Have I waited too long to slaughter?

[layersnbroilers]

I feel like such an idiot. We've got our first batch of Cornish Cross in a mobile pen. We harvested five of them two weeks ago at 7 weeks of age and they roasted up great. We were supposed to process the others on Sunday and removed the feed Saturday night. Well, we got in there and they were near impossible to eviscerate. I've got 10 left and still haven't killed them. DH doesn't want to put the feed back in because he thinks we can still salvage the meat, but it's Wednesday morning and I feel like I'm starving them to death.

We have to slaughter them tonight. Can we still use the meat? Is it too late now since they haven't eaten in so long? Can we at least use it as dog food? If not - how do we dispose of them?

Please don't rag on me - I've lurked BYC for a year and love the community but had to join to post this. I'm desperate and I know it's inhumane what I've done, but there's no point on continuing to feed them if they're already too old. Any helpful suggestions will be appreciated!!

 

[Eepster]

I agree that you should kill them tonight. Cornish crosses are recommended to be killed from 8 weeks to 12 weeks. We starve our chickens for one day before we kill them so that their crop is empty. At least you won't have to deal with a big mess!

 

[layersnbroilers]

Thank you for your response! Do you think the meat is still good? Also, have you processed them at 9+ weeks? Even 3 days ago, it was very challenging to remove the organs, as the membranes all were so tight and thick.

 

[LeeBrad]

Even if you meet isn't great, you can still put it in a crockpot and salvage a lot of it Or make chicken stock.

 

[Eepster]

Well I actually don't have meat birds, I have read books about them. I am guessing you should do it between 8 to 10 weeks because sometimes at 12 weeks they get so heavy their legs break. In any chicken breed, if you wait longer than normal they are tougher to clean. They still taste ok, but not as good as when they are younger. We used to eat just the bird, but now we cook them into stew and they taste really good that way. Also, we have never plucked our birds. We skin them.

 

[layersnbroilers]

Ok great, good to know!