We eat mine also. I literally can't give them away around here, and frankly by butcher age I've got a good amount of feed invested and am not interested in giving them away. That's $ I've put into the bird, I'm sure going to get something out of it!
I try to keep mine until around 20 weeks, but it's a very fluid thing. Anyone who is aggressive or disruptive to the flock goes earlier. Some might be held a bit longer, but truthfully I've found around 20 weeks is when they quit gaining as much weight for the amount of feed they eat.
Check out the Meat Birds, Etc section. There's a lot of threads about butchering and cooking excess cockerels.
I try to keep mine until around 20 weeks, but it's a very fluid thing. Anyone who is aggressive or disruptive to the flock goes earlier. Some might be held a bit longer, but truthfully I've found around 20 weeks is when they quit gaining as much weight for the amount of feed they eat.
Check out the Meat Birds, Etc section. There's a lot of threads about butchering and cooking excess cockerels.
