at what age do roos start tasting too gamey to eat?

[Dust Bunny]

i have 5 dark cornish and 5 light brahmas all strait run coming next month (had to order something to keep my turkey poults warm) and i will be butchering at least the cockerels, and since i know these guys don't grow anywhere near as fast as cornishx I'm not sure when to butcher them, at what age do they get too gamey to eat? oh and these will be my first meat birds

 

[ihvpower]

How do you age a carcass??

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Quote:
Let it sit in the fridge for about 3 days....

 

[chickboss]

I think this is a matter of opinion. I have had some pretty old roo's, like 2/3 year olds, ect. I love them. We used to roast a ton of them (slowly) that were suposedly too old for roasting to, and agian, I loved them. I didn't think the texture was that bad. I think the key to eating older birds is to consider them as something completely different from store chicken. LOL. That being said, I am a flavor person and would happily chew on the toughest old cow if it had better flavor than anything from safeway. Now that I think of it, I doubt I just helped much.

 

[ihvpower]

Thank you Jeff and everyone

 

[deerman]

They are fryers until 12 weeks.

 

[deerman]

They are fryers until 12 weeks.

 

[deerman]

sorry puter trouble posting

 

[McSpin]

Quote:
All I can to say is, you've got to be kidding.

I've eaten many an elk that was sporting antlers and they were unbelievably good - they best red meat I've ever eaten. Mine are all taken in early bow season, so maybe you've eaten an old, rutting one that was poorly processed.

As for chickens, I've eaten tough ones, but can't say I've ever had one I'd call gamey.

 

[Bossroo]

Do you like opera ? You and your neighbors will really enjoy the individual off key practice sessions at 3 AM . A few days later will be a prime time for an impromtu BarBQue chicken dinner . I learned this the hard way. I was born and raised on a farm so I expected and was used to the competative jam sessions. But when we baught a home in an acre subivision, when we first got married, we got many early morning irrate calls from a dozen neighbors when our bunch of brocken voiced chicken teenagers decided that they wanted a singing carrier. Then when the rabble showed up at our front door with torches and pitchforks demanding we seperate the teens' heads from their bodys, we had little choice but to comply. Who knew that we were now living amongst uncouth and unapreciating of the arts crowd.