Free Cornish X - Worth it??

[booker81]

I'm sold!

(Sorry for the off topic )

I love Julia and Jacques together - they crack me up (What kind of wine should we have? A whole lot of wine!).

I'll be definitely trying the turkey recipe....and the chicken one for chickens!

 

[Cedarknob]

Totally worth it! My niece did this and gave me the birds at 6 or 7 mo. and they were wonderful. Not quite as tender as the younger birds but the meat was great....we had a summer party and BBQd the whole lot after marinating for a few hours. Folks raved over the taste and meat tenderness.

X2

Many of us older folks [not saying Beekissed is old

] grew up eating farm raised chicken with much different flavor, and actually prefer a little firmer, darker, different flavored meat than available at the grocery store, or that CX are like when processed at 7 or 8 weeks. For the last three years I've been raising them on very small amounts of lower protein feed, and letting them forage in movable pens for the bulk of their diets. It does help to age them after processing before cooking and/or brine or marinate to keep them more moist and tender, no matter the age or breed, but I've eaten one at nearly 15 pounds dressed that was just as tender and flavorful as a young broad breasted roast turkey, and everyone thought that was what it was. I would recommend growing them that way to anyone disgusted with fast growth related issues or just the CX's half bald, crap covered appearance when raised in small pens on the 12 on, 12 off feeding schedule of expensive, high protein, commercial grower.

 

[pepper48_98]

How many tries before you were able to get one boned like that? I love the idea and have watched the video but haven't tried it yet. It looks soooo good. lol

 

[shadowmane]

Man, I'd take those chickens in a heartbeat. I'd even ride from Salisbury to Asheboro just to get them. But that's just me. My wife has learned the art of slow roasting, which might work great for these birds. It could work for you if you got them.

 

[Totalcolour]

How many tries before you were able to get one boned like that? I love the idea and have watched the video but haven't tried it yet. It looks soooo good. lol

Did okay on my first try, although it wasn't nearly as "pretty" as the one Jacques did, and it took a lot longer. I had the video on in my office, and would pause, run into the kitchen, do a bit, then run back into my office to watch the next bit.

The next time I did it without watching, and did a duck instead, and it came out really well. I would mention one thing. Make sure your bird is "DRY" or it will keep slipping out of your fingers. And even though you don't use a knife much, make sure it's sharp.

Two advantages of boning, you get to use the carcass right away for stock, and second, the bird is so easy to carve. I taught a friend how to do it, and now on butcher day, she bones all her birds before freezing them!

Good luck

 

[Beekissed]

X2

Many of us older folks [not saying Beekissed is old

] grew up eating farm raised chicken with much different flavor, and actually prefer a little firmer, darker, different flavored meat than available at the grocery store, or that CX are like when processed at 7 or 8 weeks. For the last three years I've been raising them on very small amounts of lower protein feed, and letting them forage in movable pens for the bulk of their diets. It does help to age them after processing before cooking and/or brine or marinate to keep them more moist and tender, no matter the age or breed, but I've eaten one at nearly 15 pounds dressed that was just as tender and flavorful as a young broad breasted roast turkey, and everyone thought that was what it was. I would recommend growing them that way to anyone disgusted with fast growth related issues or just the CX's half bald, crap covered appearance when raised in small pens on the 12 on, 12 off feeding schedule of expensive, high protein, commercial grower.

Ditto this! And I am old....46 goin' on 80. I was born old!

Slower is better, healthier for the bird and for the human. I do my CX on free range (no tractor) and butcher later than the tradition. I feed regular feeds(this year it's fermented whole grains) and only feed once a day...and have the same finishing weights as those who feed all the high pro free choice. The difference seems to be that my birds keep all their nutrients inside and everyone else's CX seem to be squirting their nutrients out on the ground in a stinking, yellow mess...all that high dollar feed wasted!

 

[shadowmane]

Ditto this! And I am old....46 goin' on 80. I was born old!

Slower is better, healthier for the bird and for the human. I do my CX on free range (no tractor) and butcher later than the tradition. I feed regular feeds(this year it's fermented whole grains) and only feed once a day...and have the same finishing weights as those who feed all the high pro free choice. The difference seems to be that my birds keep all their nutrients inside and everyone else's CX seem to be squirting their nutrients out on the ground in a stinking, yellow mess...all that high dollar feed wasted!

Where do you get fermented whole grains? Do you do it yourself, or get them from a supplier somewhere? If you do it yourself, how?

 

[Beekissed]

Do it myself. I drilled small holes in a 5 gal. bucket and placed it down into another. Place the grain in the top bucket, cover the grain/feed with water and soak. I speeded up the fermentation process by introducing a little unpasteurized ACV with a good mother culture in it.

You don't have to do it in the sieve system I setup but it comes in handy to just lift your grain bucket up and let the excess fermented fluid drain off before you feed. Depending on the warmth of the place in which you are doing your fermenting, soaking 8-15 hours is supposed to give your grain time to ferment enough to produce the valuable probiotics you are looking for. They are just pulled from the air...unless you want to speed it up like I did.

I just keep the same fluid in the bottom bucket and just add fresh water when necessary to get the right level to cover my feed. They call that backslopping....keeps those strong cultures in your grain fermenting system. Think sourdough bread...same thing.

Fermenting your grains is supposed to increase your protein by 12%, increase the absorption of your feed nutrients, increase total nutrient value, increase bowel health, increase laying performance, help prevent disease~particularly the intestinal ones like cocci, salmonella, e.coli, lower total feed consumption and thus total feed costs but will cause more weight gain on the lesser amounts of feed.

I've been doing this with my new CX chicks(54) and we are on their 4 th day. Their poop now looks like normal chicken feces, they have consumed less feed than they normally have by now, seem more content on the feed they are eating, prefer the fermented over the dry and are growing well. All bright, active and gaining ground. I am also offering buttermilk free choice in one waterer and unpasteurized ACV in the water of the other waterer...they can't get enough of it but don't seem to have the excessive thirst the CX normally have. Could be because they are not dehydrated from the constant diarrhea typical of this breed.

 

[the_great_snag]

I would take them. Even if you just bone them out and use the meat for casseroles it would be worth it. I make a lot of stuff like Chicken Helper where such meat would be ideal. You could even grind it up and freeze it if you have a meat grinder.

I let a couple Cornish X go about 5 months a few years ago. They were the size of small turkeys but the meat was great. Everyone loved it. I just broke the birds down and froze it in chunks big enough for a meal. They were so huge when I plucked them that they completely filled a 9x13 cake pan. EACH bird filled a cake pan I mean...

 

[the_great_snag]

My sister had some that she let get quite old too, and they were still good for grilling. I'm not sure who long she rested them, but they were fantastic.