Hey Chickenpeople!

[poka-bee]

JP, the breast of the chix will always be white meat no matter what type, like turkeys, chix are just made that way.  You can get Cornish broiler & other crosses that mature early = more tender meat on them.  They actually have a hard time living very long cause they get too heavy, can't walk & heart can't keep up with the rapid growth.  I think those you butcher @ 16-24 weeks, someone will correct me I'm sure. A little less than 1/2 their lives will be in a brooder setting cause you need to keep em warm till they feather out so they won't have time to run about getting tough.  If you don't want to buy new chix every year you can get a dual breed & keep the best hens for laying, 1-2 roosters & then butcher the rest.  I think that's what Cindi does?  You would still butcher the ones you want to eat once they get full size so you are not wasting food maintaining them if they are not going to grow any more anyways.  They would not be as tough say as the broodstock.   Go for it, just make sure you only get attached to your breeding hens, chix are addicting & have quite the personalities!  J

[Cindi]

I think that if JP wants to raise meat birds, he should go with the Cornish broilers, they are ready for the table at 4-6 weeks old.  They grow very rapidly, really fast.  I know that fellow that grows them and because they grow so fast, their hearts have issues.  He always puts the water at the other end of the pen so that they get exercise, otherwise they can have heart attacks. Sounds like they MUST have exercise, but they grow so fast.  Here is something from the net, do a little research to find out what you want.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broiler

I am only dabbling in raising meat birds.  The only ones that we have eaten so far, have been the Rhode Island RedXwith a brown egg layer, no speciific breed, other than called Sex-a-link.  They haven't even began to look like they would have been worthwhile eating until over 16 weeks old, that seems to have made them rather tough.  I am breeding for heavy weight dual purpose birds, but that is on hold until we get moved to our new place and set up. I am downsizing the birds at this time, I can't take too many with us because of unknown circumstance.

Irwin, canned chicken spread sounds delicious, gonna have to try that one day, hee, hee.  Have a wonderful and awesome day,  Cindi

[KONASDAD]

Anymore chicken people want to chime in? So, if you're raising chickens for meat do you limit the amount of exercise they get or is it the species that you choose that makes for a juicy dark meat chicken?


...JP

Jp I am no chicken farmer, but I think I can answer your question anyways. Animals that use their muscles have more dark meat. Its the extra blood flow caused by exercise. Thats why venison is so dark, all muscles . The reverse is true for veal. Its kept in a box so it wont develop muscles, which add sinew and capillaries to a muscle group, which is why veal is much lighter in color than beef cow.  Same w/ non domesticated fowl you hunt. I love dark meat and dont really enjoy commercial breast meat. Too dry and no flavor. When people say it tastes like chicken, I get something else!

So, i I would imagine a free range chciken would have more dark meat than a purdue for example. Its also a reason I dont enjoy farm raised fish as much as wild caught fish.

[Ben Framed]

JP
Them free range chickens without the hormones and all, do they taste different than the polluted variety?

And, its been quite a while since I plucked chicken feathers, do ya'll have a trick for gettin' the feathers off, like dippin' 'em in hot water, anything like that?

Was just doing some chicken thinking the other day and had these questions.

Thanks for any feedback, chickenpeople.


...JP

Any of our newer members who keep chickens have anything to add to the discussion?

Phillip

[The15thMember]

My family has found that we don't like raising dual-purpose chickens for meat.  They definitely taste different from store-bought chicken, but I think that's in large part due to the fact that the store bought chickens are those mutant Cornish crosses (C monsters, some people call them) who grow so unnaturally that they have to be butchered or they'll die.  We've never home-raised any of those, so that would be the true test of whether free ranging makes a difference in taste.  We don't like the taste and texture of the dual-purpose birds as much, and we also don't like how much work it is to butcher chickens.  We basically butcher and crock pot old hens and spare roosters as a by-product of egg production, and we now raise rabbits for meat.