Black Australorp cockrels as meaties?

[muddylilly]

Just wondering if anyone has experience processing black australorp (or any other black feathered bird for that matter). My concern is, will the skin color not being visually appealing? Yellow or white skin is fine.....overly black "flecked".....not so much. Pictures would be great if you have em! Planning to process around the 12 week mark if that makes any difference in pigment development.....don't know?

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

the skin is not black, but you will find a bit of flecking from the feather shafts. Not appealing to look at in my opinion.

 

[Erica]

Australorps have white skin. Just get the timing right and process when there are no pin feathers emerging. If you look under the feathers around the tail and up the legs you should be able to tell quickly if the bird is just getting a lot of new feathers.

If you do end up with a lot of pin feathers it's laborious, but just remove them using your thumb against a butterknife.

 

[Jared77]

If they are skinned does the meat still have the black flecks on it?

 

[Bossroo]

Quote:
Just swatt them thar flies, so they won't be a poopin on the carcass no mo' !

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

lol, no the meat does not have the black specks from the feathers.

 

[Jared77]

thanks Ive never kept birds with black feathers before. But then we skin most our birds as we break them down. Thanks

 

[Randy]

The BA usually have really good flavor. I know when I take a load of roos off to the fleamarket my asian customers will snatch up all the BA's really fast.