Free-ranging = tougher meat?

[Sunny Side Up]

I have a pen full of mixed-breed cockerels I'm raising for the table. They're home-hen-hatched so vary in age. I like to let them get as meaty as they can before I process them, usually around 18-22 weeks.

In the past I've always just kept them confined to their pen, a re-purposed trampoline frame, moved it periodically to fresh grass, and kept their feeder full of regular chick starter. But this year the grass is gone and so is most of our money. I am giving them layer pellets to eat because it's cheaper, but they're still breaking my budget.

So now I'm letting them out of their pen all day, to free-range & find food of their own. I just started this a few days ago, hope to see a reduction in the amount of feed they'll demand.

Do you think all the extra activity will make them tougher? Or more muscular? Or both? I'm considering confining the ones scheduled next for the table when they're ready. Do you think it'll be like a person who works out a lot, then gets lazy? That they'll build up extra muscle, then it will get flabby?

I've never had a problem with tough backyard meat before, I usually let my birds rest 2-3 days in the refrigerator then slow-simmer them to use the meat in soups & stews. I hope they'll continue to be as tender, I really don't think I have any other options.

 

[pipermark]

what food they eat, age, breed and kill method determine table fare. I would pen them a few days before slaughter.

 

[Bossroo]

What would one expect to see in body mass in a human 16 year old track star verses a 16 year old couch potato? I would expect similar results with the chickens if turned loose. To save money, I would send most of them to freezer camp now and pamper the rest with proper nutrition so that they will provide more meat for the table in a few more weeks.

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

So now I'm letting them out of their pen all day, to free-range & find food of their own. I just started this a few days ago, hope to see a reduction in the amount of feed they'll demand.

This will not work. They will use more energy looking for food then they will even get and they will not gain weight, but they will stay alive. Best bet is to slaughter the big ones now and then feed the rest a food broiler feed and then slaughter them, this is your cheapest way to get the meat on your table. Free ranging a bird does not make the meat tough, but it does make it more firm as the muscles get used and exercised.​

 

[Buster52]

I don't have an opinion about difference in size or anything, since I have never raised anything but free range, and am very new at that.

But I've eaten free range, and penned. Free range is firmer (I would actually call the other stuff mushier), but free range tastes better. Much better, and it has largely to do with the difference in diet, IMO.

About muscle-bound men... that's a myth. Muscle does not turn to flab without exercise. They shrink and turn soft. The reason muscular folks often get fat is because it takes a lot of calories to build those muscles. Often when they stop exercising, they don't reduce the caloric intake.

 

[Rootball]

If you were Japanese you might build small slings to keep them off their feet while you feed them only hulled corn and let them drink beer. This along with a regimen of daily massage and constant classical music produces a fantastically marbled chicken legs which would delight the most discerning poultry connoisseur.

 

[Buster52]

I would also add once my green stuff turned green this spring, the feed comsumption of my birds dropped to about half (more, in the case of my layers). So, while I would still feed the birds while they free ranged, it certainly could help the pocketbook.

 

[Harp Turkey Ranch]

I would also add once my green stuff turned green this spring, the feed comsumption of my birds dropped to about half (more, in the case of my layers). So, while I would still feed the birds while they free ranged, it certainly could help the pocketbook

.

Yes on your layers or older birds that would be true, but on a growing meat bird that is not the case. They need to eat X amount of feed to gain X amount of weight and the greens are just added bonus on flavor and life quality.​