Hens or roosters for heritage breed meat birds?

[Ryan22]

My original plan was to have several hens for eggs and several hens for meat. I figured it would be easier to raise all hens and not deal with roosters if I don't plan on hatching my own chicks each year. This way all the hens can be raised together without having to manage roosters. I need some guidance on bird taste and texture for heritage dual purpose breeds. Is there really any difference between hens and roosters as far as taste or quality of the meat? Any thoughts?

 

[5 Acre Rooster]

Generally most birds are same texture taste hen/rooster comparison.. Although roosters grow faster in most breeds.

 

[Ryan22]

Thanks for the feedback. I figured I would go with all hens so I wouldn't have to keep the roosters separated from hens. I would imagine this will make tnings somewhat easier.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Thanks for the feedback. I figured I would go with all hens so I wouldn't have to keep the roosters separated from hens. I would imagine this will make tnings somewhat easier.

Your other option is to caponize the roosters, so they don't act like roosters and so the meat remains very tender because there are no sex hormones that make the meat tough and stringy . Once they are caponized they become one of the 'girls'. there is a thread that discussesall of this in great details and has great pics. It is here in the meat bird section near the top because it is aalways active

 

[blucoondawg]

If you are keeping only roosters you shouldn't really have issues with them, I have heard of many people who keep roosters in their own flock and don't have the issues they have with too many roosters in a hen flock, I wouldn't bother with keeping hens specifically for meat, they grow slower and many will never reach a large enough size for me to want to butcher and if they do they would be so old all you would want to do is make soup of them.