monster size delaware?

[PotterWatch]

Butchering is easier than you might think and with only two birds you don't need any fancy equipment. Check out the stickie at the top of the meat bird section. You can also look at http://www.howtobutcherachicken.com . That is also a great tutorial.

 

[chickened]

Silkiechicken told me once at a swap she butchered them in her apartment so I am sure she could give you some tips on butchering.
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[Judy]

I've butchered in my kitchen more than once, did it just a few weeks ago for one roo. No special tools. It's handy to do the deed outdoors, and it's handy to have a way to hang them by their feet for a few minutes to bleed them outdoors, and it's handy to have a large pot (canning pot, turkey fryer pot) to scald them for a minute or two, to pluck them. I plucked and did the rest in the kitchen sink, pulled the garbage can up close to hold the feathers. Pics in stickies in the meat section tell you all you need to know from there. But it could all be done indoors.

It's really a simple process. The stumbling block for most people is doing the deed. Nothing to it from there. The second one will take you half as long as the first one. If you don't break the gall bladder (little green thing) you won't mess up anything.

 

[Badbaby05]

Processing chickens is easier than you think. Like Ddawn said doing "the deed" is worse than plucking and cleaning them.

Also I'm a chicken newbie and I have processed 4 of my very small flock...oh and I'm a girl lol. My husband laughs at me, calls me his little farm girl.

 

[wingsofglory]

My experience:

I could tie them up by their feet and cut right under their chin with a VERY sharp knife quickly.

Later learned I could lay them on their back and cut also and lay towel over them.

But I had a hundred and twenty five of red broilers and found I could not stomach cleaning them. ( Why so many, I was thinking two chicken meals a week for a year).
Plucking was difficult as it takes a very big pot of hot water to dip a ten pound bird in, which I never found. Used a wheel barrow with less success and lots of water and LOTS waiting for water to boil.

I put off doing the rest for two months, during which they ate a LOT of money but didn't get much bigger. At six a day took forever to do them all, by then they were laying eggs.

After finally finished, I learned from my friend. He also seems to have lots of free time to do other fun things BECAUSE this what he does:

He lays the dead bird on its back, splits and peels back the breast skin, filets out the breast meat, skins and cuts off the legs and the meaty wing bone, and calls it good.
No plucking, boiling water, cleaning guts, cleaning up a huge mess. Took him less than 3 minutes. He laid the pieces in a clean pan and right to the kitchen.

After having done a hundred up beautifully whole, I discovered they were too tough to roast and had to be cut up to be pressure cooked anyway. So in the end, I did not need the skin or the backs or necks.

 

[babyrnlc]

Im not sure if there is a difference in cornish breeds, but you might want to give them a chance to lay.

I have a dark cornish. We have had her since the beginning, like 3 or 4 months. She has given us 7 light brown eggs a week every week since we have had her. There were two weeks that she did not lay one day, but then laid two eggs in one day later on in that same week. She is by far my best layer. That was through two blizzards (we dont normally get blizzards in OK) and two predator attacks. She never stopped laying. I dont use any supplemental light either. She is a super chicken! She is shy but nice!

 

[schellie69]

a dark Cornish is completely different the a Cornish cross. I am afraid that you got some CX they grow fast so they can be butched at a young age. I see it happen a lot at tractor supply they sell what ever the person things they want not really caring. Our other farm store is great and does ask if a kid picks a CX if that is really what the parents are after. If you don't feel you could do the deed you might find someone who can for a small price or see about selling them on CL

 

[ChickyLaura]

Well, the same thing happened to me a few years ago. If you don't "do the deed" or have someone do it for you, the larger Cornish X birds will die of either CHF or leg problems in a short while.

One way to look at is that you gave those chicks a good home, and then you will be using their meat for nourishment to feed your family.

Another thing is that if you have a male Cornish X, he will try to mate with your laying hens and he will honestly hurt them! I had a huge meatie hurt two of my hens pretty badly because he was just doing what nature intended. Poor guy. He died a few days later.

When you go to the feed store to get the pullets you wanted in the first place, ask if they know of any processors. That way you don't have to do it, you just take them there, drop them off, and go pick them up a little while later.

Either that, or like Potterwatch said you could put them on Craigslist. That would be a shame though, because you should be able to get nourishment from what you spent the money on, and spent the time raising.

Good luck with your decision...

 

[ChickyLaura]

I agree with schellie, you do not have "Regular" Cornish, you have Cornish X. You have some meat birds. "Regular" Cornish do not get this large, this fast. Cornish X will most likely not live to see laying age.

 

[chickened]

Cornish cross will lay alright they eat then lay around eat some more then lay around eat... you get the picture.
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