There are many varieties of meat chickens for breeding, which have their own characteristics. So, breeders who are more focused on animal meat, prefer fast-growing weighty chickens that are not demanding in care.
Characteristics of meat breeds
The meat breeds of chickens are significantly different from their egg counterparts. They are larger, have a massive skeleton, strong physique and loose plumage in comparison with laying hens. Distinctive are not only external features, but also temperament. Meat chickens are not so aggressive, less shy, better adapt to changes in content.
What features can be obtained from the development of meat chickens:
- meat breeds are characterized by low egg production;
- at the age of 2 months young growth gains weight up to 1.5 kg, an adult individual in 5-6 months can weigh up to 4.5 kg.
- most intensively develop and gain mass in the first two months of life;
- meat breeds are not prone to low temperatures, and chicks need a stable temperature of 19-25 degrees for normal development.
Meat breeds of hens need less light than laying hens. Due to the stable temperature in the house and the right diet, especially in the first two months of life, you can get the rapid development of chickens. Otherwise, the content of meat chickens is practically no different from the content of laying hens.
In the chicken coop, it is required to equip perches and nests, install equipment for feed and water, pour litter from straw and sawdust. For one square meter, it is permissible to populate no more than 10-15 chicks 1 month old. Adults need free space.
List of the best breeds
In just one season, large chickens that grow quickly can bring breeders profit from selling healthy succulent meat. Besides the fact that chickens can provide meat, they are also valuable due to the fact that they give eggs. These birds have a strong structure. They are quick-growing, quite hardy and easily adapt to living in summer chicken coops.
Characteristic features of poultry grown for meat are large sizes, as well as a strong skeleton. To increase productivity, most poultry farmers use crosses - hybrid offspring from known breeds that take only the best signs from both parents. For example, in order to get many broiler chickens crosses, representatives of breeds known in Russia - white Plymouthrock and Cornish of meat direction were used.
Maran
These are French meat-and-egg chickens known to poultry farmers. In Europe, they became popular due to their high early maturity, beautiful colors of plumage, bright, almost chocolate eggs and decent quality meat.
Maran breed is famous for its unusually beautiful birds, attracting various colors. There are white, silver, black birds with a copper tan. The hens have black feathers with a gold necklace around their neck. In roosters, gold spots on the chest and reddish feathers on the back are the hallmark. Birds are attracted by a black tail with a blue tint.
There are Maranas who have a silver-cuckoo color. Less often, birds with golden cuckoo coloring, highly valued among breeders, are hatched due to the alternation of black and golden feathers - such a bird is expensive. No less popular are birds with wheat-colored plumage. Roosters of this color have bright golden feathers on their chest and neck. Females are dominated by a yellow, golden-red and sometimes brownish hue.
Adult birds are quite large. A rooster can reach up to 4 kg, and a chicken - up to 3 kg of live weight. At the same time, laying hens give to the table up to 150 large eggs weighing up to 80 g. The uniqueness of the breed is the color of the chickens. These birds can have golden cuckoo, wheat, black, cuckoo, white or motley plumage.
Broilers
Known to many broiler chickens are not a meat breed, according to many beginner poultry farmers. These crosses are offspring from interbreeds of Cornish and Plymouthrock birds. Occasionally, other meat breeds also participate in the broiler program, for example, the Yubileiny Kuchinsky, Brahma or Kokhinhin. Such chickens are famous for their good meat productivity, but are not able to pass on their qualities to offspring, therefore they are kept until gaining marketable weight and sent for slaughter.
Chicks at the age of 1 month in weight reach about 1.5 kg. Most often, it is at this age that the bird is sent for slaughter. If it is possible to wait a bit, it is better not to rush, because in a month the live weight of the bird will be about 3 kg. It does not make sense to grow broilers longer - the mass will not increase, but the appetite will grow. That is why the life span of broilers extremely rarely exceeds 3 months.
Brahma
This variety was obtained by breeding on the basis of Asian fighting chickens, Kikhinhinov and other varieties. This bird is famous for its large size. In the world, several varieties of Brama chickens are raised, which differ in color, as well as unusual features that are inherent in this breed and determine its direction as decorative and meat.
Roosters of this breed can gain up to 5 kg of live weight, and hens - about 4.5 kg. Females are excellent mother hens that can bring about 120 brown eggs weighing 60 g each year.
Brahma's chickens are able to quickly adapt to any conditions of detention, in addition, they are picky and can endure the winter. The bird does not need large areas for walking, it does not fly, it coexists quietly with other breeds of chickens.
Kokhinkhiny
This is a Chinese breed of chickens, which recently became popular in Russia. These birds are famous for magnificent plumage and extremely large sizes. Representatives of this meat breed quickly and actively gain weight. Roosters can reach up to 6 kg, and hens - about 4 kg. At the same time, the bird is able to bring about 120 brown eggs with a bright yolk during the year.
If earlier the chickens of this species prevailed in blue or black color, today there are white and beautiful yellow-fawn birds. Chickens of meat or egg-meat orientation are not picky, have a calm disposition, as well as liveliness with other birds. But poultry farmers need to ensure that Kokhinkhins do not overeat - this threatens obesity.
Kuchinskaya Anniversary
To breed this breed, breeders used the best breeds of egg and meat-egg production. As a result, it was possible to obtain a bird characterized by decent egg production and excellent meat productivity. Indeed, universal hens have become a good find for owners of small private farms and farmsteads. For a year, laying hens can bring up to 240 eggs, and adult hens grow up to 3-4 kg of live weight.
In terms of quality, the meat of the Kuchinsky Jubilee chicken is much better than that of industrially bred broilers. The bird does not have a capricious character; it tolerates both cold and heat, is not fastidious in terms of diet and has hastened. The peculiarity of this breed is the difference in the color of females and males, therefore, it is possible to easily divide a herd even at the age of 24 hours.
Faverol
This variety has been common in France since the beginning of the 20th century. The bird became famous for having an original appearance and amazing meat quality. And today, excellent consumer qualities of poultry are appreciated. Chickens of meat-egg breed grow rapidly, reaching 3-4 kg of live weight. In this case, laying hens bring up to 180 eggs of 60 g each. The egg shell is brown.
With excellent meat performance, unlike other meat-egg breeds, Faverol chickens are distinguished by a thin skeleton. They are able to quickly adapt to seasonal temperature fluctuations, have a calm disposition, but are prone to obesity.
Pushkin chickens
Pushkin chickens are distinguished by a black and motley color. Some poultry farmers call this meat-and-egg bird one of the best for breeding in small private farms. Hens are hardy and quickly adapt to any, even the most severe conditions. They are unpretentious, able to independently find food on a walk, early maturing and carry a good number of eggs.
So, a rooster can weigh up to 3 kg, and a chicken - up to 2 kg. For a year, a laying hen is able to bring about 220 white eggs. Hens of this breed are good in that, despite the modest weight, they can have a well-fed attractive carcass.
Adler
These are beautiful meat-and-egg birds, attracting a silver color. This breed was bred in the Russian south. Adler chickens begin to sweep as early as six months of age. The birds that are raised for selling meat, of course, are inferior to the original meat breeds of chickens, but also quite weighty. A rooster can weigh up to 4 kg and a chicken up to 2.8 kg.
The Adler breed of chickens is popular for its decent egg production among laying hens, because they are able to lay eggs for 3-4 years, so you do not have to change the herd every year and still collect a fairly large number of eggs.
Cornish
Cornish or Cornish meat breed is an old breed of chickens bred in the first half of the 19th century. The bird is capable of producing excellent meat crosses. Today, Cornish white chickens are bred in order to obtain high-quality meat on an industrial scale. If we talk about the use of birds in private farms, they are quite early, but, like all meat breeds, they bring few eggs.
Adult female reaches up to 3.5 kg. An adult rooster weighs up to 4.5 kg. There are dwarf varieties of the Cornish breed. The weight of the chicken is 0.85-1.3 kg, the rooster is 1-1.6 kg.
One white female brings about 100-130 large brown eggs per year. Colored bird brings eggs prevailing brown or speckled shells.
Amrox
A species of chickens Amrox has a cuckoo color, when each feather ends with a dark stripe. Roosters of this breed look powerful, tall and massive. They are quite large, they have a large head proportional to the body. The beak of birds is short, strong and slightly curved, yellow. In representatives of this breed, in addition to color, distinctive features are large expressive eyes of red-brown color. They have a red full face, oval oblong earrings and earlobes.
Meat-egg chickens are excellent laying hens that produce up to 220 eggs throughout the year. At the same time, this breed is famous for its good weight. Roosters grow up to 4.5 kg, chicken - up to 3.5 kg. Amrox chickens have a calm disposition, are able to quickly adapt to new conditions, keep growing quickly.
Plymouth Rock
The progenitors of modern hens of the meat breed were representatives of the Langash, Brama, Kokhinkhiny and other less popular varieties today. Chickens of this breed can have one of 8 colors. White chickens are often bred industrially, and private traders prefer bright representatives of this meat breed. Plymouthrock is a variety of chickens, famous for its unpretentiousness, rapid growth, tasty and healthy meat. After 2 months, this breed is gaining weight up to 1.8 kg.
Adult cocks can weigh up to 4.5 kg, and chickens - about 3.5 kg. Over a year, laying hens bring more than 170 large light brown eggs.
Mini chickens
This chicken breed has some advantages that significantly distinguish it from another bird. These include:
- universality of breeding;
- fast growth;
- tasty and soft meat;
- lack of habit to tear the earth, which is important when walking;
- unpretentiousness in food;
- getting large eggs;
- possibility of keeping in cages and aviaries.
But at the same time, birds have some disadvantages:
- the need to contain chickens of different colors separately, since crossing is unacceptable;
- the impossibility of walking in rainy weather, since the bird has short legs, due to which dirt collects on the stomach, and this is fraught with various diseases;
- If you feed chickens with unbalanced feed, this can lead to chickens having problems with their legs, which is dangerous for chickens.
Such chickens grow well, but chickens need warmth. Air temperature should not be lower than 35 degrees. This ensures the survival of almost all individuals. With each subsequent week, you need to lower the temperature by several degrees.
The average weight of roosters is 3 kg, chickens - 2.7 kg. Mini-chickens are distinguished by the fact that their meat is very tasty, and due to the fact that fat is distributed between the muscles, it is also juicy. Chickens of these breeds bring up to 180 eggs per year. Egg weight is 60 g.
Often, Roy Island and Leggorn mini-meat chickens are raised. Hens rush perfectly regardless of the time of year.
Due to its compact size, the herd does not need a lot of space. On 1 square meter will fit a dozen chickens. Roosters are calm and not aggressive. Animals grow quickly enough and already at 5-6 months begin to lay eggs.
There are many varieties of chicken meat. Among such an amount, it is not difficult to choose those breeds that grow quickly, gain a large body weight, and even bring eggs. So you can breed animals for yourself or for the sale of carcasses and eggs.