eating RIRs and Barred Rocks after 18 months....

[SandraMort]

I'd been wondering that, too, and about bantams. For a raw food diet, the meat to bone ratio of chicken necks is fine. If and when I start finding myself with unusable and unhomable roos and elderly/injured whatevers that can't be processed for my own use, I'll hook up with a local BARF (bones and raw food for pets) support group and find someone who wants some free food. I'll also give them the parts I don't need. At least... that's the plan for now.

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[dancingbear]

Crock pot or pressure can, they'll be tender. It just takes some time. I do this all the time. Not just for soup, either. I make BBQ sandwiches from the chopped meat, enchiladas, tamales, tacos, burritos, chicken salad, etc. They make great chicken and dumplings.

For fryers, you want birds from 6-8 weeks old. 10 weeks at the most. Non-meat breed will be smaller, but tasty.

 

[Alaskan]

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My grandma would do that. If the meat looked 'odd' she would cook it really long then pick it off the bones and feed it to the dogs. (actually think that only happened once

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[chickabator]

well I do know this for a fact we had a white rock rooster that was at least a year and a half old and we butchered that mean devil and I roasted him in a 300 degree oven for about 4 hours and he was wonderful. My kids and dh thought he tasted just like a turkey. I told dh "snowball tasted good didn't he" he dressed out at about 10 pounds and was as tender as could be.

 

[SandraMort]

I don't know if this is an awful thing to say or not, and I certainly wouldn't say it too many other places...

I often see roosters available for free on craig's list. I was thinking of picking one up every now and then to practice processing over the next few months while my 80 bazillion color rangers come up to size. If I had a cut off age of 9 months, is it likely that I'd be able to get a bird that was edible?

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

I've eaten a few that age. I am not a great cook, but I am the only one in my house who will cook meat with bones in it (seriously-the boys won't cook it!)
Whenever we have a meanie that has to go, or a breeding project roo who has outlived his usefulness, they go to freezer camp.
I have found that the very best thing to do is just piece them and put them in the slow cooker with enough water to mostly cover the meat. I plop them in first thing in the morning (or sometimes right before bed!) and leave them till the meat falls off the bones. Then let it cool enough to pick out the bones. At that point you can either add taco seasoning to the broth/meat and simmer to reduce and have shredded chicken tacos, enchiladas, etc, or add veggies and noodles for chicken noodle soup, or add BBQ sauce for sandwiches, or add corn and bacon and cream (or cream of mushroom/celery/chicken soup) and make a chowder. Or you could drain off and keep the stock for later and use the cooked chicken for something else.
Even the toughest rooster falls apart after 8+ hours in the slow cooker. And best pat? Its EASY and it feels fast. Five minutes work in the morning, and dinner is 90% done when you get home from work in the evening.

 

[redneck4life27]

We always used to put the older birds in the pressure canner and then pick the meat off the bone and then we canned it and used the stock for soups and dumplings. Boy was it yummy