Cornish Cross chickens are one of the most popular breeds to raise for meat. That’s true for commercial chicken production but also for small homesteads. Considering their apparent advantages — such as rapid growth and incredible feed conversion ratio — I understand how the title of this article may ruffle some feathers (pun intended).
But I encourage you to hear me out. Chances are that what you learn in this article will change the way you approach raising chickens (and other monogastric animals) for meat.
The good news is that once you have a solid understanding of the differences between various chicken breeds and feed options, as well as how chickens (and all other monogastric animals) convert food to protein and fat, you’ll be able to raise birds that are healthier and that taste better than anything you’ve raised before.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, let’s talk about some foundational principles that are crucial to understanding the information I convey in this article.
Meat Chickens Are a Modern Invention
For most of human history, chickens weren’t raised for meat. They were primarily kept for eggs, while the occasional culling of older hens or roosters provided for a limited amount of chicken soup or stew. This changed in the mid-20th century with the development of production breeds like the Cornish Cross, which are engineered to grow from chick to butcher weight in as little as 45 days. These birds transformed poultry farming into the industrialized, low-cost, high-output system we see today.
But there’s a significant downside to this practice. Cornish Cross are bred to grow unnaturally fast, often to the detriment of their health. These birds are prone to a variety of health issues due to their rapid growth, including skeletal issues and heart problems. Essentially, they’re obese babies by the time they hit your plate.
Do you really think it’s healthy to consume the meat of an animal that barely made it to butchering day without being able to walk, reproduce, or do what regular chickens do (roam around in search for food)?
For us, the answer is no. Their meat reflects their poor health, with lower nutrient density and damaged protein structures that are harder for humans to digest.
At the Kummer Homestead, we quickly realized that raising Cornish Cross chickens wasn’t aligned with our priorities or the ancestral principles we try to adhere to. These birds don’t thrive naturally and require intensive management to avoid health problems — not exactly what we’re aiming for when prioritizing the health of our animals and ourselves.
The Health Implications of Chicken Meat In General
Chicken meat has been touted as a healthier alternative to red meat because it’s lean and low in saturated fat. Unfortunately, quite the opposite is true.
One of the biggest problems with chicken meat is its unfavorable omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acid ratio. Modern chickens — especially those fed conventional diets heavy in corn and soy — are packed with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). High PUFA levels can promote inflammation in the body, contributing to a range of chronic health issues.
To learn more about the health implications of a high-PUFA diet, check out my blog post titled Saturated vs. Polyunsaturated Fats: What’s the Real Cause of Heart Disease?
Even if you’re raising your own chickens, the feed you choose plays a pivotal role in the nutritional quality of their meat. In fact, all monogastric animals, including poultry, pigs and humans, literally “are what they eat.” Most commercial feeds are designed to maximize growth, not optimize the fatty acid composition of the meat. When you feed chickens a diet of corn and soy, you’re essentially replicating the same issues found in factory-farmed poultry.
That’s why we switched to using organic, corn-free and soy-free feed from New Country Organics (as shown below). This feed is free of vegetable oils, using olive oil instead, which dramatically improves the omega balance in the feed and the final product (the meat).
Combined with pasture-raising our birds, this approach produces healthier, more nutrient-dense chicken. However, even with these improvements, chicken meat still falls short of the nutritional profile of ruminant meats like beef and lamb.
Raising Chickens the Right Way (As a Luxury, Not a Staple)
If you want to raise chickens for meat the right way, you need to understand that it’s an expensive process compared to raising ruminants on pasture.
Choosing the Right Breeds
Production breeds like Cornish Cross are out for the reasons mentioned above. Instead, consider slower-growing alternatives such as Freedom Rangers, McMurray’s Big Red Broilers and Ginger Broilers. These birds grow at a more natural pace, reaching butcher weight in 12-16 weeks rather than 6-7.
While their growth is slower, their health is better, and the meat they produce is of higher quality. The final product is also tastier than the bland meat of Cornish Cross you’re probably used to.
However, slower-growing breeds come with challenges. They consume more feed over their longer lifespan, and their carcass yield might be smaller compared to production breeds. This makes raising chickens for meat an expensive endeavor, underscoring why chicken was historically considered a luxury item.
Feeding for Optimal Nutrition
The feed you choose is critical. Conventional feeds loaded with corn, soy and vegetable oils negatively impact the fatty acid composition of the meat. Instead, opt for organic, corn-free and soy-free feeds like the one we use from New Country Organics. This feed, combined with a pasture-based diet of insects, grubs and worms, can significantly improve the omega-3 to omega-6 ratio in chicken meat.
Remember, both chickens and humans are what they eat and a poor diet will result in poor health outcomes.
Pasture-Raising Chickens
Allowing chickens to forage naturally not only improves their health but also enhances the quality of their meat. Chickens that roam on pasture have access to insects, which are a natural and nutrient-rich part of their diet. This method aligns with their ancestral eating habits and results in meat with better flavor and nutritional value.
Even with all these measures, raising chickens this way is costly. It’s far from the cheap, abundant protein source that modern industrial farming has made it out to be.
Alternatives to Raising Chickens For Meat
If you love chicken but want to avoid the downsides of conventional poultry, there are alternatives to consider.
Geese Are a Better Option
Geese offer a compelling alternative to chickens. They can be raised almost entirely on pasture with minimal grain supplementation. This makes them more sustainable and cost-effective while producing meat with a superior fatty acid composition. Geese are also hardier and less prone to health issues compared to fast-growing chicken breeds.
We’ve experimented with raising geese at the Kummer Homestead, and their ability to thrive on pasture with minimal intervention has been a game-changer. Plus, many people consider their meat rich and flavorful, and a worthy substitute for chicken in many recipes. I grew up eating goose in Austria and have fond memories of it.
Prioritize Ruminant Meat
If health is your top priority, consider raising ruminant animals for meat. Beef, lamb and goat provide better nutritional value and are more in line with ancestral principles.
While we still enjoy chicken occasionally, we view it as a supplemental protein rather than a dietary staple. Practically, we consume about one to two chickens per week while using beef, rabbit and venison to make up the bulk of our protein intake.
Final Thoughts
Raising chickens for meat might seem like a no-brainer, but when you look deeper, it’s clear that the modern approach to poultry farming isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Fast-growing production breeds like Cornish Cross are plagued with health issues and produce meat with poor nutritional value. Even when raised the “right” way, chickens are an expensive luxury rather than a practical protein source.
For example, we purchase chicken feed in 1,000-pound totes and it costs us approximately $25 to raise one meat bird. That’s just the cost of feed; it doesn’t take into account the labor involved in raising those birds.
At the Kummer Homestead, we’ve adapted our approach to align with our priorities: health, sustainability, and ancestral principles. By choosing slower-growing breeds, using high-quality feed and exploring alternatives like geese, we’ve found a way to enjoy poultry without compromising on our values.
But ultimately, we recognize that poultry will never match the health benefits of well-raised ruminant meat.
If you’re considering raising chickens for meat, I encourage you to think carefully about your goals and priorities. There are better ways to produce high-quality protein on your homestead. The question is: what steps are you willing to take to align your practices with your values?
Michael Kummer is a healthy living enthusiast, the founder of MK Supplements and the host of the Primal Shift podcast. His goal is to help people achieve optimal health by bridging the gap between ancestral living and the demands of modern society. He runs the Kummer Homestead with his wife Kathy and their two children.