Advice on butchering extra Roos?

[Bettyboop7499]

The 9 month old was a Leghorn mix but the 1 year old rooster was a show quality Speckled Sussex. He was beautiful and I hated doing it but he was just too aggressive and way bigger than I like my roosters to be.

I doubt if either one of them would fit in my crock pot.

The 9 month old we ate had really dark legs and thighs. Never seen legs that dark and we eat a lot of home grown roosters. The breast meat (what there was of it) wasn't as dark but it wasn't white meat like I was used to. And it was tough too.

Trust me get a bigger crook pot! I wonder why so dark and tough. They free range but do you supplement their food with anything?

 

[Ridgerunner]

You can eat any chicken of any sex and age but age determines how you need to cook them. The older a chicken the slower and with more moisture you need. We all have different standards and expectations, but only a pretty young chicken can be fried or grilled. Some people may have a cut-off point for that at 12 weeks, some can go past 16. There is often a little trial and error involved in learning what cooking methods are right for your family.

There is not much meat on a 12 week old cockerel or pullet but some people butcher at that age for their own reasons. They may want to fry or grill, they may want to get the cockerels before they start to crow much, at some point (often 12 to 15 weeks) the hormones kick in that change behaviors and cause the meat to gain flavor. I like that flavor but some people don't. I personally like to butcher my cockerels between 5 and 6 months but usually wait to butcher my excess pullets until I see how they lay. I coat these with herbs and cook them in the over at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for 3-1/2 to 4 hours in a tightly covered baking dish. My old roosters and spent hens go in the crock pot, usually for 16 to 18 hours. I use them to make broth but pick the meat. That meat is tremendous for tacos, salads, or in soup or stew. There is no set age where you have to butcher, there are just too many variables.

I don't know what your facilities (coops/runs) look like or how you manage your chickens. I typically raise my cockerels and pullets with the flock until I butcher (I have a lot of room) but occasionally a group of cockerels get so rowdy I separate them or most of them from the flock in a bachelor pad. I understand how cockerels and pullets act during puberty and most of the time I accept it but that can be too much for some people. If you keep the cockerels away from the females so there are no females to impress they usually get long great.

I don't know where you are located, in the US or somewhere else. If you can find your state or country thread in the "Where am I? Where are you!" section you might be able to chat with your neighbors about the butchering. Either find someone to process for you or to teach you how.

@red horse ranch I have to tease you about your problem solving skills. If your bird won't fit the pot, cut it into pieces, maybe cook half at a time. You may really want to think about that for that old rooster. Or look up a good recipe for Coq au Vin. That's how the French turn an old rooster into a gourmet meal. I cringe when thinking about frying an old cockerel but maybe that's part of your trial and error. Good luck with that older one.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Don't forget to smile! While it may not be pleasant, we are choosing to do this.

Yes, it's unpleasant task... but we do lighten the mood by goofing off.

Once we discovered by pressing on the carcass it made a farting sound like one of the dog toys supposed to sound like a pig snorting. We could even see the flap or sphincter in the neck area flapping as it made the sound. Even video taped it.

And another time my daughter discovered she could make the foot try to grab me by bending the leg in and out.

Never ever fry an old bird or you get exactly what was described, toughness. If that is how you wish to cook them, it is best to raise a broiler breed. And breed does impact the amount of breast meat verses thigh meat that you get. And some birds do have darker or more flavorful meat than others. Adjusting your flavor and texture expectation is definitely a process. Information is available for most breeds.

We don't do broilers because we aren't in it for the meat. We process what we raise which is just a hobby and I get what birds I like. The tastiest have been the Wyandotte and the Marans. I haven't cooked a Turken yet, but my processing guy was very excited about the possibilities from what he saw during processing.

Yep we eat tacos, enchiladas, soups and such. And I have been thinking about Coq au Vin lately... NY times has some of the best recipes...
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018529-coq-au-vin

Even though I pay for feed for a longer period of time, seems like they also don't scarf as much as broilers... so to me, it's a wash other than time and flock management.

I am one who is not OK with the boys and and girls staying together until processing. Some have tried mating as young as 8 weeks and even crowing at 4. I don't like the gals subjected to too many amorous boys who all decided at one time to go after the weakest or most docile gal in the flock and hold her down while they take turns mating her. I keep a stag pen now and at the first sign of mating behavior all who are identifiable as male head into it. That's also one way I control my genetics.

Guess I will also mention that I made a cone from a gallon vinegar bottle instead of spending $30 on a good one. It works fantastically. Most peeps use bleach bottles, but that's what I had.

@red horse ranch guess you discovered frying older birds is out. But did you also rest it before freezing or cooking? I think that does make a difference.

 

[red horse ranch]

I had always read that roosters under a year old were suitable for frying. And I was just hungry for a good fried chicken. Most of the time my fryers are under 5 months old. But these 2 roosters were feeling their spring hormones and running the girls all over the place. And fighting the other roosters. They have plenty of all flock feed and layer in the henhouse. So they were well fed. The only reason I kept them that long was for breeding purposes. Once It looked like most of the hens were bred there was no real reason to put up with them. And I had a good hatch from their girls.

When I get ready to cook the big one year old I will put him in my big roaster with water and bake him at around 250 all day.


@red horse ranch guess you discovered frying older birds is out. But did you also rest it before freezing or cooking? I think that does make a difference. [/QUOTE]

I usually let the birds sit in ice water until the next day before freezing them. I've been told they need to rest in ice water several days for the rigor mortise to leave. That freezing them too soon makes them tough. So maybe I'll wait longer this time. But I remember mom cooking them the same day they were killed.

 

[Mrs. K]

It does take guts to get this part done. But it is a management skill that is vital, one cannot only add birds, some birds do not fit the flock and keep it in turmoil. I have tried different ways of prepping layer birds or laying bird roosters, but really only like them for canned meat to use in casseroles.

This year I went with the CX's. I just got 15... am a little nervous how long in time it will take me to do them. The most I have ever done before was 6. It is a job, and getting it all organized, what to do with the offal, the feathers, getting the water the right temperature, getting plucked, getting cooled down... Things to get, banded razor blades, very sharp, a tree pruner to take the head off, ice, clean water, the plucker on the drill head, news paper, a big cooler.

I use a propane cooker and the canner pot to get a big enough pot of hot water, one or two birds as a time.

Another pair of hands, can make a party of it. Truthfully, once the deed is done, I did not find it hard. The more you do, the more matter of fact you get about it. I watch the video of the little oriental woman that goes out and gets one, like she is picking radishes from the garden. Not quite there yet, but getting closer.

If this is your first time, I suggest doing no more than 2, you will be exhausted. DO do these important steps: No feed the night before...really does make a difference, didn't think it did, but it does. The water temperature of the scaled, needs to be measured, not guessed at, once I did that too. A lap top, that you can set up on the table, and follow the pictures step by step.

I just do a few, so I have a plucker that attaches to the drill, works like a charm. Hand picking takes for ever!

Mrs K