Butchering roosters compared to Cornish x

[Riparian]

I just culled my first rooster from my flock. It was a frustrating experience. This was my third bird that I processd myself, and It was alot more difficult than the other two. But the others were meatbirds.

First I noticed that when I pulled off the feathers the skin was yellow and tough. Feathers came off almost too easily. I am wondering if i scalded for too long.

When I tried to remove the crop it was almost impossible. The membranes were so tough i couldnt get my fingers through them. When I cut around the vent the guts were extremely hard to remove. With the others they simply rolled out, no problem. These were stuck fast.

Are these differences normal for 1 year old roosters compared to meaties? Or do you think I scalded for too long.

Heres was my scalding procedure; After dispatching I placed the bird in a large clean bucket. I brought a huge pot of water to a rolling boil, and dumped it into the bucket over the bird and a dunked it up and down about 4 or 5 times. Total time the bird was in the water was about 30 seconds, max.

This was my first time scalding a bird. I dry plucked the others. Did I mess it up?

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Nope... you did everything fine.. these are typical issues when dealing with older birds. They seem to have tough everything when you process them.

 

[scooter147]

Yep, just the age of the bird.
Some folks skin older birds just for the reason you mentioned.

 

[Riparian]

thanks guys.

 

[willheveland]

One of my processors commented that he liked doing mine over many of his poultry customers because the Cornish-X are usually young and because of their size he can get his hand in there easier to clean the insides out.

What do you guys think about one of the traits of the Cornish-X in their 60+ years of developing that part of their genetics was to create a bird that processes easier?????? Any thoughts... Will

 

[silkiechicken]

Set the scald water to be 140-150 for broilers, and 160-170 for old roosters. Else you risk cooking the outer meat and over scalding skin. That leads to tearing, and meat which can't relax because they are cooked. This leads to a much tougher meat experience. I'd only use the old roo for stew. Older birds will be a lot tougher so the hard to pull membranes is normal. Connective tissue has matured by then and thus slow cooking is the way to go. Yellow is also about the old bird, but also in part due to breed. Some breeds are white skinned, yellow skinned, and even "black" skinned like silkies.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

What do you guys think about one of the traits of the Cornish-X in their 60+ years of developing that part of their genetics was to create a bird that processes easier?????? Any thoughts... Will

I think when they tried to develop a bird with bigger breast meat the birds naturally had a bigger cavity. With squatty legs and long/wide breast bone the cavity is just bigger. I don't think they made the cavity bigger on purpose just an extra plus when designing the bird for bigger breast... Just my thoughts....​

 

[TexasVet]

I don't eat old roosters. Once they reach breeding age, their hormones turn the meat dark and stringy. I pressure cooked one for 1/2 a day and it was so inedible the dog didn't even want it! Now if I have excess roos I get to them early.

If you still want to eat one, try skinning it. There are how-to videos on YouTube that'll show you the whole process. It's much faster than the scalding/plucking method, and you don't have to remove the internal organs unless you want the gizzard, heart, and liver... things no one in my family will eat except me!

You're basically filleting the breast meat, removing the top two joints of the wings, and taking the legs and thighs. There's almost no meat on the back, and none on the wing tips, so I don't bother with them.

Kathy in Texas

 

[willheveland]

Quote:
I think when they tried to develop a bird with bigger breast meat the birds naturally had a bigger cavity. With squatty legs and long/wide breast bone the cavity is just bigger. I don't think they made the cavity bigger on purpose just an extra plus when designing the bird for bigger breast... Just my thoughts....

I was thinking more about the feathers and how they come off,don't they seem more coarse and come off easier. Will

 

[Brunty_Farms]

I don't know about the feathers?