Chronicles of Raising Meat Birds - Modern Broilers, Heritage and Hybrids

[Ridgerunner]

Well glad to hear someone else butchers pullets!

We all have out individual goals, management techniques, facilities, and ways of doing things. I could sell pullets instead of eating them if I wanted to but that just doesn't suit me. If I only ate cockerels I'd have to hatch twice as many chicks and since I seldom get a 50-50 split on sex at hatch probably more than that to be assured of a chicken a week to eat. That would mean I'd spend more on food and I'd need larger facilities. There are only two of us so we get two meals out of a small pullet. I cook them the same way as cockerels. The only practical difference in eating a larger cockerel instead of a pullet is that I get some leftover chicken for lunch.

Do your hens ever have a yellowish liver?

Yes, not all livers are that dark brown, some can be fairly light. That doesn't bother me as long as the color is solid. If they are mottled or somehow look weird they go to the dogs.

 

[Morrigan]

I'm another chicken keeper who butchers pullets. So far this year we've butchered an 18 week old who was on the verge of laying, and a second one, at 6 months, who had been laying for a few weeks.

On the why pullets? Like @Ridgerunner, I do not have the space to raise 2X the number of birds, if I sold or gave away pullets. Plus, I don't want the logistical hassles of selling birds. I would rather go back to raising a batch of CX . . . in which case I would still be butchering pullets, only very young pullets.

It is mentally more difficult to butcher pullets. I find the hardest part is making the decision of who to keep to add to the laying flock and who to butcher. In evaluating them, I spend more time with them, and start to become attached. I'm facing that decision again right now as I have a group of pullets I need to thin out.

On the livers. I've noticed tan-ish livers in a couple of 2 year old hens we butchered last year. I wondered if it was some type of age-related issue. The livers on the pullets were the typical dark red. I gave the tan livers to the dogs, although I think they would have been fine to eat.

The one other thing I will add about eating pullets is that the two we've eaten so far were really delicious and tender. The 6 month old was just as flavorful, but more tender then a 15 week old cockerel.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I'm another chicken keeper who butchers pullets. So far this year we've butchered an 18 week old who was on the verge of laying, and a second one, at 6 months, who had been laying for a few weeks.

On the why pullets? Like @Ridgerunner, I do not have the space to raise 2X the number of birds, if I sold or gave away pullets. Plus, I don't want the logistical hassles of selling birds. I would rather go back to raising a batch of CX . . . in which case I would still be butchering pullets, only very young pullets.

It is mentally more difficult to butcher pullets. I find the hardest part is making the decision of who to keep to add to the laying flock and who to butcher. In evaluating them, I spend more time with them, and start to become attached. I'm facing that decision again right now as I have a group of pullets I need to thin out.

On the livers. I've noticed tan-ish livers in a couple of 2 year old hens we butchered last year. I wondered if it was some type of age-related issue. The livers on the pullets were the typical dark red. I gave the tan livers to the dogs, although I think they would have been fine to eat.

The one other thing I will add about eating pullets is that the two we've eaten so far were really delicious and tender. The 6 month old was just as flavorful, but more tender then a 15 week old cockerel.

That’s so great to hear! Since our meatbirds are for my daughter’s poultry business, we have been selling the dressed birds to friends. I have yet to get any feed back on how they cooked up, but I’ve been nervous that people used to grocery store chickens will find out pasture raised, older birds to be tough. Glad to hear that the pullets are working well from a culinary perspective! We kept one pullet ourselves from yesterday, because she was so small. Not too thin and a good abdominal fat pad, but small in stature so we didn’t want to sell her. I’m planning on making beer can chicken with her this week so we will see what the family thinks!

 

[aliciaplus3]

That’s so great to hear! Since our meatbirds are for my daughter’s poultry business, we have been selling the dressed birds to friends. I have yet to get any feed back on how they cooked up, but I’ve been nervous that people used to grocery store chickens will find out pasture raised, older birds to be tough. Glad to hear that the pullets are working well from a culinary perspective! We kept one pullet ourselves from yesterday, because she was so small. Not too thin and a good abdominal fat pad, but small in stature so we didn’t want to sell her. I’m planning on making beer can chicken with her this week so we will see what the family thinks!

we have been selling cornish cross at our local farmers market and about mid way through the summer took a chance and offered a few 16ish week cockerels for sale and a couple "stew roosters" the only feed back we got was off the roosters and even after we disclosed that they would be much more firm meat and better cooked "Low and Slooooow" the customer came back and complained for a month... even after my daughters offered him a refund... our take away was to eat the older ones ourselves ( instant pot all day and the 18 month old rooster we had was wonderful!). cuz even after disclosure most customers don't have a clue.... ooops???
too bad we are not allowed to offer canned chicken, yummy!

 

[Morrigan]

I’m planning on making beer can chicken with her this week so we will see what the family thinks!

I'm interested in hearing what you think of the taste and tenderness. The fact that we found the pullets to be such good eating, makes me feel better about hatching and raising them as meat birds.

even after we disclosed that they would be much more firm meat and better cooked "Low and Slooooow" the customer came back and complained for a month...

Some people just like to complain.

 

[aliciaplus3]

I'm interested in hearing what you think of the taste and tenderness. The fact that we found the pullets to be such good eating, makes me feel better about hatching and raising them as meat birds.



Some people just like to complain.

I agree. Its hard to please some folks....

 

[Molpet]

One of the hatcheries, on the east coast, sold ranger males cheap.. because they said they had a standing order for only pullets from a fancy restaurant supplier.
Usually meat bird males are more than pullets

 

[Morrigan]

One of the hatcheries, on the east coast, sold ranger males cheap.. because they said they had a standing order for only pullets from a fancy restaurant supplier.
Usually meat bird males are more than pulletsView attachment 2370786

That's interesting.

I recently read "The Dirty Life" which talks about a city girl marrying a farmer and throwing herself into the business farming. She mentioned that the birth of a female cow is always celebrated on the farm because, aside from the milk, they are far better tasting to eat. It doesn't surprise me that the same would be true for chickens.

 

[aart]

I recently read "The Dirty Life" which talks about a city girl marrying a farmer and throwing herself into the business farming.

Great book!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Just though I’d update on how things went with the latest five birds processed last weekend. These were 20 week old olive eggers, BCM over Ameraucana. There were 4 pullets, weighing 2 lb 9 oz to 3 lb 4 oz dressed and one cockerel, weighing 4 lb 4 oz. These black feathered birds were so much easier to pluck! Very few pin feathers. You may recall that we processed 4 from this group 2 weeks ago and had crazy pin feathers. So, maybe waiting 2 weeks helped the pin feather problem.

We kept the smallest pullet and I made beer can chicken (with White Claw) in the oven. The hubby and DD said she was as tender as grocery store chicken. I even ate some - my first meat in 30 years. Now I’m feeling a little ill...

I did dry age in the fridge one day, rub in a seasoned salt, and vacuum pack for two more days in the fridge (I wanted to duplicate conditions we used for birds we sold). I didn’t crisp the skin well, but that’s probably my cooking technique; should have left open in the fridge for the day to dry the skin better. Pics of cockerel before seasoning, smallest pullet, med pullet, cockerel after seasoning, the funny beer can pose before cooking, and carved chicken.