age to butcher bramahs?? really 10 week?

[MarketGardener]

my bramahs as 8 week old, and the roos are being good exept 1 the big one id love to eat him full size but he is a bully bird , so i check the age to slaughter online and i found this ..

''

Are Brahma chickens good for meat?​

The Brahma is a large bird, producing a lot of flavorful, tender meat. It takes a full year to grow to full size, though, so most Brahmas are butchered at 8-10 weeks old.''

do they really harvest good at 10 week? they are oh my god so big, there a week behind my indian game and overtook them in size, and weight, cause most guides say 6-8 month, like this one it seems to contradict its self?

''As broilers, Brahma chicks were killed quite young, about 8-10 weeks of age. They made a most profitable roaster at 8 months, later than many breeds, but it was found that virgin cockerels were still tender as roasters at 12-13 months''

and ''Most Brahmas were harvested as broilers when they were young'' i assumed a broiler was a big meat bird in general this makes it seem like a broiler is young??

 

[Backroadlogic]

my bramahs as 8 week old, and the roos are being good exept 1 the big one id love to eat him full size but he is a bully bird , so i check the age to slaughter online and i found this ..

''

Are Brahma chickens good for meat?​

The Brahma is a large bird, producing a lot of flavorful, tender meat. It takes a full year to grow to full size, though, so most Brahmas are butchered at 8-10 weeks old.''

do they really harvest good at 10 week? they are oh my god so big, there a week behind my indian game and overtook them in size, and weight, cause most guides say 6-8 month, like this one it seems to contradict its self?

''As broilers, Brahma chicks were killed quite young, about 8-10 weeks of age. They made a most profitable roaster at 8 months, later than many breeds, but it was found that virgin cockerels were still tender as roasters at 12-13 months''

and ''Most Brahmas were harvested as broilers when they were young'' i assumed a broiler was a big meat bird in general this makes it seem like a broiler is young??

It seems young but In commercial poultry houses they harvest the broilers around 7-9 weeks depending on the customer

 

[MysteryChicken]

My brahmas weren't meaty enough until around 6-7 months of age.

 

[Molpet]

broiler is a high heat cooking method that requires a young tender bird. link in my signature to article with chart below,

 

[Ridgerunner]

i assumed a broiler was a big meat bird in general this makes it seem like a broiler is young??

Cornish Cross meat birds are often called "broilers". Cornish Cross are what you buy in the meat section of the supermarket. They are bred and fed to grow huge fast with a great feed to meat conversion rate. Most are butchered between 6 to 8 weeks of age. By this time they have grown to a nice commercial size and the meat is so tender you can cook it using any method you want, especially frying, grilling or broiling. If you try to keep the Cornish Cross after 8 weeks of age they are susceptible to heart attacks or their skeleton breaking down because of how much weight they are carrying and their bones have not had enough time to truly develop. These birds have nothing to do with Brahmas.

Brahma are a dual purpose breed that are slower to mature than most other dual purpose breeds. They do grow bigger than other dual purpose breeds. If you butcher any dual purpose breed at 10 weeks you will not get much meat. Since the Brahma are bigger than the other breeds at 10 weeks (or at many other ages) they will have more bones. I don't know if they have less meat by volume or just less meat in comparison to the bones. Several years back someone on here cooked a brahma cockerel and another breed of dual purpose and stripped the meat. After weighing they said the amount of meat was similar. That was one person doing the comparison one time. I don't know how consistent those results would be.

For different reasons some people butcher dual purpose cockerels around 12 weeks. That may be because they don't want them crowing, they are still tender enough to fry or grill, or to get them before puberty hits and they start harassing the pullets. The other reasons override them not getting much meat.

Each cockerel grows at its own pace but many people butcher excess cockerels at 16 weeks. Some are going to be bigger than others of the same breed but there is usually enough meat to make it worth the effort to butcher them. They are probably too tough to fry or grill but can be cooked with other methods.

I personally like to wait until about 23 weeks to butcher my dual purpose cockerels. In general they have finished their teenage growth spurt and still suit my preferred cooking method, baking.

Some people appear obsessed with the idea that the bird has to be huge before you can eat it. If you are one of those you probably want to wait until the Brahma are much older before you butcher so they can grow into their frame and find a way to cook them that suits you. There are only two of us and I can get two meals out of a pullet or hen. I like the larger birds and breed for larger cockerels, when I cook one of those I get some really nice leftovers for my lunches.

I have no idea what would be best for you. You might try the trial and error method. Butcher them at different ages to determine what works best for you.

Good luck!

 

[MarketGardener]

Cornish Cross meat birds are often called "broilers". Cornish Cross are what you buy in the meat section of the supermarket. They are bred and fed to grow huge fast with a great feed to meat conversion rate. Most are butchered between 6 to 8 weeks of age. By this time they have grown to a nice commercial size and the meat is so tender you can cook it using any method you want, especially frying, grilling or broiling. If you try to keep the Cornish Cross after 8 weeks of age they are susceptible to heart attacks or their skeleton breaking down because of how much weight they are carrying and their bones have not had enough time to truly develop. These birds have nothing to do with Brahmas.

Brahma are a dual purpose breed that are slower to mature than most other dual purpose breeds. They do grow bigger than other dual purpose breeds. If you butcher any dual purpose breed at 10 weeks you will not get much meat. Since the Brahma are bigger than the other breeds at 10 weeks (or at many other ages) they will have more bones. I don't know if they have less meat by volume or just less meat in comparison to the bones. Several years back someone on here cooked a brahma cockerel and another breed of dual purpose and stripped the meat. After weighing they said the amount of meat was similar. That was one person doing the comparison one time. I don't know how consistent those results would be.

For different reasons some people butcher dual purpose cockerels around 12 weeks. That may be because they don't want them crowing, they are still tender enough to fry or grill, or to get them before puberty hits and they start harassing the pullets. The other reasons override them not getting much meat.

Each cockerel grows at its own pace but many people butcher excess cockerels at 16 weeks. Some are going to be bigger than others of the same breed but there is usually enough meat to make it worth the effort to butcher them. They are probably too tough to fry or grill but can be cooked with other methods.

I personally like to wait until about 23 weeks to butcher my dual purpose cockerels. In general they have finished their teenage growth spurt and still suit my preferred cooking method, baking.

Some people appear obsessed with the idea that the bird has to be huge before you can eat it. If you are one of those you probably want to wait until the Brahma are much older before you butcher so they can grow into their frame and find a way to cook them that suits you. There are only two of us and I can get two meals out of a pullet or hen. I like the larger birds and breed for larger cockerels, when I cook one of those I get some really nice leftovers for my lunches.

I have no idea what would be best for you. You might try the trial and error method. Butcher them at different ages to determine what works best for you.

Good luck!

got 1 cockerel who keeps smashing a girl shes so timid but hes drew blood on her eye lid and plucked her featers , i have no other room for him as that has my big cockerel, so the only room left if he persists is the freezer, guess my little lad will have a nice meal

 

[DemeterAD9]

Large breeds mature slower and IMO processing a heritage breed so young is a bit of a waste. But at the end of the day you must keep the peace in your flock and if that means removing a bad young cockerel then you should do it. If possible, I'd wait till closer to 20 weeks for a brahma.

I've only done a few but I kept up with the weights and ages of the cockerels I butchered. Two EE cockerels butchered at 15 weeks, once processed both weighed about 3lbs give or take a few ounces . They were pretty scrawny but enough for 2 people.

Just processed 2 more cockerels today at ~19 weeks, one large breed mix and a RIR (or similar). RIR was just under 4lbs, the large one was 6lbs. Both are of a decent meatiness for heritage cockerels. Glad I waited and honestly could of waited a bit longer but my chosen cockerel was having a hard time keeping the two naughty cockerels in line and protecting the pullets from them.

 

[MarketGardener]

Large breeds mature slower and IMO processing a heritage breed so young is a bit of a waste. But at the end of the day you must keep the peace in your flock and if that means removing a bad young cockerel then you should do it. If possible, I'd wait till closer to 20 weeks for a brahma.

I've only done a few but I kept up with the weights and ages of the cockerels I butchered. Two EE cockerels butchered at 15 weeks, once processed both weighed about 3lbs give or take a few ounces . They were pretty scrawny but enough for 2 people.

Just processed 2 more cockerels today at ~19 weeks, one large breed mix and a RIR (or similar). RIR was just under 4lbs, the large one was 6lbs. Both are of a decent meatiness for heritage cockerels. Glad I waited and honestly could of waited a bit longer but my chosen cockerel was having a hard time keeping the two naughty cockerels in line and protecting the pullets from them.
View attachment 3954888

mine are well behaved, i have 9 cockerels all happy never fight, softest bred in the world, gona make it hard come the day lol

they look like urs now, there 35 week, been on lower 18% protein, about to boost them now, as rabbits come in so they will be eating all the bunnies over the next weeks to help reduce my feed cost if nothing els,

i dont like rabbit but i love chicken so they can convert it for me lol

 

[Down Under]

I'm a little late to the party but I came across this about the Brahma's.

I was reading in one of those old google free Poultry books from the 1800s that states crossing a dorking rooster over Brahma hens results in breast bigger than both birds and early too I have some dorkings coming in April, i am going to try this cross.