Best age to do away with the roo for meat?

[wilkinsfarm2020]

Thank you all for your input♡

 

[Mosey2003]

I like to spatchcock (butterfly) the smaller ones. It allows the legs and breast to finish closer together so the breast doesn't get as dry. You use a good pair of poultry shears and cut along each side of the back and remove it. Then flip the bird over breast side up and push down to break the breast bone and it will lay flat. You can roast it like that in the oven (I usually put it on a wire rack in a sheet pan) or grill it or even use a cast iron skillet to really crisp the skin up first, some recipes even suggest weighing it down with a brick to really get it crisped all over.

Then I put the backbone in a zip bag in the freezer. When you have a bag full, time to make stock. I'll often put the wing tips and the legs in there too (blanch the legs at butcher time to remove the skin and I personally cut the toenails off too). I like to bring the bones and such up to a good boil first and then drain and rinse the scum off, then fill the pot back up with them plus carrot/onion/celery/peppercorns/bay leaf. Cover with water and bring it to a bare simmer and let it go for a few hours, or I use the electric roaster if I have a lot.

 

[Mtnboomer]

I butcher roosters by 6 mos. If i intend to fry or roast. Older birds are cooked for soup. I just made rooster noodle soup over the wknd with a 3yr old roo and it was amazing!

 

[aart]

I have a plucker, takes care of most of those feathers.

Even pin feathers??

(Or sometimes, get LESS fond of them, depending on how they act!)

Exactly!

 

[Molpet]

Even pin feathers??


Exactly!

it gets a lot of the pin feathers, a couple are left on the body. Mainly the wings have feathers left... could be I have been lucky