Chronicles of Raising Meat Birds - Modern Broilers, Heritage and Hybrids

[RUNuts]

Boy oh boy your fridge looks nice and clean.
Mine always has spills in it.

Wait for it. The toddler is growing...

Speaking of which, I need to clean mine. My toddler is 26 now.

Do tell us how the chickens taste. How do you normally prepare them? For the skinned cockerels, I've made gumbo. For the skinned quail, I pot roasted over quinoa or potatoes. When I only had 2 quail, I put the potatoes down, pig steak on top with quail on top of that. Everything was great. Italian seasoning and butter.

 

[Newyorkrita]

IMPERIAL BROILERS FOR THE WIN!!!

wow.

first the meat is very noticeably pinker than any hybrid broiler I’ve raised previously. Even the breasts are quite pink and delicious looking.

I parted half the Imperials... and kept the big rooster whole.

the boy came in at 6.9 lbs dressed.

the girls boneless thigh packs are A POUND AND A HALF. The legs are almost twice as big as even the robust whites.

I’m going to be eating some of this tomorrow to see if there’s a taste difference. There is supposed to be...

Largest of the Delawares look good, the smallest are babies, and could have used more time. They’ll make some great broth.



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Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous!!

 

[jolenesdad]

@RUNuts im laughing so hard.

@Kiki its just pictured on a good day.

I had some friends that taught me about processing while doing their turkeys for thanksgiving. For “helping” they GAVE me a heritage turkey we did that day for thanksgiving.

I brined it and was ... let’s just say not so successful taking it out of the fridge ... so it was raw turkey juices everywhere. Oops. Love and learn. I clearly have the worst luck with fridges.

at the end of the day it was unbelievably delicious....So worth the kitchen disaster.

 

[Newyorkrita]

@RUNuts im laughing so hard.

@Kiki its just pictured on a good day.

I had some friends that taught me about processing while doing their turkeys for thanksgiving. For “helping” they GAVE me a heritage turkey we did that day for thanksgiving.

I brined it and was ... let’s just say not so successful taking it out of the fridge ... so it was raw turkey juices everywhere. Oops. Love and learn. I clearly have the worst luck with fridges.

at the end of the day it was unbelievably delicious....So worth the kitchen disaster.

Maybe raising some Heritage turkeys are in your future.

 

[jolenesdad]

Wait for it. The toddler is growing...

Speaking of which, I need to clean mine. My toddler is 26 now.

Do tell us how the chickens taste. How do you normally prepare them? For the skinned cockerels, I've made gumbo. For the skinned quail, I pot roasted over quinoa or potatoes. When I only had 2 quail, I put the potatoes down, pig steak on top with quail on top of that. Everything was great. Italian seasoning and butter.

On your recommendations I’ve been experimenting with brining. I can’t decide which to eat first or how to make it. Decisions, decisions.

I think I’ll roast a whole imperial tomorrow night and give them 48 hours to rest. I may start brining it tonight.

 

[jolenesdad]

4.5 lb Imperial

I didn’t know what to use for scale so I used a dollar bill. I didn’t have enough hands to really get a photo of the thighs, they’re so thick. You can see the darkness of the flesh underneath the skin.

 

[aart]

You can see the darkness of the flesh underneath the skin.

Kinda of oddly dark?
Dollar works.

 

[jolenesdad]

Kinda of oddly dark?
Dollar works.

Yes, it seemed odd to me. But I had brined it overnight? The pic does look darker too so it’s not THAT much of a difference, but a notable difference.

as far as after cooking, the thighs were slightly darker (30% or so) than most of the other broilers and the legs noticeably darker than my past broilers.

the texture of the meat was also I would say more dense. It was smooth and not tough at and totally delicious. I roasted the bones and am making a bone broth in the oven tonight.

 

[Beer can]

Subscribed, another meat bird thread
Have to read back, just caught some of the beginning and skipped to end.

And, 3 lbs for a 13 week old heritage bird is very respectable, IMO. I've grilled and roasted birds in that age range, or a week or two older, and found them quite tasty and tender.

I try to get them, both cockerels and pullets a little after they start, the cockerels crowing, don't keep track of weeks. But 3lbs is about average for mine dressed. Great on the grill and tender and tasty.

 

[Beer can]

@RUNuts im laughing so hard.

@Kiki its just pictured on a good day.

I had some friends that taught me about processing while doing their turkeys for thanksgiving. For “helping” they GAVE me a heritage turkey we did that day for thanksgiving.

I brined it and was ... let’s just say not so successful taking it out of the fridge ... so it was raw turkey juices everywhere. Oops. Love and learn. I clearly have the worst luck with fridges.

at the end of the day it was unbelievably delicious....So worth the kitchen disaster.

Careful with turkeys. I was given free two broad breasted bronze ended up both being toms this spring. Just got around to processing them a couple weeks ago. You do not need 50lb turkeys...well the biggest was 40 dressed other a little smaller, neither will fit in a typical oven. Turkeys are much easier than chickens though way calmer.

Maybe raising some Heritage turkeys are in your future.