Are hybrids chickens also good to eat?

[aart]

all heritage breeds except for the Olive Eggers which I know they are hybrids.......One last question: what is the best age to process these hybrids before they are stringy? 2, 3, 4 months? I am planning to separate them as soon as the mother lets me and feed them a hi protein diet and free range.

OE's are a cross between a blue egg layer breed and dark brown egg layer breed whose female offspring should lay olive colored eggs. 'Hybrids' usually refer to a high production layer like sexlinks and are given one of many names by the hatchery that produces them using a 'secret' mix of breeds and crosses. 'Heritage' is a tricky term and it's unlikely you have truly heritage breeds if they came from a typical hatchery.

Anyway, vocabulary aside.

I slaughter cockerels at 13-16 weeks, before they start causing too much chaos and while still tender enough to grill for that crispy skinned deliciousness. Not much meat but the grilled bones make for some excellent stock. Anything older than that I rest the carcass longer and pressure cook until meat is done and is saved aside then a couple more hours to get that bone broth.

Resting the cleaned carcass in fridge for 48-72 hours for rigor to pass is essential for chewable meat from any bird(except maybe CX?). Tho no homegrown bird I've eaten, layer or meat breed, is as soft as a grocery bird, they are more 'toothsome'. If the meat is 'stringy' I cut it into smaller pieces.

 

[Compost King]

The chickens you butcher process from your birds will spoil you for any other chicken then but yes you would be ahead of the game if you have a incubator more to the game than trying to brood birds most hatchery have broodiness bred from them

I have been too busy to cook or process a new chicken (ran out of meat last week) so I went to Zaxbys (chicken fast food that has amazingly high quality chicken) a couple days recently just due to not having time to cook and get my workload finished. And its been to hot to be over a stove. That high quality chicken from Zaxbys is gross now. Its the same chicken but I have been spoiled by own chickens. In some ways its good because I shouldn't be eating fast food my weight is 15 pounds higher than needs to be, and buying it in the form of fast food is more expensive than growing my own. So when I finally have time to cook for myself I shouldn't have fast food addiction. The Downside is that when I have to eat fast food in a pinch I am not enjoying the meat.

 

[featherhead007]

Save the chickens for eggs.
EAT FISH!

 

[featherhead007]

Come to Cali, I will take you all out to dinner. No need to bring the chickens!

 

[natyvidal]

I would not mind “sending”them out!
How do I go about finding someone?

 

[pennyJo1960]

I would not mind “sending”them out!
How do I go about finding someone?

Do a google search for a butcher but near you

 

[natyvidal]

Thank you for the offer for dinner. I bit far from Fla!

Ill settle for the google search.

Thank you everyone for all your help and suggestions.

 

[pennyJo1960]

You are very welcome although not allot of help from me

 

[Ridgerunner]

Breeds are RIR, barred rocks cuckoo Marans, white leghorns, speckled Sussex, easter Eggers. Also includes two roosters, dominant one is a easter egger and the other americauna.

Question: if I let the brooder hens hatch a few eggs to satisfy their urges, and raise the chicks for meat, will the quality of meat be good being descendants from these breeds?

The quality of the meat will be as good as the quality of the parent breeds as far as taste. As others have mentioned, the age you butcher has a lot to do with flavor and texture. Texture is what might cause you to have to cook them differently. The older the chicken the more texture they develop so you need to cook them at lower temperatures and with more moisture. I'm not going to give you ages because we all have our own preferences. Some people are happy to grill a 14 week old cockerel while someone used to supermarket chicken (generally butchered at 6 to 8 weeks of age) might find that pretty chewy. Baking or roasting might be better for some people. My suggestion there is to try something and see how you like it. If it doesn't work try something different.

As they age flavor intensifies, just like it does with pork, beef, or any other meat. This is a fairly slow steady process with pullets but the hormones that hit cockerels when they hit puberty accelerates this a lot. Some people call that "gamey" and don't like it. Some of us really appreciate it and prefer it over the store-bought chicken. Again, we have our own preferences. Those hormones also cause cockerels to get a lot more texture than pullets.

If you hatch eggs you will get both males and females. Some of us only eat cockerels, some eat both pullets and cockerels. We all have our own preferences as to what age to butcher and how to cook them. There is no one way to do any of this that is right and all other ways are wrong. You could write a book on many of these aspects. My main suggestion is to look through this section for more information or ask specific questions.

I don't know how big your EE and Americana roosters are. Their size will partially determine how big their offspring grows. I don't know how big your EE hens are, typically they are not real big but that can vary a lot. EE's are not a breed so there are no rules for them. Your leghorns should lay white eggs, do not hatch any white eggs if you are going for meat. Leghorns are egg laying specialists but have small bony frames that just doesn't produce much meat.

The other breeds lay brown eggs and should be fine for what you are trying to do. It should be a great adventure.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi Brahma, we are about to butcher 3 mo old layer type extra cockerels and had heard that they should be cooked differently but not how they should be cooked. How do you cook yours?

At 3 months or 13 weeks you will not get much meat but they should be OK for any method you want to cook them. Grilling, frying, roasting, baking, or anything else. There is so little meat they might cook really fast so watch them. Especially if you grill or fry them, brining is probably a good idea. Brining is letting them rest in a salty solution for a couple of days. The salt adds to the flavor but the real benefit is that it causes the meat to absorb moisture. It helps keep the meat from being so dry.

I typically butcher my dual purpose mixed breed cockerels at 20 to 23 weeks. A lot more meat than 13 weeks but I do not grill or fry, I pretty much bake mine.