Ages to eat chickens...?

[stuckinthecity]

Well not cornish x rock, but I figured this was the best place for my thread.

If you have the dual purpose birds, and hatch more roosters then you can handle, at what age can you wait untill it gets too tough to eat?

and if its too tough, why can't you eat an old layer hen or old rooster?
LOL, sorry for being confusing... can you eat old chickens?

my plan: have around 20-30 laying hens, (game, RIR, Barred Rock, Buff, Game crosses,) and about 5-6 roosters.
hatch eggs under hens (NO INCUBATORS-eww, i hate them!)
and depending on production of hens/age- either sell pullets or keep them and butcher hens/sell at trade day.
young roosters: replace the old roosters if they're legs start lookin scaly and butcher the rest.

So basically im just asking can you butcher the old hens? and if so then would you have to use their meat in soup/baked chicken?(something moist) and how long can you keep a frozen chicken with maybe only the wings and legs cut off?
If I butcher that many birds, I would love to make my own buffalo wings!

 

[okiron]

Hmm correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the rooster to hen ratio should be around 1:10?

 

[chickenbottom]

Quote:
you are correct

 

[chickenbottom]

Quote:
yes you can eat the older birds but the meat is tougher the older the tougher a roosters meat is pretty tender before he is mature enought for mating

 

[Judy]

Definitely the best place. Dual purpose birds are just that, for meat and eggs. Not the best idea to talk about eating chicken in forums populated by people who do not eat their chickens.

Here's my approach.

I bought about 50 chicks, dual purpose breeds, probably 30 roos and 20 pullets. Most excess roos were butchered between 14-18 weeks. We made a couple of mistakes because of the age and did two pullets, though one was so mean she would have been butchered even if we had known she was not a roo. They were tender and delicious. Still have a few too many roos, because I want to be sure the ones I keep will be NICE GUYS. They will probably be 20-24 weeks when we take the last ones. I expect they will be a bit tough, though none have been a bit so at this point.

You CAN eat an old rooster or old laying hen. Around here, the chicken houses sell hens for $5 after a couple of years of laying. People scarf them up for food. They stew them and make chicken and dumplings. Just cut the meat across the grain and add it back to whatever. Makes delicious broth.

A famous French dish, coq au vin, is intended to be made with an old rooster.

But they are at their most tender, best for barbecue or frying, before about 18 weeks, which is before you really know the personalities of the roosters. So you will wind likely up putting some in the crock pot and making chicken noodle soup. Even baked chicken will be best if they are younger. Does not mean the older ones won't be fine.

Might be that older wings would be tender enough for buffalo wings, too. Have no idea.

Keeping frozen chicken is no different from any other food. You can look up what the USDA says. Best in the first few months, probably safe for at least a year, but may taste a bit freezer burned. Attention to cooling during and right after processing is much more critical than freezer time.

 

[stuckinthecity]

Thanks ddawn, that really helped!

how do you butcher yours?

 

[stuckinthecity]

and the ratio is one to eight, by the guide to raising chickens

 

[chickenbottom]

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close enough lol alot will have different opinions on this alot of people that i know on here go by 1:10 but what ever floats your boat

 

[Judy]

You mean, how do we kill them? Chop off the head.

I neither kill nor eat them, but I help with the processing. My son and his family greatly enjoy the eating, and we all do the butchering together, including the kids. Well, most of them, the ones who are willing.

Slitting the throat in a killing cone is what I would go for if I were starting out with this. Also instant for them, and bleeds them better. Pithing might be best of all for bleeding them out, but I would never attempt this unless I had been taught hands-on by an expert. And I see no evidence in the carcass that chopping off the head then immediately hanging them by a foot for a few minutes does not bleed them adequately.

 

[stuckinthecity]

Ohh, okay.
I like the cone idea.
it directs the blood better so maybe you can have a chance of not getting it all over you.