First time Cornish meat birds-advice

[CNJ]

I don't use ice, but I only do one at a time and up to 4 per day.

 

[Bags]

We did all 17 chickens today. What an easy process. Chickens came out great. The worst part about it all was the cheap vacuum sealer we bought. Can’t wait to try one of these chickens out

Congratulations on your first harvest! Welcome to your new addiction! LOL it's hard to eat store bought birds after you've had the best. I always cut most of mine into parts but I do like a roaster

 

[WoodyM]

We do two batches per year and get the Jumbo Cornish x from McMurray. 10 weeks to the day. Average weight of the last 20 I processed was 9.2 lbs with 6 females. Largest male was 10lbs 9oz. These birds get huge, but the meat is very nice and does not have the "stretch" marks we've seen on other birds we've bought. I think it is important to get birds from the same breeder so you know what to expect. No broken legs with these birds but we had to be careful to not have obstacles. I lost 2 the first time with this lot when they just fell off things and ended up on their backs. I do not restrict feed, they get a mix of high protein crumbles, fodder and greens from the garden. They do not free range but have access to outdoor runs where we grow barley and wheat grass for them to eat. We use k-cones and a machine plucker. Our group does about 60 in 4 hours (4-7 people). We remove the head in one action; our theory is to separate the neurological system from the body asap. We put them on ice after being dressed, but have never tried the pink water method. We do keep them refrigerated for 24 hours before cutting and packaging so they can go through rigor.

 

[Ridgerunner]

We did all 17 chickens today. What an easy process. Chickens came out great.

Congratulations

The worst part about it all was the cheap vacuum sealer we bought.

What was the problem with that sealer? Just in case it is a process problem and someone can help you with it.

 

[Sunshine27295]

My Cornish cross last year:

1- day old ( I picked them up from hatchery) View attachment 3024361

5 (yes, five) WEEKS old.
View attachment 3024362

nice birds, that is what mine look like at 5-6 weeks. Im hoping they get bigger, I plan to process at 10 weeks.

 

[WoodyM]

nice birds, that is what mine look like at 5-6 weeks. Im hoping they get bigger, I plan to process at 10 weeks.

: ) they'll get bigger.....

 

[CascadeQUAIL]

Been a while since I’ve posted on here, my little flock turned into 30 hens, followed by getting goats, and a pig. Anyways, we wanted to expand our horizon so we decided this year we will get meat chickens.

We went to tractor supply yesterday and bought 17. They had some that were a week old and some were a couple days old. I’d like to process them all at the same time.

What I’m looking for is advice from people who have done this before. I read anywhere from 45 days to 10 weeks for processing. I’m wondering what would be the BEST time to do it. Does the meat taste different from a 45 day old bird to a 10 week old bird? Or is the only difference how much the bird will weigh?

I like mine dressed at 5 lbs. I smoke or fry them and they're never dry. Their feed conversion is still fine to 9-10 weeks. But that is my local hatchery stock, I have had some that were absolutely disgusting beasts that couldn't walk at 9 weeks. Most people would hate a 5 lb CX, but they work for me just fine.

I think a lot of taste difference is in the personality of the bird. I've had some that didn't move from the spot I placed them on day one, and some that I've let out to free range because they were so rowdy they needed to forage. This made for some tougher legs, or smaller breasts, depending on how much they ran around.

If you are processing them yourself then you can just weigh them until they reach your target weight. They will dress out 20% less than their live weight. So if you want a 3.5 lb bird (pretty standard) you would want about 4.5-5 lb live weight. Get a little baby scale and a bucket and weigh a hen and a rooster once a week. (If you can't tell just get a couple "big" ones and "small" ones.)

You can also process some at week 8 and save a few for week 9, 10, etc. To see for yourself how they taste, then you can take that knowledge into next year.

If you have to get your processing dates insanely early like most of us, it can be REALLY tough to guess. Luckily my local processor only requires a same week appointment, so when my CX are getting close to that 7lb mark I give him a ring. It's just part of the game, make your best guess and hope if you need a later date you can call and they will let you push.