California - Northern

[zooweemama]

Quote: Thanks, Kim! Langshans are slower to mature birds, also. The 2 that we processed were only 19 weeks old and dressed out weighed 3.6 and 3.9 lb. The SPPRs were 20 weeks old, weighed between 3.2 and 3.9 lb. but look to have a little more meat on them. The meaties (cornish x) were around 10 weeks old and weighed between 3 and 4 lb. I wish that we would have waited a few more weeks with the Langshans but it is all a learning curve. I may need to get a few Delawares and Dorkings this next spring to try them. Has anyone tried Marans? I read somewhere that their meat is supposed to be good, too.

I have had marans. Actually it's the only heritage breed I have had. Lol. They are extremely flavorful but then I can only compare to store chickens. Excuse my typos. Sent from my iPhone.

 

[cherylcohen]

I had my first experience with processing chickens for meat yesterday. We have friends who have a 10 acre farm and they raise all of their own meat. They slaughter 1 cow and 1 pig per year and process chickens 3 times per year. We processed over 40 chickens in the pouring rain yesterday. My DH thought that I couldn't do it. My job was actually pretty easy. I had to go to the coop, grab the chicken, and hold it until the killer was ready for it. I got to give some of them their last bit of love before their cone experience. My DH said that if I start rubbing his head and talking to him, he is going to get worried. I told him that he is safe as long as I'm not petting his ears! Probably the hardest part for me was deciding which of our silver pencilled plymouth rock cockerels to keep for breeding. I was going to only keep 3 out of 11 cockerels but my favorite somehow made it back in the coop so I kept 4. ;-)

Most of the chickens were meaties who were around 10 weeks old. My friend wants to stop raising the meaties and is looking for a heritage breed or 2 that are dual purpose. So, we processed the meaties, seven SPPR cockerels, and two langshan cockerels. I'm going to roast one of each and compare the taste. If anyone knows of a breed that has exceptional taste and isn't too bad in the laying department, please let me know. Kim, I've read that Dorkings are excellent for meat. Is that true in your experience?

woohoo congrats, job well done? Are you going to breed my silver pencil rocks?

 

[PetRock]

woohoo congrats, job well done? Are you going to breed my silver pencil rocks?

I think that we are going to provided that they pass the taste test. My friend liked that they had very few black pin feathers compared to the black Langshans. It took a while to get those pin feathers picked out of my black boys. The SPPRs were 1 week older than the Langshans but weighed about the same. I would like to give them a few more weeks to grow before slaughtering and see what the meat is like then. We have 4 cockerels that we kept and I have 4 pullets here at the house. We are going to set up breeding pens in the spring and arrange conjugal visits. Right now, she has a barnyard flock of all different kinds. Her plan is to cull all of them except for 1 or 2 heritage breeds. Of course, I'm voting for 2 so my Langshans can stay provided they meet the meat/egg requirements.

 

[debs_flock]

Has anyone tried Marans? I read somewhere that their meat is supposed to be good, too.

I've processed/eaten one marans cockerel. He was about 3mos (dog got his head through the fence and he was bleeding out). He was delicious, with an impressive amount of meat.

Are you going to breed my silver pencil rocks?

I have about six extra SPPR cockerels to process right now, just haven't had time to do it.

Deb

 

[chiqita]

We eat our extra Marans boys. In fact we had eating super speedy stew for dinner last night ( moral of this story, don't attack me or the dog) My experience is DH is addicted to salt, that the store chickens are soaked in, so they taste not as strong as store bought. I never remember exactly how old the roos are however, as they don't get separated into pens just stay in the main marans coop, but I aimed for 20 weeks. The last batch were olive eggers, and not as big, these marans boys are MUCH heftier. They are bread in France as a eating chicken.

Speedy was just under a year old, so he got stewed, but he was the best tasting of our extra chickens. But the only other heritage breed I have to compare it to are silkies, and the American ones are pretty small and delicate. Silkies, however a good fried, as long as black meat doesn't freak you right out.

I have a little rooster that got pecked in the head yesterday and still cant control his legs. I suspect some brain swelling. I'm giving him today to see if it gets better before we process him. I don't know who did it, we just had a ruckess under the deck before the large roos were out of rooster land so it might have been one of the girls. If we serve him to guests I will give you a report.

 

[ronott1]

Quote: For what your friend wants to do at the farm He should raise Delawares. Hendersons says:

A broiler cross that became a breed.
And: Developed by George Ellis in 1940 in Delaware while experimenting with crossing breeds for broilers. An off-colored sport of a Barred Rock / New Hampshire cross that bred true.

If you can find some Good big heritage birds and breed them for size you would do very well. Since these were a meat cross experiment, they get bigger faster than their parent stock. In other words, they will out perform the straight rocks like the Silver Penciled, Partridge and even the Barred.

There is a person on BYC that is recreating the Delawares. She has finished her F3s ans should be working on the F4s. Check to see where Kathyinmo is on her project. They might be a better start for the farmer because they are already big and ready to process at the age Delawares are supposed to be processed. (They should dress out at over 3#) closer to 4 months(16 weeks).

I need to check into my Dorking X Rock crosses I hatched. They are only 12 weeks old and are getting very big with large breasts. I plan on processing them at 14 weeks. Your friend could easily make crosses like this. You just need A big Dorking Rooster and and big rocks. You could use your SP Rocks for this too. The parents of mine are from hatchery stock and are not very big but their chicks are getting very big fast. I think they will be very tasty too. Capayvalleychick(Kim) should have some big Dorking culls next year.

Another thing to remember and that we have not learned yet is that the roos do not need to get as big as we seem to want them to be. Chiquita is correct in frying 1.5# to 2.5 # Silkies. That is the size all Cockerels should be when you fry them. 3.5 # Cockerels are too big to fry or bake. They are roasters or Pressure Cooker birds. If it takes 7 months to get to that size, they will need to be stewed. Of course I am describing Heritage breeds, specifically Dual Purpose.

By the way, the 7 month Delaware that I pressure cooked was very tasty. The dark meat was more like eating a Chuck Pot Roast.

I like this project and am very happy that you get to help out the farmer this way.

 

[waititout]

We eat our extra Marans boys.  In fact we had eating super speedy stew for dinner last night ( moral of this story, don't attack me or the dog)  My experience is  DH is addicted to salt, that the store chickens are soaked in, so they taste not as strong as  store bought. I never remember exactly how old the roos are however, as they don't get separated into pens just stay in the main marans coop, but I aimed for 20 weeks. The last batch were olive eggers, and not as big, these marans boys are MUCH  heftier.  They are bread in France as a eating chicken.

 Speedy was just under a year old, so he got stewed, but he was  the best tasting of our extra chickens. But the only other heritage breed I have to compare it to are  silkies, and the American ones are pretty small and delicate.  Silkies, however a good fried, as long as black meat doesn't freak you right out.

I have a little rooster that got pecked in the head yesterday and still cant control his legs. I suspect some brain swelling. I'm giving him today to see if it gets better before we process him.  I don't know who  did it, we just had a ruckess under the deck before the large  roos were out of rooster land so it might have been one of the girls.  If we  serve him to guests I will give you a report.

Lol on the black meat! I saw it on Iron Chef once, supposed to be a delicacy. Does it taste more like dark meat, or is it purely color?

 

[capayvalleychick]

3.5 # Cockerels are too big to fry or bake. They are roasters or Pressure Cooker birds. If it takes 7 months to get to that size, they will need to be stewed. Of course I am describing Heritage breeds, specifically Dual Purpose.

I roast my 7 month olds at 300 degrees and they are good. The legs were the only part that was too chewy. Chefs separate the dark & white meat in order to cook each for the proper amount of time for it all to be perfect.

I do think that I waited too long with the last batch of Dels. They were 7 months old and the carcass is 5 lbs. I'm still roasting them, the white meat is good. The ones that I did at 5 months, you could eat the whole bird. The Dorkings are fine as a roaster at 7 mths. You don't have to stew or pressure cook them, just don't expect them to be like a supermarket bird.

 

[PetRock]

I'm getting excited about trying the different breeds! There is a gentleman on BYC (thorleif) from South Wales, UK who raises Langshans. He says that even the meat from older Langshans doesn't get tough. He waits until his cull birds are 13-15 mos old before slaughtering them and he said that even the old hens that are 5-6 yrs. old are tender. He does feed them milk their whole lives and that is one of the things that the French feed their Bresse chickens. Interesting, huh? My birds get plain yogurt every morning. I wonder if that will make their meat taste better?

 

[PetRock]

For what your friend wants to do at the farm He should raise Delawares. Hendersons says:

A broiler cross that became a breed.
And: Developed by George Ellis in 1940 in Delaware while experimenting with crossing breeds for broilers. An off-colored sport of a Barred Rock / New Hampshire cross that bred true.

If you can find some Good big heritage birds and breed them for size you would do very well. Since these were a meat cross experiment, they get bigger faster than their parent stock. In other words, they will out perform the straight rocks like the Silver Penciled, Partridge and even the Barred.

There is a person on BYC that is recreating the Delawares. She has finished her F3s ans should be working on the F4s. Check to see where Kathyinmo is on her project. They might be a better start for the farmer because they are already big and ready to process at the age Delawares are supposed to be processed. (They should dress out at over 3#) closer to 4 months(16 weeks).

I need to check into my Dorking X Rock crosses I hatched. They are only 12 weeks old and are getting very big with large breasts. I plan on processing them at 14 weeks. Your friend could easily make crosses like this. You just need A big Dorking Rooster and and big rocks. You could use your SP Rocks for this too. The parents of mine are from hatchery stock and are not very big but their chicks are getting very big fast. I think they will be very tasty too. Capayvalleychick(Kim) should have some big Dorking culls next year.

Another thing to remember and that we have not learned yet is that the roos do not need to get as big as we seem to want them to be. Chiquita is correct in frying 1.5# to 2.5 # Silkies. That is the size all Cockerels should be when you fry them. 3.5 # Cockerels are too big to fry or bake. They are roasters or Pressure Cooker birds. If it takes 7 months to get to that size, they will need to be stewed. Of course I am describing Heritage breeds, specifically Dual Purpose.

By the way, the 7 month Delaware that I pressure cooked was very tasty. The dark meat was more like eating a Chuck Pot Roast.

I like this project and am very happy that you get to help out the farmer this way.

Interesting! Please report back on your Dorking x Rock crosses! My friend went to the Heirloom Expo and was amazed to see the difference in size between hatchery and breeder birds. She has always raised the cornish x for meat but now wants to start with heritage breeds. Maybe she would be interested in raising some crosses for meat as well as some purebreds to keep the breeding program going. How fun! I would love to have 10 acres like she does and set up a paddock system for my birds. I've been talking to her about it and gently nudging her to let me help her set it up.