Dual purpose roosters, when to butcher.

[dacjohns]

Any body with experience on this?

I've read that roosters should be butchered at 12 to 14 weeks old because after that the meat gets stringy.

Does anyone know why? Is because they are maturing sexually and the hormones are going to town or is it because of some other reason.

I have a bunch that are in this age group now and feel pretty scrawny. I know that dual purpose birds don't put on the meat as fast as a Cornish X and won't get as big.

If I keep them from foraging as much so they are eating more flock raiser and getting less exercise do you think I will be able to get a meatier bird without getting a tough bird?

 

[FisherMOM]

well.... if the meat IS stringy.. couldn't you just cook it until it's tender? like in a crockpot all day or in the oven?

My friend, who is going to butcher Mango, is planning to butcher 2 Australorp roosters as well. They will all be around 12 - 14 weeks old. That will be this coming weekend, I believe.

 

[kstaven]

12 weeks is to young for dual purpose breeds in general. 16 - 20 is more of the norm you will see. At 12 weeks they have the frame structure (skeletal) but not the meat on that frame.

If you age the carcass for 24 hours in the fridge after processing and before freezing it, the meat will be far more tender. Or you could salt brine the finished carcass in the fridge for 24 hours if you want the moisture content closer to a chicken you buy from the store.

Chickens from the store are 10% extra water when you buy them.

 

[silkiechicken]

I cooked up a "dual" purpose roo once that was over a year old... went straight to the soup after a day resting because we knew it was tough... and even though the ends of the bones were falling apart and the meat had turned to string... the strings that remained were tough!

Just butchered one 18 week old leghorn roo today... would have been two but the second escaped and made a mad dash for it and ended up free for the day with the rest, but the one I did dressed out to 2.5 lbs including head, feet, and innards. Mmm one sandwich.

 

[chickenfanatic]

dunno why but yea older roos are ewwwwww

 

[fullhouse]

We are butchering several roos on Thursday. They will be 14-15 weeks. I'll let you know how they turn out

 

[dacjohns]

Quote:
Great, thank you.

 

[bluey]

butchered roosters is yummy....

 

[FisherMOM]

I found this post... does it help?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=74570

 

[dacjohns]

Quote:
Yes it did. I should have looked. Thanks.