The Yield of Edible Meat from Different Market Classes of Chickens

SINCE a large part of the meat demand in recent years has been met with the production and processing of chickens, a study was made to determine the amount of edible meat which may be obtained from five different market classes of chickens, namely, broilers, fryers, light hens, medium heavy hens, and light roaster males. Previous work has been conducted in which the yield of meat from live, dressed and eviscerated broilers, fryers and light roasters was determined, McNally and Spicknall (1949), by boiling the dressed birds and removing the meat from the bones. Other work has been conducted to determine the percentage of edible meat in relation to meat type score of chickens, by cooking the carcasses and removing the meat from the bones, Henderson (1949). In a study on the growth of White Plymouth Rock chickens, Mitchell et al. (1926), reported that the edible flesh and fat constituted . . .