Butchering your roosters!

[Lookin4GoodLife]

Nice article! I was not aware of that feature here.

 

[Parront]

Nice article! I was not aware of that feature here.

Lots of cool features on BYC.

 

[Parront]

Small pressure cookers are inexpensive, and worth it in my not so humble opinion -- here is one like mine on Amazon for $25.00 : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00002N601/ref=twister_B00DGUSFJY?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Here is my instruction book it is only $3.99:
https://www.amazon.com/Presto-Cooke...&keywords=presto+pressure+cooker+instructions
Every book you need is on amazon!

 

[kokosmom2]

My pullets are 6 months old. I know I will have to butcher them in a couple of years. The only time I've seen a chicken butchered is when I was a kid visiting my uncle's farm...he chopped off the head and let the chicken run around just to freak out me and my sister. So my biggest fear is that I won't be able to get the jugular and they die quickly and humanely . And my second problem is, I can't figure out how to gut them. Are there any really good videos that show how to gut them? I've watched a few, and I still don't understand cutting by the tail.

 

[MrsChickens]

I got Australorps for the first time this year. Massive birds, they have the frame to go with the meat too. If they didn't have single combs I might have chosen them for my main breed.



Thanks for the input.

I'm relocating to country and expanding my chix operation to include eggs, breeding and occassional processing. Because I want to breed to extend the flock or replace birds I wanted to stick with a single breed. I had been thinking Brahma. I've had them in my flock and they are sweet birds, docile and I understand their meat is quite tasty. They grow a little slower though. How large, at what age do you process the Australorps and how do they taste. I'm open to just about any breed.

 

[aliciaplus3]

I still have not found my favorite breed...... sigh but I want everything decent layer, good meat, non agresive.... right now I have. Turkens, white leghorn, ee, americauna(ok probably ee but different than my other ee) rir, delaware, cuckoo marans, new Hampshire red, golden sexlink, german bielefelder, dark Cornish, light brahma, welsummer and recently hatched mixes out of these. The leghorn roos were agresive and skinny but ok eaters, the cuckoo marans cross roos had more size but took longer to put on muscle, the rir cross roos so far have had the best temperaments and filled out just a little faster but still not a great meat bird. I have high hopes for the German bielefelders but they are only about 8 weekds old so far.

 

[Crooked Chicken]

My backyard is like an illegal mexican cock fighting ring!
Here is a wacko video my wacko hubby made awhile ago featuring a un needed problem rooster.

I have 3 roo's to 9 hens and am having to separate the 2 EE boys from the rest during the day and sometimes at night too. I offered one of them to a friend for cooking. I think I will assist in the butchering so that I get a feel for it. My other EE I would love to keep, but think I will have to get him his own flock of gals.

Loved your hubby's video.

I am in Prescott. I am drooling at the thought! I roast them @ 325 in my chicken size roasting pan. Need help? Have sharp knife, will travel!

LOL. Hello neighbor. Paulden area here. Electric countertop roaster?
Had a 9 month old JG who went aggressive on me. Was close to 8 lbs dressed out. After resting for 3 days and then in slow cooker for 8 hours, he was the best, tender rooster of the breeds we have tried. Even at that age. Which is why we are going to keep the JG's for meat birds. The hens are awesome layers too.
The boys we currently have are not his sons. I refuse to breed an aggressive too.

Prescott, Paulden! I moved to Prescott in 1972 with my parents. We moved there so that I could have the horse I always dreamed of. We then moved to Chino Valley about a year later. Unfortunately it didn't work out -- my dad had to travel to California to find enough masonry work. I really loved it there. I visited the area back around 1992 and boy had it changed and grown.

I would guess if you knew you wanted breeders from your Cornish-X chicks you would have to feed them less from the first. They get fat so fast! They were fat at 8 weeks, the ones in the store have a lot of fat at 42 days. Mine were free in the back yard, they did not look for anything except their food dish. The bugs were safe!

I never knew that about the cornish -- that they get too fat to walk (and live). So glad I didn't get any of those.

My pullets are 6 months old. I know I will have to butcher them in a couple of years. The only time I've seen a chicken butchered is when I was a kid visiting my uncle's farm...he chopped off the head and let the chicken run around just to freak out me and my sister. So my biggest fear is that I won't be able to get the jugular and they die quickly and humanely . And my second problem is, I can't figure out how to gut them. Are there any really good videos that show how to gut them? I've watched a few, and I still don't understand cutting by the tail.

This is how I always thought it was done too although I've never seen it. My mom bought 22 turkey chicks when we were in Arizona. We raised them up to be nice big birds. My dad and brother butchered them and did the biggest part of the plucking ( I refused to step outside for that) and then I sat at the dining room table pulling pin feathers with tweezers. Those were the juiciest, tastiest turkeys ever. We gave many of them to family friends.

The rooster that I am giving to a friend for butcher has beautiful hackle and saddle feathers. I thought they would be nice for making fishing lures or dream catchers -- that sort of thing. Does anyone here save the feathers from the birds they butcher? How would you keep the feathers from getting too messed up when dunking them in scalding water? I sure don't want to pluck any while the bird is living.... Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

One more thing -- when a hen is past her laying prime, would they still be a good candidate for the soup pot?

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Loved your hubby's video.

thx

 

[Molpet]

One more thing -- when a hen is past her laying prime, would they still be a good candidate for the soup pot?

spent hen makes a great soup, lots of flavor... when they first started, campbell soup used to buy the old hens

 

[Parront]

I have 3 roo's to 9 hens and am having to separate the 2 EE boys from the rest during the day and sometimes at night too. I offered one of them to a friend for cooking. I think I will assist in the butchering so that I get a feel for it. My other EE I would love to keep, but think I will have to get him his own flock of gals.

Loved your hubby's video.





Prescott, Paulden! I moved to Prescott in 1972 with my parents. We moved there so that I could have the horse I always dreamed of. We then moved to Chino Valley about a year later. Unfortunately it didn't work out -- my dad had to travel to California to find enough masonry work. I really loved it there. I visited the area back around 1992 and boy had it changed and grown.



I never knew that about the cornish -- that they get too fat to walk (and live). So glad I didn't get any of those.



This is how I always thought it was done too although I've never seen it. My mom bought 22 turkey chicks when we were in Arizona. We raised them up to be nice big birds. My dad and brother butchered them and did the biggest part of the plucking ( I refused to step outside for that) and then I sat at the dining room table pulling pin feathers with tweezers. Those were the juiciest, tastiest turkeys ever. We gave many of them to family friends.

The rooster that I am giving to a friend for butcher has beautiful hackle and saddle feathers. I thought they would be nice for making fishing lures or dream catchers -- that sort of thing. Does anyone here save the feathers from the birds they butcher? How would you keep the feathers from getting too messed up when dunking them in scalding water? I sure don't want to pluck any while the bird is living.... Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

One more thing -- when a hen is past her laying prime, would they still be a good candidate for the soup pot?

I would skin the rooster to save the hackles and saddles. Then, into the crock pot or the pressure cooker he goes! An older rooster is soup for sure, but if he is young, under ~20 weeks, fry until brown, then pressure cook 15 min! You don't even need the skin to bread and fry in the pressure cooker. You might want to crisp the pieces in the oven or the broiler after you take them out of the cooker, while you make some mashed potatoes and gravy from the pan juice. Man, I have to go get a rooster pretty soon, if I keep chatting on this thread!