# Pioneer chickens



## gavin (Jun 25, 2010)

Would love to hear what people opinions are about Pioneer meat birds in comparison to other heritage meat/dual purpose breeds. I usually do a batch of 25 to 50 cornish crossâs every year. They canât be beaten for how quick they grow and my final product is far superior to anything from the store, but they are not enjoyable to raise. Like many I would love to raise a bird that acted like a normal chicken and resulted in a finished product that was closer to the sizes of the Cornish crosses. Last year I tried a batch of Freedom Rangers and they were superior in flavor but just not as large as I would have liked. I processed them at 14 weeks and they looked pretty large but after I cleaned them I was pretty disappointed in the overall size of the carcass. I donât mind the extra time it takes for them to grow out, or the feed conversion not being as good as the Cornishâs. Just looking to find a happy medium of a breed that acts like a chicken, tastes better and yields a large carcass. The Pioneers apparently are good egg layers so my hope is that I can keep back one rooster and 5 hens and incubate small batches throughout the year for the freezer. Whoâs got experience with this breed?


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## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

I don't think a breed that can compete with a cornish cross exists. But then I always raise cornish cross and other breeds too, and they ALL act like chickens. What makes your cornish not chicken-like?


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

feed the Cornish a variety of food and that will help the flavor, give them their normal high octain food stuff but switch it out for some whole grain and give them lawn clippings or even put them out in lawn tractors, they will figure it out if you make them,


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## gavin (Jun 25, 2010)

I was really just looking for opinions on the Pioneer breed, if anyone has any experience? When I say &#8220;act like chickens&#8221; what I mean is a bird that will run right past a full feeder to go scratch around in the yard when the coop is opened. My experience has been that when I get a batch of layers, Cornish&#8217;s and Red Rangers the Cornish&#8217;s act very different given the same set of circumstances. The Cornish&#8217;s are the industry standard and are great, which is why I raise them too, but I don&#8217;t enjoy raising them as much as my layers or other dual purpose breeds.


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## rudy6482 (Dec 16, 2014)

I have 8 pioneers that are almost 6 months old now so the hens should start laying soon. The roosters I kept are by far the largest birds I have. My plan was to breed them, now on the Mcmurray site it says that the offspring wont breed true. Ive tried researching the bloodlines and cant find anything so I'm going to try to breed them anyway. 

They grew just like everything I read. Fast! However unlike the cx they are very energetic, like to roost and can halfway fly. Heres a really good comparison Ive been keeping up with at byc. 

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/873835/cx-and-pioneer-side-by-side


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## Guest (Dec 16, 2014)

farmerDale said:


> I don't think a breed that can compete with a cornish cross exists.


True. If you raise any broiler breed other than a CX, they're going to be smaller than CX. There is no competition.


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## Phean (Dec 16, 2012)

My pioneers grew out a lot slower than my red rangers. They turned out to be hens so they are with my laying hens. They are consistent big egg layers so I'm keeping them.


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## gavin (Jun 25, 2010)

He is what my experience was with Pioneers last year. Hopefully this will help some of you make your decisions in the next few months. As many will say, you just canât compete with the Cornish cross, and Iâd agree with that. The Pioneers were easy to raise and did forage well. I decided that trying to keep a few to breed was just not worth it. My family expects something that looks like a Cornish X at dinner time and the Pioneers just didnât offer that. I also donât really enjoy raising meat birds all that much so really for me the Cornish X is the answer. In 2 months I can be in an out of the chicken business with a yearâs supply to feed my family. With all heritage breeds Iâve tried I was unfortunately not able to come up with anything close. It took nearly twice as long, which really cut into the time I am onto preparing and planting a summer garden. They also were more difficult to process since they have more adult feathers, which also leads to spending more time doing something that is not that fun. I do believe they taste a bit better, but Iâm the only one in my family that notices. So for this year Iâm sticking with the Cornishâs, but will always keep my open to the idea of raising other birds in the future.


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