Some breeds such as White or Barred Plymouth Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, and New Hampshires are used for farm flock meat production, but they generally don't grow as rapidly as the crosses and take more feed per pound of weight gained. Leghorn males do not make good meat birds and are unprofitable even if day-old chicks are sometimes obtained free. The various classes of chicken meat birds are raised from the same commercial strains. The same bird slaughtered at 5 weeks of age provides a Cornish game hen and can be grown out to 12 weeks or longer to make a delicious roaster. The males can be caponized at 3-4 weeks and marketed after 18 weeks as capons.
Most small flocks produce only enough meat for home consumption.
If any birds are to be marketed, consider the prevailing market prices for the various classes of poultry meat birds and don't try to compete with retail sales at distressed market or special sale prices. Many rural customers prefer fryer-type chickens of the heavier weights rather than the lighter weight ranges common in many stores. Calculate your production costs and compare to retail market prices. It will take about 5 pounds of feed to age 6 weeks and 8-9 pounds to 8 weeks for the commercial strains. Roasters and capons require more feed per pound of meat produced than fryers.