Parront
Crossing the Road
If you don't mind crowing, you can wait until 5-6 months old to process the dual purpose cockerels. Depending on the breed, they can start crowing pretty young. The Barred Hollands I am raising one is already trying to crow, 8 weeks old. At this age, they are more of a game-hen size, about 18 oz dressed. Leghorns also start crowing young about 10 weeks for the Brown Leghorns I used to keep. I agree, they were worth eating. They did not get a lot bigger after they started crowing, and they were a lot more trouble -- fighting and mating the pullets. 12 weeks was as old as most of them got. So, where I am going with this is, a late harvest can be trouble with some cockerels, too!My worry with the Cornish cross and other chickens bred to grow is not necessarily early harvest. It’s late.