Hi norfolklass... yes those organic chicken breasts are broilers too - though they will be slower growing by a couple of weeks only!!! Did you see the 'tonight programme' the other week? It showed that those organic chooks are no better off than the cheap brands and contained a huge amount of more fat! The only way to guarantee good birds is from a local supplier at a farmers market or such like.
HFW has utility birds rather than the broilers heres a bit from his website
Dual purpose
Cuckoo Maran A large, hardy bird that matures slowly but is ultimately excellent eating. Reasonable layer (average 100 eggs per year).
Light Sussex A much-favoured dual purpose bird, hardy and strong. Good layer (average 100 to 150 eggs per year).
Dorking One of the oldest breeds around, possibly introduced by the Romans; tough, adaptable and excellent eating. Poor layer (40 to 50 eggs per year).
Wyandott A charming white powder puff of a bird, with a good weighty carcass under the fluffy feathers. Poor layer (40 to 50 eggs per year).
Dumpy A favourite Scottish breed, hardy and tolerant. Good eating. Poor layer (40 to 50 eggs per year).
Rhode Island Red The bird from which the brown-egg-laying hybrids originate. A good layer (100-plus eggs per year) and a reasonable eater.
Especially for eating Ross Cobb The Cobb (often known as a 'Ross Cobb', as the frozen food company of that name did much to develop the breed) has been bred to put on weight at an astonishing rate. Most of the factory-farmed broilers are variations on the Cobb theme. Intensively farmed, with the 'benefit' of drugs, hormones and dubious feeds, they can be table-ready within twelve weeks of hatching. They also have a tendency to 'go off their legs': putting on so much breast weight without being able to develop their leg musculature effectively cripples them, and they cannot even walk. But restored to a more natural environment, Cobbs do well and make good eaters. Crossing Cobb hens with cockerels of a hardier dual-purpose breed, such as the Light Sussex or Maran, makes for a slower-growing, more balanced eating bird.
Indian Game A 'fancy' breed related to the fighting thingy, the Indian Game is a big, powerful bird. The pure-bred bird is indeed slightly gamy, and tougher than a normal eating chicken, but those who like the idea of a real farmyard bird to roast will love it. Indian Games cross well with other, softer eating hens, such as the Wyandott and Ross Cobb. The Indian Game thingy was the chosen 'stud' in my attempt to breed fine table birds, After a couple of dud cockerels, I finally got hold of a 'perfomer' that crossed with my own mixed flock of dual-purpose birds. All the resulting birds were good eating. The Wyandott cross was the best, closely followed by the Dorking. I was later informed that I should have done this the other way round, using Indian Game hens to cross with cockerels of other dual-purpose breeds
