Chicken "mutt" club!!!
- Thread starter redneck farmer
- Start date
Ok question for all you "mutt lovers". I loved letting my flock do all the work with breeding, hatching and raising their own chickens. Its so awesome. My problem is once the offspring are old and ROOSTERS is where my problems are starting. I just don't have enough room or hens for that many roos. What does everyone do with extras...how can I keep letting nature do its "thing" and get rid of extra roos without too much stress on my part. How awful is butchering your own chickens, what age do you do it...and how emotionally?? I envy farm raised women who just "DO IT!"....
In the past, we dealt with excessive roosters by selling them to people who either needed a rooster for their flock or intended to butcher them themselves, but we plan on getting set up to butcher them ourselves soon.
It really does suck to butcher roosters. The first time probably won't go well (something is bound to go wrong at one point), but it gets easier as time goes on. Don't get me wrong, it's worth it. The meat is great, you slowly get closer to being self sufficient, you get to keep pretty feathers for arts & crafts, and you don't have to struggle to sell the roosters. Even purebred roosters can be hard to place, unfortunately, but selling them is significantly easier emotionally. Plus, any money you get from the roosters can go back into your chickens (feed, treats, other expenses).
Depending on what breeds are being mixed, you can butcher some roosters earlier. Dual purpose breeds get bigger fast, so they are easier to cull earlier. If you have smaller breeds mixing, you can still butcher earlier on, but there won't be much meat. Earlier on is better, though, because the meat is more tender, even if there is less.
My grandmother used to butcher chickens in 5 minutes per bird. She was fast, haha! I wasn't raised that way, though, so I have to plan ahead of time and get ready emotionally. Afterwards, I'm not quite fond of eating chicken for a couple days. Then I relax and make fideo.
Of course, if you can find a butcher who would be willing to process your extra roos for you, it might be worth the charge so you don't have that emotional baggage hanging over you. Eventually, if you butcher yourself or get them butchered, you can try and sell this fresh meat to friends or family. Your chickens are obviously raised way better than those in factory farms and it's great for other people to experience that.
Thank you for the info. I wish I could do it, and I may eventually. I think for now I may look into a butcher to send them to and see if I can go through with it. I rehommed one last week and I was all sad about that, and that guys has a good life still! LOL I'm just not tough enough. But I am learning and getting there.It really does suck to butcher roosters. The first time probably won't go well (something is bound to go wrong at one point), but it gets easier as time goes on. Don't get me wrong, it's worth it. The meat is great, you slowly get closer to being self sufficient, you get to keep pretty feathers for arts & crafts, and you don't have to struggle to sell the roosters. Even purebred roosters can be hard to place, unfortunately, but selling them is significantly easier emotionally. Plus, any money you get from the roosters can go back into your chickens (feed, treats, other expenses).
Depending on what breeds are being mixed, you can butcher some roosters earlier. Dual purpose breeds get bigger fast, so they are easier to cull earlier. If you have smaller breeds mixing, you can still butcher earlier on, but there won't be much meat. Earlier on is better, though, because the meat is more tender, even if there is less.
My grandmother used to butcher chickens in 5 minutes per bird. She was fast, haha! I wasn't raised that way, though, so I have to plan ahead of time and get ready emotionally. Afterwards, I'm not quite fond of eating chicken for a couple days. Then I relax and make fideo.
Of course, if you can find a butcher who would be willing to process your extra roos for you, it might be worth the charge so you don't have that emotional baggage hanging over you. Eventually, if you butcher yourself or get them butchered, you can try and sell this fresh meat to friends or family. Your chickens are obviously raised way better than those in factory farms and it's great for other people to experience that.
How old would be too old in your opinion to butcher? Once the size is good...
Thanks Again.
Well, I can't think of a bad age to butcher a rooster (unless it's so old that it's near death in which case you might as well let him pass away on his own). Older roosters (more than a year old) are generally better for stews, stocks, or canning. The meat is a bit too stringy and tough, but the flavor is phenomenal. Only really young chickens are good for roasting/grilling/frying. If you have dual purpose breeds of roosters, I'd fatten them up when they are younger and butcher them early. That makes the meat more similar to what you'd buy from the grocery store, but it'll be much healthier.
Even if you know a local farmer who may be culling roosters, you might ask if you can learn from them. They won't be your roosters and you'll have the opportunity to experience it. I learned from my aunt who had loads of experience from when she was a girl. She was very nice and a bit clinical about it, showing me how to remove the guts from the inside without rupturing the spleen (it'll ruin the meat). She also was courteous to the rooster itself and complimented me on their feathers and what was inside the crop (bugs, grass, etc.). She said it reminded her of when she was a young girl doing this. We prayed before and after, thanking the animals for giving us the meat. Afterwards, I sent her home with one of the chickens.
I think starting off with people who have respect for the animals and for what they provide helps. If they don't respect the animal during death as you did during life, I wouldn't learn from them.
I have been butchering mine at anywhere from 18-22 weeks, depending on how much they're harassing the ladies, but now I'm going to build a rooster enclosure and finish them on a high protein feed. If you free range them I like do, even the young roosters are tough. They need to rest a full 3 days in the fridge after butchering, and then it is crock pot or pressure cooker only. The flavor is good, but the amount of meat you get from a dual purpose bird is somewhat disappointing considering how long it takes to raise it, and how much feed is involved. For less time and less expense, you can raise a broiler or ranger, and have a much better tasting and tender chicken. There's a reason so many hatcheries grind up their male chicks for dogfood or use them as packing to keep pullets warm.
I never grew up around chickens, so the first time I butchered was the hardest. It still is something I dislike doing and I always am happy when I can rehome a young rooster and save myself the trouble. When I butcher, I have to put on my killer hat. You just pick up your implement and shift to a purposeful severity. You can't be nice or sympathetic. It requires a ruthless detachment. I chop off their heads and then everything is OK from that point on. The smell of butchering still turns my stomach sometimes. It's gross and it seems like the smell clings to you. I try to be respectful by using all parts of the chicken. Fresh liver and onion is very good and is the special treat on freezer camp day. If you have an Asian (esp. Chinese) population where you're at, many of them like chicken feet for soup. I skin the necks for hackles for fly tying and cure them with salt. I know hackles are are also used for other crafts and jewelry as well. I also save the necks and backs for broth. At the end of the day, any dual purpose rooster you butcher will lead a far longer and happier life than the vast majority of other male chickens that are born. Broilers are typically butchered at 8 weeks, and Rangers at 12. Hatcheries end up destroying the bulk of their dual purpose male chicks, because there really is no demand for them. Is it better to exist for a day and then feed into a grinder or is it better to exist for 20 weeks scratching around in the dirt, roosting and running around outside chasing bugs, and have your head cut off with an axe? I personally think dual purpose roosters raised for meat are pretty lucky birds, second only to those kept over hens.
Just wondering if anyone has a welsummer/black sexlink mix I have both breeds living together because its easy to tell the difference in the girls eggs. I've done a search on here and the internet and can't find any pics very curious to see what they would look like
While I have both of these breeds, they're all hens, so I'm afraid I won't be able to solve the mystery for you.
I was not raised processing my own meat. At times my Gparents did, but I was never involved in it, and it was only short time that they did that anyway. When I first started raising chickens I thought it was impossible, then I had a couple needed cullings (severe injury) by that time I was toying w/ the idea of eating my extras and had been researching methods, so decided to use first the killing cone and slicing on the first injured bird (traumatic experience for me to say the least) then on the second bird months later the ax (OMG Never again) so had decided after that it was not going to be possible for me. Anyway I kept reading the meat section and seeing the avatars of these cute young women that were able to provide meat for their families (I am highly competitive by nature, but try to keep it under control most times) and thinking if they can do it so can I! So I was researching methods again, lots of reading on the meat thread again. I came across an idea somewhere along the way of using a pellet gun to kill the chickens. Restraining them in a killing cone type method and a single point blank shot to the back of the head. That worked for me. It still (and never will be pleasant) but it is doable for me now. The first ones are by far the worst, but if you force yourself (and at first it will be brutal mental/emotional force you will need to do to yourself) it does get much easier and sooner then you would ever believe now.
As you read the threads there are those who do prolonged meditations or moments of thanksgiving to the bird or the creator, or nature or whatever, if that works for you great. For me that all just prolongs the mental / emotional anguish so that it doesn't just become "a thing" I find it easier just to emotionally detatch and "do what needs to be done", but that is what I do for a living so that is probably why it comes more natural to me.
I just realized your user name, you have that same ability to detatch and do what needs doing, you use it everyday.
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