Eating pullets (young extra hens)

[ChocolateMouse]

Yeah. A store bought broiler is processed at 6-8 weeks, a dp/heritage breed will be all skin and bones at that age. You're never gonna get the same softness. A 20 week old cockerel/pullet CAN be fried but will be a lil chewy in my experience. Once they get much older than that, you gotta cook em low and slow and most DP aren't laying at 20 weeks. Pullets will stay softer a little longer but not a lot.

 

[Cody brown]

Thankyou , is this the same with dual purpose chickens. The pullets will stay tender for longer?

 

[Cody brown]

Yeah. A store bought broiler is processed at 6-8 weeks, a dp/heritage breed will be all skin and bones at that age. You're never gonna get the same softness. A 20 week old cockerel/pullet CAN be fried but will be a lil chewy in my experience. Once they get much older than that, you gotta cook em low and slow and most DP aren't laying at 20 weeks. Pullets will stay softer a little longer but not a lot.

Thankyou

 

[SulkyBantam]

I think you should sell them.

 

[Geena]

Thankyou , is this the same with dual purpose chickens. The pullets will stay tender for longer?

Yes, they do. We always eat any pullets not kept for breeding, and normally grow them out for a month or so longer than the cockerels. I actually prefer the pullet meat.
Personally, with all the time effort and money I put into raising them, I'd much rather reap the benefits of delicious home grown chicken than sell them.

 

[Ruthster55]

I wouldn’t eat a pullet unless it had some really bad or obvious defect that affected the quality of life.

If the pullets just have the wrong color or conformation or even a disqualification like wry tail, sell those pullets as egg layers to people who have small suburban or urban hen flocks! Those pullets probably won’t be bred, but they will produce eggs for the people in town which is a use a lot more productive than one time in the stew pot.

Usually, people will pay more for a pullet than the meat is worth.

If you have enough chickens, you can probably find a meatie or excess cockerel to eat without needing to bother the pullets.

If there’s a hen that you don’t want to breed, just collect her eggs regularly.

If she goes broody, put eggs from hens you DO want to breed under her at night.

 

[Cody brown]

Yes, they do. We always eat any pullets not kept for breeding, and normally grow them out for a month or so longer than the cockerels. I actually prefer the pullet meat.
Personally, with all the time effort and money I put into raising them, I'd much rather reap the benefits of delicious home grown chicken than sell them.

Yeah thats exactly what i was thinking. Thankyou

 

[RUNuts]

When I ordered my first flock, the minimum order was 25 and I didn't need that many eggs. I grew out the extras and ate them. Scrawny things compared to the meat birds and still tasted great. I'm in a no crow zone and was learning.

I tried to sell the extras this year, but no takers for Barnyard Surprises. I wound up culling several for defects. Still learning.

 

[RoosterML]

Yeah, the only problem i have with eating older hens is that you have to use their meat for soups and stews. I was thinking that with young pullets their meat will be more tender. Better for a roast chicken . Is that the case or are younger pullets meat just as tough?

Sell the Pullets and buy meat chicks and you’ll still be ahead of the game.

 

[Morrigan]

Yes, they do. We always eat any pullets not kept for breeding, and normally grow them out for a month or so longer than the cockerels. I actually prefer the pullet meat.
Personally, with all the time effort and money I put into raising them, I'd much rather reap the benefits of delicious home grown chicken than sell them.

Same here. I have also found the pullet meat better tasting and more tender then the cockerels.