I've raised heritage breeds and Cornish Cross (the result of the cross-breeding of the two breeds the article mentions), and the difference in their health, whe

I've raised heritage breeds and Cornish Cross (the result of the cross-breeding of the two breeds the article mentions), and the difference in their health, when raised under nearly identical conditions, is starkly impossible to ignore. The heritage breeds are healthy; the Cornish Cross are lethargic and obese, and when my wife, a physician, looks at the organs as we butcher them, she tells me about their advanced heart disease and other organ ailments. The meat, too, is very different, though both are frankly delicious. The heritage breeds are denser, gamier, leaner, and more flavorful, while not as tender; the Cornish Cross have loose-structured, tender, fatty flesh whose smaller flavor is less rich and complex. I prefer the heritage breeds' taste, but some of my family members prefer the Cornish Cross. (I've never had a Cornish Cross live long enough to lay an egg.)