HYBRID to HERITAGE

In recent years, small-scale farmers and homesteaders are turning to heritage breeds and slower-growing hybrids as an alternative to the industrialized Cornish Rock (or Cornish Cross) for meat production. When most people think of a whole dressed chicken, a vision of the Cornish Rock comes to mind, the hybrid found in every supermarket meat case across America. It’s a large bird whose meat is pale and tender, with plump breasts and prominent thighs and drumsticks.

Thanks to A&P groceries’ “Chicken of Tomorrow” contest series in the 1940s, this has become the standard breed for commercial poultry farms nationwide. Their rapid growth, with an emphasis on white meat production and an ability to do well in confinement, allows large poultry operations to economically produce higher volume in less time.

Before this, there were no meat-specific breeds. Either a layer past its prime was processed, or, for the small farmer, heritage breeds