Breeding Meat Chickens

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Dark Cornish + Barred Rock = SUPER CHICKEN!

DW and I are always looking for ways to save money on our farm. We started buying meat chickens from a mail order hatchery, but we don't save any money on them vs. buying from the store. We do it anyway because we like being self-sufficient and our chickens are "free range" and "organic" which fetch a higher price than store-bought chicken.

After doing a little research, I may have found a way to save us even more on our meat birds...breed our own. The meat chicks we buy from the hatchery are basically a cross between two breeds of chicken: a White Cornish rooster and a White Rock hen. The result is called a Cornish X. The Cornish have broad breasts, but lack thickness. The Rocks have thick breasts that lack width. Put them together, and you've got the ideal meat bird.

The problem is that no hatcheries sell White Cornish and White Rocks. Why would they? If everyone started their own meat flock, they wouldn't have a market for their own crosses. (By the way, if you're wondering why you can't just breed a couple of Cornish X's, it doesn't work. Cornish X's grow so quickly they likely wouldn't live to egg laying age, and if they did, they don't lay consistently.) So, what do we do?

Well, the hatcheries do sell two very similar chickens: a Dark Cornish and Barred Rock. They don't mind selling these, because many people don't like the dark plummage. It doesn't make for as pretty a dressed bird because some of the dark pin feathers are still visible. These two breeds are almost exactly like their white brethren, so why not breed them here and have our own meat flock? We don't mind the dark plummage because we're not selling them to picky customers.

The next time we order a batch of Cornish X, we'll have them throw in two or three Dark Cornish roosters. We already have the Barred Rocks. Talking to a chicken breeder on-line, he said we'd be "pleasantly surprised" with the results.

I love farming for fun.