Age to Butcher Cornish X

[Melky]

I am getting my first set of cornish X in on Thursday. I have read you can start to butcher the birds around week 3 but I was wondering if they were any reasonable size at that point? I am not wanting to go the full 8ish weeks since that would be a bit too big for my personal needs. I was wanting the smaller butchering size. Around what age would that be? I am getting straight run, about 31 of them. This isn't my first time raising or brooding chicks but my first meat birds.

Any advice or good luck thoughts are appreciated! I am a single mom of three small children just trying to make some of the food we eat a little more "close to home."

Here is article: https://www.purelypoultry.com/blog/raising-cornish-cross-chickens-for-meat/
Don’t forget the weight. Males 10 lbs and females 9lbs at 8-9 weeks. Make sure at good weight. If want something in 4 weeks it’s the Cornish game hen weight of 2-3 lbs.

 

[Acre4Me]

When I am faced with a small carcass, pull the rib cage looser. You will still have a good looking carcass. Just better access. Other option is to cut out the backbone.

Removing the backbone out of a whole chicken is called either “butterfly” or “spatchcock”. Then you can flatten the whole chicken and grill it, or more quickly cook it in oven or pan. You’ll need good meat scissors to cut through the ribs, but nice once done.

 

[RUNuts]

Removing the backbone out of a whole chicken is called either “butterfly” or “spatchcock”. Then you can flatten the whole chicken and grill it, or more quickly cook it in oven or pan. You’ll need good meat scissors to cut through the ribs, but nice once done.

What do you do with the back bones? Use it for stock or discard?

 

[Acre4Me]

What do you do with the back bones? Use it for stock or discard?

Yes, stock - add in the necks too, and tips of the wings if you cut those off.

 

[Mrs. K]

I butterflied mine and really liked them. You can see that you are getting them cleaned well. And they cool faster and more evenly. I did find that my 15 varied quite a bit in size. I was set up with help to do them all in one day so we did so, but later on I thought that I could have waited a week on some of them.

I used the backs and necks and feet to make canned jars of broth. When I packaged them, I only did a few as whole birds, but cut them up into an amount for supper for my husband and me. So, I would grow them out the 8 weeks, and package in sizes for your family.

Mrs K