Harvesting Chickens Year Round

[LindaB220]

We do this, unintentionally. Our heritage flock doesn't mature until nearly a year, so 'extra' cockerals are kept until their characteristics are clearly visible. That's anywhere from 15wks to a year. No, I try not to keep more cockerals than I can handle - but I have a separate coop for the boys to live in and grow out in. Once decisions are made, dinner is available in 3 days (after resting the meat in the fridge!).

However, I also grow out meat birds as I've found their meat quality is so much more to our modern tastes. We grow out a batch of 25, and freeze them. I've found I need about 60 chickens a year - which means 2 batches of meaties and whatever 'extra' cockerals are hatched out by the layers.

I created a pictoral post which shows the carcasses of the various breeds. I'm a visual person, so this was the best way to describe it. The heritage meat is incredible for chicken pot pies and for chicken and dumplings and for chicken soup. The Rangers are wonderful all-round kind of meat (roaster, baking). The CX is excellent for high heat fast cooking (grill or stovetop).

Here's the link to the post:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/746021/photo-comparison-java-freedom-ranger-cx-carcasses

Good luck! It's not hard to do, but keeping the extra cockerals separate has been key to our success in this endeavor!

Very impressed with your photo thread. It really shows the difference.