How to Raise Heritage Meat Birds

Heritage breed chickens are rarely used for modern commercial meat production due to their slow growth and single breast. However, they are growing more popular with gourmet foodies and self sufficient homesteaders. The Cornish cross breed dominates the poultry market today. A heritage breed chicken offers many advantages over the Cornish cross, including firm meat texture, complex flavor, more dark meat, disease resistance and the ability to reproduce naturally. Raising heritage birds for meat is a simple task with a delicious reward at the end.

Things You'll Need

  • Outdoor thermometer
  • Brooder
  • Red infrared bulb heat lamp
  • Suspension cord
  • Waterer
  • Feeder
  • Chick starter feed
  • Bedding
  • Heritage-breed chicks
  • 20-percent protein poultry feed
  • Shelter
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Instructions

  1. Raising Chicks in the Brooder

    • 1

      Place the thermometer in the center of the brooder. A brooder is housing for baby chicks. Suitable brooders include cardboard boxes, plastic storage totes or a custom-sized box made from plywood or lumber. Turn on the infrared heat lamp and suspend it in the brooder using your suspension cord. Find the ideal height for the lamp to heat the brooder to 95 degrees Fahrenheit, then secure the suspension cord at that height.

    • 2

      Fill the waterer with fresh water and the feeder with feed made for baby chicks, referred to as chick starter. Heritage breeds, unlike Cornish cross meat birds should have feed available 24 hours a day. Popular brands include Purina and Naturewise. Place both in the brooder, 2 feet apart on top of the bedding. Good bedding choices include pine shavings, hay or straw.

    • 3

      Place your baby chicks into their brooder, provide 2 square feet of space per chick. Dip each chick's beak into the waterer to ensure the chick recognizes the water source.

    • 4

      Raise the heat lamp slightly to decrease the temperature of the brooder by five degrees at the end of the first week. Each week decrease the temperature by five degrees until the chicks are four weeks old and the temperature is 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the chicks' adult feathers have come in, between four to eight weeks, supplemental heat is no longer necessary.

    • 5

      Refill the waterers and feeders as necessary. Add additional bedding every two to three days. When the chicks have reached four weeks of age, they may be moved to a secure shelter in the evening and allowed to roam during the day.

    Raising Chickens to Butchering Weight

    • 6

      Transition the chicks to a 20-percent protein poultry feed once they are out of the brooder. Supplement the chicken's diet with any table and garden scraps, kelp and free-choice minerals. Chickens are omnivores, meaning they eat fruit, vegetable, grains and meat. Chickens should not, however, be fed chicken meat.

    • 7

      Allow chickens several hours each day to roam your property and search for bugs, worms and vegetation. Foraging will improve the flavor and texture of the meat through a varied diet and increased exercise. One benefit of raising heritage meat birds is their ability and desire to forage for food.

    • 8

      Allow heritage breed meat chickens to grow until 16 to 20 weeks to reach an average dressed weight of 4 lbs., at which point they are ready for butchering.