Butcher Time?

[Highland Hens]

We have had laying hens for years. This is our first year for meat birds.

And I did not write down when I purchased our 20 Red Ranger meat chicks.

So my thought was to butcher them when the roos start to crow. Would this work?

Or should i weigh them and at what size is good for this breed to butcher?

Thank you

 

[Elke Beck]

We have had laying hens for years. This is our first year for meat birds.

And I did not write down when I purchased our 20 Red Ranger meat chicks.

So my thought was to butcher them when the roos start to crow. Would this work?

Or should i weigh them and at what size is good for this breed to butcher?

Thank you

My Red Rangers started to crow at 9 weeks. I was processing a couple of Cornish X's, so I did the RR that was crowing at just over 9 weeks. It produced a small, but meaty carcass. I did the last 5 RR boys last weekend at just over 11 weeks, and they all look great. I have not cooked them yet. But the last week they were with me it was crowing at 5:30 each morning until I started putting them in with the laying hens at night. They got beaten up and had bloody combs, but the crowing stopped. Of course, I have not heard a peep out of them since they went to the cone of silence last Saturday, either.

I still have the three RR pullets, and I am letting them grow out a bit before I send them to freezer camp. I plan to process them either Memorial Day weekend or the weekend after.