Ate one of my chickens today!

[luvmychixandducks]

The time difference between butchering day and consumption of your first home grown chicken should include the two days in the refrigerator allowing the newly dead birds a time for the muscles to totally relax after rigor. We never go directly from the raising pen to the freezer. Those fridge days are necessary to produce the best eating bird.

 

[MTchicknman]

@ luvmychixandducks - Yeah, ours always go directly to the freezer, usually for lots of weeks - thanks for that post .... good info to know!

We're in butchering mode now, we like to butcher them when they are about 5 lb. or so .... the ones we butchered yesterday were all 5 1/2 lb each after cut & gut, so that was just about right! Without having a plucker on hand, we can only stand about 3 or 4 hours in the hot sun at our age (lotsa pin feathers in these CX's!), so we figure 4-6 chickens a day is our limit for now .... mebbe someday a plucker ;>)!

 

[horsesNchicks]

"Good to hear it tasted good. Mine will be processed in a week or 2. This is my first time. I personally can no longer give my dollars to large Corp. that are in the business of torturing animals and poisoning us and calling it food. I have 23 CX and next year will do 50 and process them ourselves to save money. I live in the desert of CA so keeping them cool is the biggest thing. Nest time will have them in the freezer by May I think.
Good job how many did you raise?"

@ horsesNchicks - I don't know who your were responding to, but ..... So far, we haven't had any issues with the 100F heat, (unless the recent death of one CX was becuz of the weather ;>). Our first CX were 2 which were supposed to be Leghorns, and then we ordered 15 CX later - of which 13 have survived, which will be in the freezer in a couple of weeks, along with a few Tractor Supply scrubs from our first purchase, --- trying to save on shipping :>( (which were NOT what we supposedly bought) - we will not be ordering CX next Spring, only the (more pure?) Cornish - (no more crosses for us, with the heart attacks, bone-growth problems, etc., etc.). I think the Red Laced will be what we will buy (wife is big on the White breast meat, I like the drummers and thighs), since we haven't been able to find White Cornish chix at a reasonable price yet. (2 or 3 months more to full-growth isn't an issue if we're avoiding the CX health problems AFAIACS). The Red-Laced will add a little color to our flocks, and hopefully we will be selling chix locally the next year. Next Spring we will hopefully be selling New Hampshire Red, Light Brahma, Buff Orpington, chix and the next year the Red-Laced Cornish and Black Australorp chix as well as the others mentioned. We already have a grocery which has asked to buy all of our brown eggs throughout the year, so the chix will be an experiment. We will only be raising one or two batches of each for the year for starters, since we are only planning on selling chix and eggs to help pay for the feed - on 2 city lots, that's about all we can plan for our future, anyways - we figure that 4 brown egg varieties (and the Cornish) is about all we can handle on our smal have to move quite a distance between their food and waterl location! ;>).
Whatever we don't sell as chix will be raised as meat birds for our own freezer (as well as any Red-Laced Cornish Cockerels that don't make the cut for next year's breeder ;>). We are only raising/breeding dual-purpose birds - fancy chickens are a food-hog/waste-of-money, for us, but some folks want them for pets/shows, just not us at this time of our life.

This is my first time with meat chickens of my own. I have them in a large area and they must get their exercise between the food and water.....though the excrement factor is just gross....I am processing them at 7.5 weeks which is next Thurs. I am very interested in hearing of other large breasted meat birds. Here on my small homestead CX are the easiest to deal with. I will be moving to WV soon and then I want to experiment with other meat birds.

 

[MTchicknman]

@ horsesNchicks
These are Cornish which are NOT crossed:
White Laced Red Cornish
The ideal plumage pattern in which each feather is a rich dark red narrowly laced with white is very difficult to achieve but tremendously impressive in those individuals which are marked that way. Even though others may not quite realize this perfection they are handsome birds in their red and white plumage and deep yellow skin color, and display to a high degree the square, blocky type of true Cornish. They mature rather slowly. Hens are fair layers of brown eggs which have firm, strong shells. Chicks are rather small and of varying shades of reddish buff.
Dark Cornish
The name Cornish indicates the origin of these handsome birds in Cornwall, England and they belong to the English Class. At one time they were known as "Indian Games" because of the use of both Old English Game chickens and Asells from India in developing this breed. They are unique because of their thick, compact bodies, unusually wide backs, and broad, deep breasts. These super meat qualities have made the Dark Cornish a truly gourmet item to raise for eating. The hens are nice layers of firm-shelled brown eggs and wonderfully hardy. This variety will come as close as any to rustling for themselves under rough conditions and also make good setters and mothers. Another very distinctive character is the close fitting, rather hard textured feathers with unusual lustre and brilliance. The close feathering and compact build will fool you on weight. They are always much heavier than they look. Baby chicks, all purebred and from the same strain, can vary greatly in color from a light reddish buff to a darker reddish brown with dark markings on the head and sometimes a dark stripe on the outer edge of the back.

Descriptions from Murray's website ...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I keep making the mistake of referring to the White-Laced Red as Red-Laced White - somehow stuck in my mind back'ards, I guess. There are a lot of other meat birds, as well as dual-purpose (like Brahma, Australorp, Orpington), but the White-Laced Reds are the ones that I intend to raise for meat come next Spring.

Hopefully, someone else can jump in here and mention their own favorite birds for meat production - I know that Fat Daddy raises White Cornish, but I've found them to be pretty rare (hatchery-wise), ..... I once found an ad for some White Cornish eggs, but the price was way too steep for me - since I'll only keep a pair for breeding, the hatchery chicks are the only ones that are within our budget!

 

[Bluechick2u]

Hey FD, reminds me of when I was a youngster we always raised our own meat, Rabbits, chickens, pigs, calves - I don't eat pig or rabbit anymore, but the chicken is good when you raise it yourself. Just like Crazy for Chickens says "When you have the good stuff, the store stuff doesn't look good anymore!"
@tinakevin - yours will taste great too, because you know what went into it!

BTW FD, I do make my own beer - Stouts, Porters, Pales and IPAs, but that's as close to moonshine as I can legally get - and ..... the chix love the spent grains (whatever the wife doesn't run thru the flour mill for breads, etc.) ;>).

Mee too!

 

[MTchicknman]

@ horsesNchicks,
I just found this info on a site that may interest you, (I underlined, NOT the website) - http://mjyouthfarms.weebly.com/breeds-of-chickens.html :
Cornish Chickens

Color and Appearance

Cornish chickens are chunky birds with large breasts and thighs, and close fitting feathers. Color varieties include white, white laced red, dark birds with brown patterning on a dark blue-green background (the Cornish Game) or lighter birds with the same patterning on a light wheaten background (Jubilee Cornish Game).

Origin of Cornish Chickens

The Cornish originated in England and was first known as the Indian Game.

Size of Cornish Chickens

Though they may grow heavier, the standard weight for a male is 7.5 lb (3.4 kg) and for a female is 6 lbs (2.7 kg).

Temperament of Cornish Chickens

A loud and active breed that is not especially docile, but takes confinement well.

Uses of the Cornish Chicken

Of all the different breeds of chickens, the Cornish are the definitive meat bird, consuming substantial amounts of feed and growing rapidly. Their skin is yellow.

Crossed with white Plymouth Rocks, they form the basis to most commercial broiler production. They are poor layers (50/year) of brown eggs of low fertility, are winter hardy and apt to go broody.