Eat as soon as crowing

[Jabebee13]

I was wondering how soon can I wait to process my own extra crowers

 

[MysteryChicken]

I butchered a couple at 6-7 months.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You can eat any chicken of any age and any sex and any breed. With some you may not get much meat. With some you may be restricted in how you cook them. But some way, some how you can eat them. Whether it is worth it to you is another question.

Some cockerels start to crow at just a few weeks of age. Some don't start until they are 4 or 5 months old. Some even go longer. "When they start to crow" doesn't really tell me how old they are.

It sounds like you have cockerels where you are not supposed to have roosters and are worried about the neighbors complaining. That situation is really common on here. Some people wait to butcher until they hear a crow but others pick an age to butcher. 12 weeks is a common choice. They are usually pretty safe that the cockerels won't be crowing by then but occasionally it is a bit late. There is extremely little meat on them, mostly bone, but they are still young enough to fry or grill. Some people pick a later age to give them time to put on some meat but they take a greater chance of one crowing.

I don't know what the right answer is for you. Good luck however you choose to go.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

^^^ What @Ridgerunner said.

and a quick search will find plenty of threads on cooking "older" birds. I just made lengthy comment on one or two this AM.

 

[RUNuts]

Last year's cockerels started screaming at 12 weeks of age. Carcass weight was almost 2 pounds with no skin because of pin feathers.

Cockerel soup with pumpkin was delicious. Took 2 boys to a pot.

Another time, the sole cockerel waited close to 16 weeks and was huge compared to the other batch.

There is no rule on how long you have to wait unless you make one yourself. Happy eating!