What Are Recommended Meat Bird Breeds?

And what do you think is the name of each breed in Spanish in South America?

We have local criollo birds that we have been raising for the past two years. What this Ugandan fellow mentions are all things we have observed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlLLtYozLOk

They really do take at least 6-8months before you can consider harvesting them. I wish someone would have told us that before we started. Since we kind of do a Salatin style tractor and let them loose free range during the day, they have good sanitation and always access to fresh grass and bugs. They have not had hardly any disease problems, however I think it's due to the way we raise them and not necessarily their genetics.

We want a good in-between bird. One extreme is the cornish cross factory-farmed bird that takes 1.5-2 months, but is extremely fragile, requires nearly perfect conditions and a really well-balanced feed. The other extreme are these criollo chickens that take 8 months to get big enough.

The cornish cross wouldn't work probably for these reasons: The ground is soggy in many places and they will have to sleep on the ground (not a problem for the criollos). We currently move tractors every other day and the birds only use the tractors for sleep or shelter from storms. We want the birds out in the silvopasture orchard (the landscape is an orchard) so they can catch bugs and supplement their nutrition with fallen/rotten fruit. Cornish cross seems too cumbersome to effectively catch bugs. Plus the topography is steep and irregular, so I'm not sure their legs would tolerate it.

Wants: Birds that are ready from hatch to harvest in 3-4 months (or faster). Able-bodied to deal with the topography and scavenge a large portion of their diet. Able to succeed on just whole-kernel corn and cooked beans as feed. The orchard is young, and fruit probably won't be a reliable source of food for at least another two years.

Hi Tenzin,
I can't answer all of your questions, but I can throw out a few things.

First, for people who are not aware, there are different strains of the cornish cross meat birds. All are quite extreme when compared to heritage breeds, but there are some that are less extreme and do not have the same leg problems. While I have never raised these ones, I have heard from people who have raised them, that you can reduce the leg and heart problems by feeding them less and forcing them to walk more. It does slow their growth a bit, but also reduces those health problems.

For people who don't want to raise those ones, I would be looking at the Cornish and the White Rock (which are crossed to create the Cornish Cross), as well as something like the Red Ranger or Freedom Ranger. After those, I would be considering some of the dual purpose like Australorps or Orpingtons or White/Black Giants. I'm sorry I don't know what the spanish names would be or if they are available in South America.

Having said that, are you stuck on chickens for meat? I would think geese (or maybe ducks) could be a better fit. I don't know about the beans, but I know Geese would eat corn just fine. And the geese would probably be fine with grass and corn depending on your climate. For instance Emden geese could reach 20-25lb live weight in 3-5 months. Pilgrims geese could get to 13-14lb in 3-5 months.

Matt McSpadden wrote:Hi Tenzin,
I can't answer all of your questions, but I can throw out a few things.

First, for people who are not aware, there are different strains of the cornish cross meat birds. All are quite extreme when compared to heritage breeds, but there are some that are less extreme and do not have the same leg problems. While I have never raised these ones, I have heard from people who have raised them, that you can reduce the leg and heart problems by feeding them less and forcing them to walk more. It does slow their growth a bit, but also reduces those health problems.

For people who don't want to raise those ones, I would be looking at the Cornish and the White Rock (which are crossed to create the Cornish Cross), as well as something like the Red Ranger or Freedom Ranger. After those, I would be considering some of the dual purpose like Australorps or Orpingtons or White/Black Giants. I'm sorry I don't know what the spanish names would be or if they are available in South America.

Having said that, are you stuck on chickens for meat? I would think geese (or maybe ducks) could be a better fit. I don't know about the beans, but I know Geese would eat corn just fine. And the geese would probably be fine with grass and corn depending on your climate. For instance Emden geese could reach 20-25lb live weight in 3-5 months. Pilgrims geese could get to 13-14lb in 3-5 months.

We have a gander and two females. I don't think we have a good male. He never mounts any of the females and became infatuated with one of the ducks. We give them corn and of course they have access to fresh grass. However, it seems like they don't really eat much of either. I'm not sure how they've been able to maintain their weight. We've kept them in a tractor, and after moving it, it's hard to tell if they've really mowed the grass or not. They are staying big though, so they much be eating something. We started with four females and the male. That was about one year ago. When we first got the geese, a couple of them started laying a few eggs. Nothing ever hatched. Since then, we've never gotten any more eggs from them. They are expensive birds. Not many people here could afford to buy them. Muscovies are popular but even slower-growing than criollo chickens. They take about a year to get fully-grown.

I think chicken is the only thing with a big enough market here to raise for a business. You can sell a regular criollo bird for about twice as much as you would pay for a factory-farmed cornish cross. But I don't think people would be willing to pay twice as much for a cornish cross that was raised on pasture in a tractor or free range. I'm sure people would assume they were being swindled. The key is finding something that looks similar to a criollo chicken and significantly different than a cornish cross so that people would align their purchase based on the appearance.

They have these available. Kind of expensive for the chicks. I don't know anything about them:
https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.pe/MPE-445412171-pollitos-de-gallina-gigante-de-huevos-verdes-_JM#position=5&search_layout=stack&type=item&tracking_id=a83f7cfd-15c8-4f17-972b-4b2d16e92afd

I have no idea if they're available in South America, but Freedom Rangers are a popular alternative among homesteader types to cornish cross for a reasonably fast growing (but not freakish like cornish cross) broiler that will forage effectively.  Mine usually average a 5lb carcass weight at 10 weeks old, 6.5-6.75lbs at 12 weeks.  I usually order all males, if I had a straight run the females would probably average a pound less than the males at the same age.  If you have the ability to be flexible, harvesting the males at 10 weeks and the females at 11-12 weeks would result in them all being about the same carcass size.

https://www.freedomrangerhatchery.com/shop/product/freedom-ranger-chickens/

You might contact those folks and see if they either have a licensed breeder in South America or if they know of a similar/comparable breed available there.

Andrew Mayflower wrote:I have no idea if they're available in South America, but Freedom Rangers are a popular alternative among homesteader types to cornish cross for a reasonably fast growing (but not freakish like cornish cross) broiler that will forage effectively.  Mine usually average a 5lb carcass weight at 10 weeks old, 6.5-6.75lbs at 12 weeks.  I usually order all males, if I had a straight run the females would probably average a pound less than the males at the same age.  If you have the ability to be flexible, harvesting the males at 10 weeks and the females at 11-12 weeks would result in them all being about the same carcass size.

https://www.freedomrangerhatchery.com/shop/product/freedom-ranger-chickens/

You might contact those folks and see if they either have a licensed breeder in South America or if they know of a similar/comparable breed available there.

It doesn't look like those are available here. Would be great though. That's only two weeks slower than cornish cross.