Best Free Range Bird for Meat

[RayrayB]

Hi!
After raising chickens for fun for the last few years, I have started the journey into sustainability and raising my own chickens for meat as well as eggs.

I started with a small seperate flock of marans and ameracaunas with the idea of using the extra roos for meat and keeping the hens for eggs. So far, I've processed a few extra maran roos and have been pretty pleased with the breed.

I like the idea of a heritage, dual purpose bird that is a good forager. I was wondering if anyone had a recommendation or two on other breeds that fit this best. I don't mind slow growth-most important to me is their ability to forage and their hardiness.
Thanks so much!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

A couple thoughts.

One, you can't compete with a Cx. Its why they dominate the market. Neither can you compete with the big producers - when our costs were jumping to $0.40-$0.60/lb for feed during the pandemic, commercial producers were issuing 10q statements complaining of feed costs at $0.19-0.21/lb.

Yes, free range birds offset costs by ranging - how effectively is determined by season, space, breed (somewhat), and the quality of the grounds on which they free range. I save anywhere from 15-35% of expected feed costs, depending on season, for my birds. I continue to work to improve my grounds, just as I continue to work to improve my birds. That savings is offset by however. Free range birds, of whatever variety, are slower to put on weight genetically, meaning they take lionger to get to target weight. All that exercise free ranging develops flavor, but also reduces feed conversion rates. That exercise also makes the meat tougher (as does greater age at target weight).

The Cx is HIGHLY specialized, and highly dependent on specific feed regimen to optimize growth. Production reds are HIGHLY specialized, and give up a lot of average health and longevity to support that rate of lay. Free ranging, self sustaining mutts, "heritage" breeds, and the like are basically four door sedans. They'll never haul your RV or boat, and they won't rocket off the line and corner like a finely tuned sportscar.

Its a matter of tradeoffs. With modern feeds, you can get very good rates of lay, and decent meat production with a number of large breed, fast growth birds - the various [color] rangers are great example of recent efforts to reproduce a larger, fast growing bird that can benefit from free ranging. I'd be inclined to look in that direction first.

Keep in mind also that many "Heritage" breeds (as in breeds that have been around 100, 150 years) have been bred with emphasis on egg production for the last 60, 80 years or more, and have lost a bit of consistent size - I have Brahma, and while they looked huge compared to some golden comets I had of the same age, their weights were only a few ounces heavier. By the time my free ranging Brahma were full size, they were good only for stock or sausage. Brahma, of course, are a large breed, SLOW growth bird. Saving 30% in feed costs isn't a real benefit when it takes 3x as much time to hit target weight.

Better to pick an age when the meat has the right combination of flavor and chew for your preference, and butcher then - even if your yield is 3# instead of 3.5# per bird.

 

[FunClucks]

Freedom Ranger Hatchery New Hampshires. My dream dual purpose heritage sustainable meat birds that lay a decent amount of eggs.

 

[FunClucks]

Do you know what the pounds of grain per pound of meat conversion rate is. I’d be tempted to give them a try even if they weren’t quite as efficient as CX but it all depends how much less efficient they are.

Well, they're not efficient as CX, but as with many breeds, it depends on how you raise them as much as their genetics on how efficient they are. Type of feed matters (protein, etc), confined vs free range, stress (temperatures, predators), target days till processing, and target processing weight, etc.

For individual experiences you can probably calculate a feed efficiency from, I'd just search up and read a bunch of posts here on the Meat Bird forum. A number of members have raised these and posted about it. They were all very happy with them, as I recall. But feed efficiency does vary based on how they're raised. They were at least midway between standard heritage breeds and CX meat birds as far as processed weight, as I recall.

Best thing is to raise a batch yourself in what you consider to be optimal conditions/methods, and see how you like them.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Bravo U-stormcrow, it makes such a difference when people put this kind of careful nuanced thought into a post like this. Well done and thank you!

Just sharing my mistakes, so others need not repeat them - unless they want to.

I free ranged some Cx I got from TSC. Learned a lot. Cx *WILL* range given opportunity, restricted feed and other birds to show them what to do. (albeit not ranging as far as other birds). They will also grow MUCH slower as a consequence. When I ate my first Cx at 9 mo (weight of a small turkey), after sawing with a steak knife and a minute of chewing, I tossed the thing into the burn pile and found something else for dinner. The next ones (same age) became sausage. Much better use of the bird at that point.

Did a LOT wrong. Learned a little.

 

[Penpal]

I think you will find that mixing your own feed is cheaper than buying commercial feed. I live in a farming area and can locally find corn, oats, wheat, and sometimes other grains. I also add quinoa. With chicks I use corn mean quinoa, flax and gradually move them onto the whole grains. I ferment the food, which you can find posts about on this forum.

I find that I spend less money than I would on commercial feed. It's not for everyone, but you could try it out.

 

[FunClucks]

Yeah, it seems like there is a championing of the principle of raising birds capable of free ranging, the humanness of it, the slower growing, and the potential for a prefered taste. I understand the drawbacks to CX, but raising cx vs buying at the store is a significant increase in cost per lb, just wondering how much even more of a premium folks are spending on a slower growing bird that comes in at less weight, but can free range. I’m just looking for whatever data people have… understanding that there are variables that are impossible to track, like how much food they are getting while free ranging vs grain consumed…looking for a ballpark figure for cost per lb.

I keep my eye on Welp hatcheries for when they have sales on CX at beginning and end of season. You can get chicks for ~$1.50 ea that way. Even their regular price ~$2.15-2.30 is one of the best I've found. Sometimes feedstores have sales too if they have trouble moving the CX. Decreasing cost per chick is an easy way to decrease $/lb of raising them.

The other benefit of raising a slower growing bird than CX that you haven't mentioned is that you can be more flexible on the processing date. If CX aren't processed by 8-10 wks you see more of them dropping dead from health issues. The slower growing birds can wait a few weeks or a month or more before processing, you can really process them any time that's convenient. So this helps a lot for folks who may need schedule flexibility or are processing a couple at a time by hand. You can free-range CX if you work at it (although most folks will tractor them instead), but they'll be more likely to succumb to predators and bad weather unless those are managed well. And depending on how much and what quality food is available, and how much exercise they're forced to get while free-ranging you may be working against the CX's ability to put on a lot of meat very quickly, which is the whole point of raising them.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I'd say get Heritage Plymouth Barred Rocks, or any Plymouth Rock as long as it's not Hatchery stock. They're huge, & beefy.

Another breed to consider would be Malays, they're good for meat, & free range also. But they tend to be leaner, like a Wild Turkey.

Generally I just cross breed specific birds for meaties. Brahma/Easter Egger was my best cross breed for meat.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I've got 10 Cornish X, I was thrown unexpectedly, & got stuck with, & will be butchering soon. I know this is abit off topic, but one of them has white shanks, so that means a white skinned/shanked chicken was used in the 4 way crossing. Just now to figure out what that piece of the puzzle is.

 

[DoozyWombat]

I understand the drawbacks to CX, but raising cx vs buying at the store is a significant increase in cost per lb, just wondering how much even more of a premium folks are spending on a slower growing bird that comes in at less weight, but can free range. I’m just looking for whatever data people have… understanding that there are variables that are impossible to track, like how much food they are getting while free ranging vs grain consumed…looking for a ballpark figure for cost per lb.

I'm not sure if you mis-typed there, but raised CX are absurdly cheaper than store-bought chicken. In my area (Shenandoah Valley, VA) chicken in the grocery store runs $3-$5 per lb. Organic free-range chicken is $6 and up per lb. Even with losses to predators, my chicken costs with CX are almost exactly $1 per lb. That includes shipping, cost of the chicks, bedding, electrolyte, and all the feed. I give them high-protein chick starter (until I've gone through a 50lb bag per 25 chicks), then switch to cheap layer feed.

And yes, they are free-range. In weeks three and four, feed them twice a day for 30 minutes, then take away their food. Aside from those two weeks, let them eat all they want, and they'll still be healthy and active at ten weeks. They are very active foragers, and fly about as well as any heavy-breed chicken (that is, like a brick with wings. But they still do it.)

I learned the hard way I have to go out once the sun goes down and pick them up and toss them into the coop, because they are too stupid to follow the flock in and the coyotes figured this out.