When to harvest?

[HenHouse10C]

I have a 10 week old black easter Egger cockerel, we just figured out he was a he this past week when he was crowing. We're thinking that we should just eat him since he's a mixed breed and and we can't have roosters where we live. Is 10 weeks a good age to dothis? And what is the quickest way to get the job done?

 

[slingshotandLAR]

Just had this happen not that long ago....

One of our amercuana "pullets" started crowing, so he had to go.

Because it was freezing outside I didn't bother plucking him, gave him a quick crack on the back of the head and that ended it. After that I skinned him and we took the breasts and battered and fried them for chic parm, it was delicious.

 

[Amina]

Most people do it at 16 weeks or later. Personally, I think they've gotta go when they get too obnoxious, usually around 12 or 13 weeks. At that age you can expect a 3 to 3.5 pound carcass for heritage breeds. So really it's a trade off between how long you can tolerate the crowing/how obnoxious they are, and the size of the bird.