Fry Pan Bargain from Meyers Hatchery

[UThobbyfarmer]

Great info! I can't say I've ever looked twice at Orpingtons. After your assessment I might try sourcing some of the heavier ones. It sounded like you had the ones from Meyers and also some you're growing out from another source (hatchery?). Is that correct?

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Our Cornish crosses started to die off after 10 weeks old. They had a huge run and just layed around most of the time. We continued lose one here or there until they were processed. I can't remember when exactly they finally got done. Maybe about 12-14 weeks old. We had one that dressed out at 12#!!! We had nicknamed him Chickenzilla.

 

[Folly's place]

I like the Freedom Rangers better; they act like chickens!
Right now I have ten Cornishx chicks in the brooder, about ten days old. They are, as usual, huge and quiet.
Swore I'd never do them again, but here we are; the freezer is getting short of chicken, and these were ON SALE, and will be done by late October.
So much for good intentions...
Mary

 

[Morrigan]

Believe it or not I had them scheduled for 18 weeks processing time even had it set up to remind me on the calendar lol. Things popped up and made it impossible to do then so we waited until things settled before setting up and getting it done. Usually I am good going any time between 18 to 30 weeks. The 18 week to 24 week birds I usually will process as roasters. Because they're heritage varieties and have more muscle tone making the meat more chewy I cook usually in a covered roasting pan with a grate or potatoes underneath the bird to keep it elevated with chicken broth below it (maybe an inch worth). I usually cook at 225 degrees and increase my cooking time until the meat is good and tender. This prevents the legs and thighs from getting chewy.

Anything older than 24 weeks I usually cook in the crock pot or in a pot on the stove bone and all for things like soups stews, chickens and dumplings, enchiladas etc. You can also pressure cook them first and then do things like fried chicken with them or cooking them on the grill which is higher heat. The pressure cooking breaks the connective tissues in the meat so it's not tough to eat even though it's an older bird.

These guys had just started crowing a few nights before processing so that was slower to develop in them for which the neighbors were grateful. I got these guys (originally 25 birds 15 birds made it to processing) on April 10th and got a load of 11 turkeys and 17 Cornish X around April 26th. They started out in separate brooders but were all put together in the large outdoor grow out pen that I have in my horse pasture. They were allowed to free range after 3 weeks old until processing as were the turkeys and Cornish.

These birds by far were superior in their foraging. They would leave the coop first thing in the morning and not be back until I showed up with the feed at night. I went through a 50lb bag of feed every 2 weeks total for 53 birds to start. I lost about 10 birds about 1/2 way through to an owl couple that moved in to the neighborhood so they had to do a few weeks where they were put into the pen early to keep them safe. During that time I increased their grain since I was decreasing their time out bringing them in around 3:30 in the afternoon rather than at dusk because that's when the owls were hunting.

The Cornish X and BBW turkeys would sit and eat all day rather than foraging so they increased it somewhat towards then end but I tried to be craftier and started spreading their food out so they had to move to eat rather than sitting all day. All told between the three groups I have gone through 15 bags of feed from April 10th until now at 18.99 a bag for a total feed cost of 284.85. I got 17 Cornish X and 15 Heritage breeds to processing, 32 birds total (Turkeys have another two weeks)Cornish X averaged out at about 7-8 lbs process weights heritage were from 3 -5lbs processed.

Great information! Next time I get an slightly older, but not too old rooster, I'm going to try a very slow roast.

I also found that spreading some food over open ground helped the CX to get moving. I also rationed their food such that if they wanted a mid-day snack they had to go and find it.

 

[Mosey2003]

Excellent report! Very interesting data.

The Dominiques don't surprise me in the slightest. They're a small breed to begin with, and hatcheries usually produce smaller birds than breeders.

Interesting on the Buffs, too. The breeder ones I had were not meaty at all around 16 weeks ish when I butchered a few, but I have reservations about that breeder overall, so that probably had a lot to do with it.

There are SO MANY roosters listed in my FB groups lately. Honestly, if one had the time and inclination, around here I could really fill my freezer for the cost of fuel and my time processing.

 

[LilyD]

Great information! Next time I get an slightly older, but not too old rooster, I'm going to try a very slow roast.

I also found that spreading some food over open ground helped the CX to get moving. I also rationed their food such that if they wanted a mid-day snack they had to go and find it.

I purchased the batch from Meyers and they had some buffs in it. I found a breeder locally who had heritage Chocolate Mottled orps she has been breeding for years and I got 5 from her as a start. They do need some work because they are not SOP quality at this time but definitely heavier than the Meal Maker Orps are. I had raised mixed orps years ago and loved them. They were my go to table bird. I never really had to work with them. They laid the eggs I would consistently have one or two that went broody each spring and wanted to hatch eggs so I was able to allow them to hatch babies and raise them right in the coop with the others. A heritage orp should average between 10-14 lbs fully grown and easily gets between 5-8 lbs by 16 weeks. If the weather cooperates I will take weights on my current grow outs who are currently 15-16 weeks. I will be exclusively hatching out these guys in the future and working towards increasing their growth rate as a flock. Here are some pictures of my crews parents for reference. If you are going to give them a try I would definitely go with the English Varieties as they seem heavier to me than the American version of Orps.

 

[LilyD]

Our Cornish crosses started to die off after 10 weeks old. They had a huge run and just layed around most of the time. We continued lose one here or there until they were processed. I can't remember when exactly they finally got done. Maybe about 12-14 weeks old. We had one that dressed out at 12#!!! We had nicknamed him Chickenzilla.

I try to process between 7-8 weeks I think this batch got processed around 9. I lost a few as babies but once they were out in the grow out pen they did fine. They just don't move enough so I actually would walk around the pasture and put little piles of food in the morning and they would follow and go nuts. It was the only way I could get them moving if I put food in the pen they laid down and ate all day not even getting up to go get water. I had some that dressed out at 7-8 lbs at 9 weeks. Very nice birds but I prefer heritage for their foraging abilities. My current crew has been foraging on their own free range since 3 weeks. I only provide a tiny amount of food in the morning and toss a bit out for right before bed. They spend all day taking down my tick and mosquito population and come back to the coop at night with their coops already bulging.

 

[LilyD]

Excellent report! Very interesting data.

The Dominiques don't surprise me in the slightest. They're a small breed to begin with, and hatcheries usually produce smaller birds than breeders.

Interesting on the Buffs, too. The breeder ones I had were not meaty at all around 16 weeks ish when I butchered a few, but I have reservations about that breeder overall, so that probably had a lot to do with it.

There are SO MANY roosters listed in my FB groups lately. Honestly, if one had the time and inclination, around here I could really fill my freezer for the cost of fuel and my time processing.

I have done that before as well. I have found if I wanted to get a good orp buff or otherwise I needed to look at the English varieties they seem to grow faster and fill out earlier. The ones I have at 15-16 weeks already have quite a bit of breast filled out and I wouldn't have any issue processing any of them if needed. Next year I hope to have a large bunch of babies to work with and I am going to start weighing individually at 4 weeks so I can keep track of growth rates. Not having the cornish I will be able to keep better track of the feed to meat ratio for them as well. This year I ended up getting a bunch of Cornish and Turkeys for next to nothing because the feed store had ordered them in and no one was buying them. No complaints here I think I paid 3 dollars for each BBW turkey and a dollar for each CRX chick I brought home.

 

[Mosey2003]

@LilyD you and I are leading parallel lives this year

 

[Ridgerunner]

The 18 week to 24 week birds I usually will process as roasters. Because they're heritage varieties and have more muscle tone making the meat more chewy I cook usually in a covered roasting pan with a grate or potatoes underneath the bird to keep it elevated with chicken broth below it (maybe an inch worth). I usually cook at 225 degrees and increase my cooking time until the meat is good and tender. This prevents the legs and thighs from getting chewy.

My target age to butcher a dual purpose cockerel is 23 weeks. That suits the way I raise them. I cook them similarly but different. I cut them into serving pieces when I butcher to save in freezer space plus that's how I cook them. And I save other pieces for broth.

I cook them in a covered baking pan at 250 F for around 3 hours. The only seasoning I put with them is to coat them in herbs, usually oregano and basil since I grow and dehydrate a lot of those. I rinse the pieces and do not shake any water off but I don't add any more water or broth. When they finish I get maybe a half-cup of liquid, which is broth.

I don't put a grate of any kind under the pieces, I like to put the dark meat on the bottom but that's just me. My wife eats the white meat and she wants it drier and I'm happy with the thighs or drumsticks. Talk about tender and flavorful! Yeah, I can see a grate of celery, carrots, or potatoes.

The way I see it the keys are a fairly low heat, enough time, and a tightly covered pan so the liquid does not evaporate. Just different ways to do it.