Eating cockerels

[LilyD]

We are trying our hand at meat birds this year for the first time. Trying to figure out the logistics of this. I knew going into it that we would probably need a new freezer to handle 25 meat birds, but how do people deal with the refrigerator space needed, extra refrigerator too? Or do you stagger butchering? Or?? I was hoping to have one very long day to process them all and get it over with, but maybe it makes sense to stagger them over 2-3 weeks. What do people generally do with meat birds.

I honestly don't rest my birds until I am ready to cook them. I will freeze them right away and then if I decide I want to have a bird to eat I will take it out to marinate it usually in salt water with herbs, spices and sometimes citrus like oranges and lemons and then after a few days once it seems to move freely and not be in rigor anymore I cook it.

My processing time for my roosters is usually between 20 and 24 weeks. I have cooked them low and slow on the grill, in a covered baking dish or in a crock pot. You can even fry them if you make sure and rest them long enough but I am more of a grill person at heart so I tend to cook them on a grill slowly so the meat has time to loosen up rather than getting tough. If you leave only heat on the outside burners and place the chicken on the inside so it's not directly over the heat it doesn't cook as fast and can still have the great grilled taste and look but without being tough when you eat it. Rotisserie is another great way to go as you can set it up to cook all day long and it bastes itself in it's own juices so the meat pretty much falls off the bone when you are ready to eat it.

 

[RedMini]

I bought another fridge (a lot smaller than my main one).

Only use its going to get is resting my birds before eating and freezing, and miscellaneous stuff that doesn't fit in my main fridge.

 

[RWD]

You can freeze a couple of gallon jugs of water and set them in a large ice chest and age your birds by swapping the gallon jugs out twice a day.

 

[enola]

I freeze them right after butchering. I rest them after thawing until they are limber.