Source for good chicken

I'm seeking a new source for chicken to cook at home. The Bochoco birds that Puritan sells have become all white meat and are too big. The chicken at Walmart is often colored to a strange orange color causing me to distrust them. I need a source for good quality "normal" chickens. Suggestions?

The Monday morning Tianguis in Chapala has always served us well. As I understand it, the orange color is a result of the feed given to the birds. Harmless.

Where I live, chickens are sometimes fed lobster shells. It turns the yolks in eggs they lay orange. Not that this helps you find a place to buy chicken.

At the bottom of the tianguis the vendor sells chickens that are as big as turkeys. We enjoy
Them.

SunshineyDay wrote:At the bottom of the tianguis the vendor sells chickens that are as big as turkeys. We enjoy
Them.

Ajijic or Chapala?

I'm familiar with chickens with yellow skin and know that it's a result of their diet as is the color of the egg yolks. However, I've seen chicken and chicken parts at Walmart that were obviously "colored" to look yellow. Problem is, sometimes they use too much and they turn orange. Sometimes to little and their color is uneven.

There are a bunch of em running around on the street in front of the house... they look healthy enough...
How many do you want?

I'd appreciate it if you took the damned rooster as well.....

Try the Mercado in Chapala, excellent chicken

Which vendor?

If you go in from the Plaza, I usually turn left and use the one at the far end. All of them are good however. Delivered everyday and very fresh. (not frozen as I have found Puritan Poultry appears to be on occasion)

I second the choice of the mercado. We have used the vendor outside on the right and inside in the back corner; prefer the inside vendor for various sizes.

Ditto for the Chapala mercado publico. We also bought meats and bacon there, along with almost all our vegetables and fruits. Amazing place, and it was just 2 1/2 blocks from our house, which was very handy. For lunch inside the mercado, try Cocina Economica on the east wall. Excellent chiles rellenos and jugo de zanahoria, made my favorite lunch.

I also buy chicken from the indoor vendor at the Chapala mercado. They have plump (but not fatty) yellow chickens...and always fresh. In Ajijic, you can buy the same type of chicken from the vendor at the lower end of the tianguis. I avoid the white chicken like I avoid yellow snow. Those orange-colored chickens referred to earlier in this thread may have been rubbed with a seasoning paste made from ground achiote seeds. Sorry, I can't remember what the seasoning is called...but it's good.

If you live in Ajijic, they sell chicken across the street of the plaza on the south side, family has been selling for 30 years. About middle of the block

my friends buy their chicken on Donato Guerra on the right going down near the corner with Guadalupe Victoria.
Ask around there.

Smartalex wrote:I also buy chicken from the indoor vendor at the Chapala mercado. They have plump (but not fatty) yellow chickens...and always fresh. In Ajijic, you can buy the same type of chicken from the vendor at the lower end of the tianguis. I avoid the white chicken like I avoid yellow snow. Those orange-colored chickens referred to earlier in this thread may have been rubbed with a seasoning paste made from ground achiote seeds. Sorry, I can't remember what the seasoning is called...but it's good.

I have bought chickens at the Tianguis in Chapala. I am curious as to which indoor vendor you refer to at the mercado. The only one I know of is (the name escapes me right now) the one that is a chain and they have a shop in Ajijic as well. Is that the one to which you refer?

A couple of suggestions I will make about chicken at the Chapala Tianguis are:
1--Buy early in the day
2--Make sure the vendor has one person handling the money and one person handling the chicken.

Fastfox wrote:

Smartalex wrote:I also buy chicken from the indoor vendor at the Chapala mercado. They have plump (but not fatty) yellow chickens...and always fresh. In Ajijic, you can buy the same type of chicken from the vendor at the lower end of the tianguis. I avoid the white chicken like I avoid yellow snow. Those orange-colored chickens referred to earlier in this thread may have been rubbed with a seasoning paste made from ground achiote seeds. Sorry, I can't remember what the seasoning is called...but it's good.

I have bought chickens at the Tianguis in Chapala.  I am curious as to which indoor vendor you refer to at the mercado.  The only one I know of is (the name escapes me right now) the one that is a chain and they have a shop in Ajijic as well.  Is that the one to which you refer?

There is only one chicken vendor inside the Chapala mercado building. It's down the stairs and to the left from the front entrance, at the north end of the building. On the outside of the mercado building, there are two vendors that sell chicken. The one next to the meat butcher sells the plump yellow chickens.

Costco

Puritan Poultry will get you smaller birds. I've order small ones several times when I didn't want a roaster.

Using a brine on the older, larger, chickens offered around here will make them juicy and tender. Done correctly they will be just like smaller younger chickens.