is a nice thing for us busy folks!

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Absolutely! We usually butcher ours in different stages too. I like the flexibility of that and I hate butchering a whole bunch in one day. I'm usually okay doing 5 or 6 at a time. Plus, it's usually hot here when we butcher which is why we start early in the morning. By the time we've done 5 or 6 it's too hot to do more.

I just called Tractor Supply and their price for straight run is 1.99. I may just go pick some up on the way home this afternoon. It's a bit of a higher price than ValleyFarms, but these birds are older and have been fed for a week or so on somebody else's payroll!

Nice! We're going to raise several kinds of birds for meat this year to compare. But I kind of want to do some CX and part them out. I miss pulling out some chicken breasts and not having to cook a whole chicken.

1.99 is about average. I usually pay that for males but the hens grow slower and healthier so I don't mind raising hens either.

NH Homesteader said:

1.99 is about average. I usually pay that for males but the hens grow slower and healthier so I don't mind raising hens either.

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I'm ok with either...the roo's get crazy big! We usually free range ours after they're past brooding age so they don't generally break down. But, the ones that look like they're not as mobile are the ones we do first.