How to eat a chicken.

[RUNuts]

But here is what I was expecting. I use to buy any ole cheap chicken from the grocery store. Then one day I tried the expensive free range organic chickens. In truth, I saw a very big difference. The cheap chicken was spongy and soggy did not have any flavor and you had to eat a lot to feel full. The organic was firm had a great chicken butter type flavor and it did not take as much to feel satisfied. SO- I thought that If I raised and killed my own birds that they would be as good or better than the farm raised organic chicken I have been buying.

They will be. Guaranteed or your money back.

Free ranging, access to grass, bugs, herbs, berries and all the other little edibles in the yard will cause flavor. A veritable explosion of flavor. Compare wild duck to farmed duck. Should be similar to your mass produced chicken versus the farm raised chicken.

If fed straight from a bag, flavor will be limited. Kitchen scraps are included in the flavor recommendations. Chickens do great in a composting run. Now is your chance to make chicken compost and get "free" compost for your garden too. Home grown produce is also a flavor enhancer. Share with the chickens. I explained to mine, they eat the bugs, I eat the produce. We had a disagreement and now they aren't allowed in the garden. Fences work. I still share the bugs and some produce.

 

[Tamdog]

[QUOTE=

If fed straight from a bag, flavor will be limited. Kitchen scraps are included in the flavor recommendations. Chickens do great in a composting run. Now is your chance to make chicken compost and get "free" compost for your garden too.



confused
I read not to give the chickens old or wilted scraps from your refrigerator, or any old left overs or a apple that was moldy. - that they needed to have fresh food scraps and even then be careful that they do not eat certain beans or avocados or .and I run across what you are saying- they eat compost. I have a small compost area I put moldy old food- leaves and weeds-and I use lime, and the chicken poop. So can the chickens eat from that? I am sure I would have to stop using lime - right?

 

[BGcoop]

But here is what I was expecting. I use to buy any ole cheap chicken from the grocery store. Then one day I tried the expensive free range organic chickens. In truth, I saw a very big difference. The cheap chicken was spongy and soggy did not have any flavor and you had to eat a lot to feel full. The organic was firm had a great chicken butter type flavor and it did not take as much to feel satisfied. SO- I thought that If I raised and killed my own birds that they would be as good or better than the farm raised organic chicken I have been buying.

This! We started with chickens (and rabbits) two years ago, first year we bought chicks to raise hens for laying, then we decided to hatch our own eggs and butchered the excess cockerels. While I didn’t notice too much of a difference in flavor as most of mine ended up in flavorful dishes, I certainly noticed that one chicken(or rabbit) will feed all 4 of us WITH leftovers! It’s still a bit strange to pull a bird out of the freezer and look at it because it looks so small there should be no way that it is enough, yet it always is!
Also, for the disassociation part of butchering, when a rooster bites you and then doesn’t let go, there IS some satisfaction in biting him back. For the nicer animals, well, they just have to go to freezer camp where they spend their days learning new things, like how to be a good table chicken. And when they graduate from freezer camp they give up their original name(Betty, red bird, Scott, etc.) and take on a new one (Alfredo, pot pie, grilled bbq).

I give mine old table scraps all the time-frequently day old salad that no one else is going to eat. No I don’t give them things that have actually gone bad/moldy, and yes I do check to make sure there isn’t something harmful for them in it, but the way I see it is if they are foraging and eating bugs and toads and baby mice they can handle a slightly soggy salad. Plus there are things I’ve thrown out there that they just won’t eat too, so I think they know something about what’s edible for them.

 

[RUNuts]

Yes.

Longer answer. I dump all the kitchen scraps in a pile and the chickens pick through it. Eat what they want and leave very little. They love avacado. Black, slimy avacado that I won't eat. Won't eat the pit or skin. I won't either though.

Chickens are smart. They've been around for a long time and know what is edible.

Lime is used to control the smell. I use more wood chips, leaves and absorbent browns including paper towels and card board. Wipe up a spill, clean the table, paper towel to compost to counter the greens. Yes, I'd stop using lime, but we have basic water and soil.

Best chicken treat is when I open the compost pile up. They scratch through a cubic meter of decomposed wood chips, cardboard, food scraps, branches and yard waste to pick out the pill bugs, earwigs, roaches and other no see ums and whatever they fill their crop up with. The whole flock will sit on the pile and it will be sorted and spread out in less than a week. Happy chickens.

 

[Severne]

Yes, rooster, at least most will be tougher and less meaty and more stringy red meat than Cornish X.

 

[LikeTurkeys]

But here is what I was expecting. I use to buy any ole cheap chicken from the grocery store. Then one day I tried the expensive free range organic chickens. In truth, I saw a very big difference. The cheap chicken was spongy and soggy did not have any flavor and you had to eat a lot to feel full. The organic was firm had a great chicken butter type flavor and it did not take as much to feel satisfied. SO- I thought that If I raised and killed my own birds that they would be as good or better than the farm raised organic chicken I have been buying.

Hmm... I wonder what birds they used? Likely not any old barnyard rooster. And what did the breast bone looked like? Filled out as you are used too in the grocery store?

Yes, the flavor and texture can change from the diet and activity level of the bird, but the breed plays a huge impact in how much meat you will get (and, I still believe in the tenderness of the bird). Free range Cornish Cross (yes, they can be free ranged) might taste better than store bought, are not soggy (because of extra exercise), but are still not as tough as a barnyard rooster. These are the fryers, the barbecues, and the large chicken breasts. Barnyard rooster is still chicken, that's true (otherwise why would I eat mine?), and they can be made tender with proper cooking. Its just more hassle and time for less meat.

 

[LikeTurkeys]

By the way @Tamdog, I'd love to hear your own experience when you butcher and eat your own barnyard rooster. What did you think of the meat? Texture and flavor? How did you cook it?

 

[Tamdog]

By the way @Tamdog, I'd love to hear your own experience when you butcher and eat your own barnyard rooster. What did you think of the meat? Texture and flavor? How did you cook it?

I will be sure to let you know, if I do. I am trying to get information right now - so it would be a while ( and there is a process of convincing my husband) that is why I asked the question- because I am just learning and have no idea what that whole process and experience would feel like!

 

[3KillerBs]

SO- I thought that If I raised and killed my own birds that they would be as good or better than the farm raised organic chicken I have been buying.

Yes. It will.

But once undressed they will *look* just like any other chicken like you're used to eating.