Percent of meat per bird???

[Chicken Slaver]

What percentage of live weight is meat on a 3-yr old layer hen? In other words, if a person had 6lb layers that they wanted to bone-out to make sausage how much weight per bird in boned-out & skinned meat per bird?

 

[BBQJOE]

What percentage of live weight is meat on a 3-yr old layer hen? In other words, if a person had 6lb layers that they wanted to bone-out to make sausage how much weight per bird in boned-out & skinned meat per bird?

I'm throwing a dart at the board here. But I'd bet a 6lb bird is going to clean out around 4 lbs.
Let me go kill one of my chickens, I'll get back to you.

 

[BBQJOE]

I'm throwing a dart at the board here. But I'd bet a 6lb bird is going to clean out around 4 lbs.
Let me go kill one of my chickens, I'll get back to you.

 

[Free Feather]

The answer to your question can be found in Gail Damerow's Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens. I remember reading it in there. I would tell you, but I cannot seem to find the book... anyone else have it?

 

[Weehopper]

They said there would be no math.

 

[Chicken Slaver]

They said there would be no math.

 

[Kinger1979]

Live weight to dressed weight is roughly 73/75% in poultry.So if you have a 6 pound layer it should dress out at roughly 4 1/2 pound.Bear in mind dressed weight is a carcass with bones so the actual meat will be less again but hope this offers some idea .

 

[donrae]

I didn't weigh my birds at all, but I culled some cockerels that were a mostly Easter egger, some barred Rock, some Leghorn. Classic barnyard mixes with an emphasis on egg laying, not meat.

the skinned carcasses looked like this...







then I put those in the pressure cooker, cooled and pulled the meat. Each carcass yielded about a quart bag of meat.



Now, these were males about 7 months old, so I'm thinking you'll get maybe 2/3 that amount of meat from a mature hen. So maybe a generous pint? around there. But the hen will have more fat for your sausage, that's a bonus. They usually have a nice fat pad at the base of the tail.

 

[BBQJOE]

I didn't weigh my birds at all, but I culled some cockerels that were a mostly Easter egger, some barred Rock, some Leghorn. Classic barnyard mixes with an emphasis on egg laying, not meat.

the skinned carcasses looked like this...







then I put those in the pressure cooker, cooled and pulled the meat. Each carcass yielded about a quart bag of meat.



Now, these were males about 7 months old, so I'm thinking you'll get maybe 2/3 that amount of meat from a mature hen. So maybe a generous pint? around there. But the hen will have more fat for your sausage, that's a bonus. They usually have a nice fat pad at the base of the tail.

That meat is so dark. It looks like duck.

 

[donrae]

I have folks comment on that a lot. I don't know if it's cause it's skinned, or what. They were birds who had had time to develop some good muscle mass and use their legs quite a bit, maybe that's the difference.

. But it is moist and juicy and tender.