Chicken Breeds for Meat

One of the single most frequently asked questions among new poultry growers — whether for their own use or sale to others — is what breeds make the best meat. Here, we run down the pros and cons of the most popular as well as some of the more obscure.

Meat Breeds

The Cornish Cross

Available from commercial hatcheries, the Cornish Cross is marketed under as many names as there are companies breeding them; “Cornish X”, “Cornish X Rock” and/or “Broiler” will usually be indicated in the information no matter the source. If you’ve bought chicken in the supermarket, the Cornish Cross was the source of that meat.

Reaches Market Weight: 6-10 weeks
Dressed Carcass Weight: 4-6+ pounds
The Pros: Fast Growing, extremely efficient at converting feed to meat, easy (easier) to pluck, inexpensive day old chick prices, dresses out with lots of thick white meat, because they’re not as active they can be raised happily on less acreage.
The Cons: Decreased natural instinct, messy (waste is a function of feed, because they eat more in a shorter period in order to grow quickly there is more waste), prone to leg and heart complications if grown improperly or too long, extremely unintelligent (even for a chicken), not as hardy to extreme temperatures — especially heat, in-born appetite can increase likelihood of intra-flock pecking and/or cannibalism.

Freedom Rangers

JM Hatchery’s Freedom Rangers or Colored Broiler Chickens have garnered a lot of attention in poultry production circles in recent years. Slightly slower growing than the Cornish X but still faster growing than most other breeds they also tend to have better maintained instincts than the Cornish X and are hardier to non-confinement husbandry.

Reaches Market Weight: 9-14 weeks
Dressed Carcass Weight: 3-5+ pounds
The Pros: Faster growing than dual purpose and heritage breeds, but not as fast as the Cornish X, less propensity for leg and heart complications, hardier than Cornish X, better natural instincts for foraging than the Cornish X, more suited to non-confinement husbandry (pasturing, free-ranging, open-ranging, etc.).
The Cons: Not quite as efficient feed conversion as the Cornish X, still a bit less instinctual than the dual purpose and heritage breeds, smaller carcass, not quite as much white meat as the Cornish X.