Butchering 8 week old mixed breed

[AU-ChickenGuy]

Does anyone ever eat mixed breed birds at around 8 weeks? They are currently bigger than a quail but smaller than a wood duck.....I know they won't have a lot of meat, but I don't care to fool with slaughtering older cockerels and I can currently tell them from the hens. A waste or are they tasty? Thanks for the input.

 

[AlleysChicks]

Wouldn’t be much meat at 8 weeks I would think.

 

[Parront]

We just had a chat about this subject here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-young-is-too-young.1199822/
My vote is that if you get a pound of chicken, it is time! That is 2 servings split down the middle, good BBQ age!

 

[speedy2020]

Does anyone ever eat mixed breed birds at around 8 weeks? They are currently bigger than a quail but smaller than a wood duck.....I know they won't have a lot of meat, but I don't care to fool with slaughtering older cockerels and I can currently tell them from the hens. A waste or are they tasty? Thanks for the input.

It is too young. You need at lease 16 weeks. It would be best around 18-20weeks.

 

[lomine]

I think it would depend on how quickly they have been maturing. Their size might be comparable to a quail but they are probably more bone than muscle right now.

I just did some 13 week-old EE cockerels last weekend. They are Ameraucana and EE (AM/Wyandotte) crossed with BO and Delaware so a bit bigger than most hatchery EEs thanks to the breeds of the females but really not that big. These cockerels were starting to get annoying and I had some 8 week-old CX to butcher so I did them all together. Below is a side-by-side picture I snapped before evisceration. You can clearly see the difference. I did cook up one of the EEs and it was very juicy but it was only enough to feed about 3 people. If you can, I would wait just a couple more weeks to give you a bit more meat but you don't have to wait the full 16-20 weeks if you don't want to.

 

[junebuggena]

I usually process my mixes at about 12 to 14 weeks, once they are about as tall as an adult hen. 8 weeks is a bit young. They need a bit more time for their muscles to develop.

 

[Parront]

I think it would depend on how quickly they have been maturing. Their size might be comparable to a quail but they are probably more bone than muscle right now.

I just did some 13 week-old EE cockerels last weekend. They are Ameraucana and EE (AM/Wyandotte) crossed with BO and Delaware so a bit bigger than most hatchery EEs thanks to the breeds of the females but really not that big. These cockerels were starting to get annoying and I had some 8 week-old CX to butcher so I did them all together. Below is a side-by-side picture I snapped before evisceration. You can clearly see the difference. I did cook up one of the EEs and it was very juicy but it was only enough to feed about 3 people. If you can, I would wait just a couple more weeks to give you a bit more meat but you don't have to wait the full 16-20 weeks if you don't want to.

View attachment 1177818

This photo really illustrates the point that your standard breed chicken will never be as large as a store chicken. Even at 20 weeks, they will not be Cornish-X. If you are tired of the rooster fights and they are causing problems, they are old enough to cook. They are tasty!

 

[lomine]

This photo really illustrates the point that your standard breed chicken will never be as large as a store chicken. Even at 20 weeks, they will not be Cornish-X. If you are tired of the rooster fights and they are causing problems, they are old enough to cook. They are tasty!

Defiantly.