My Attempt at a Dual Purpose Heritage Flock

[Folly's place]

The 'Lets Do This' bucket, front and center, is great!
And wearing vinyl gloves is best...
Good work, and nice looking birds. Love your project!
Mary

 

[MadGardener]

Wife snuck this pic of me hard at work
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For me this was a momentous

I see the joy in your face, relish it! I'm enjoying reading about your progress. Thank you for sharing!

 

[SheaLoner]

Great job! I've done only 1 older Roo. Similar age. Tried skinning him, it took 3 times the time as a young one. The meat on him was a dark red and flavourful. I ended up making a version of coq au vin the "dry" version with cider vinegar. Absolutely deliscious.

 

[B and K Homestead]

Processed a few of my sex link males yesterday. They averaged about 6lbs live at 12 weeks. Not bad! I also processed a 16 month NH cock. Havent got a weight on him yet but he was easily the biggest animal I have ever dispatched and processed. The difference between processing the young uns and the 1+ year old was interesting. Overall harder for the older bird. Way tougher skin, but looking forward to pressure cooking him,. The SLs have been butchered, but the NH is still resting in the fridge and will be pressure canned.

Here are some pics of the sex links before I processed. Will add some pics of the NH carcass and weight later this evening after work!
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Wife snuck this pic of me hard at work
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For me this was a momentous day. These are my first closed loop, homestead bred and grown meaties. Hurray!

Their build seems to favor the NH rather than the Delaware, they are good looking roosters!

 

[Tre3hugger]

Their build seems to favor the NH rather than the Delaware, they are good looking roosters!

Thank you! Tasted one last night, absolutely the best bird I have ever tasted. Just a breast grilled in a pan with onions. *chef's kiss*

 

[Tre3hugger]

Turns out that rooster (16 m/o heritage NH) weighted 7lb30z dressed. Musta been at least ten lbs live if going by the rile of thirds. What a monster! His dark meat looks and tastes more like a steak than i chicken! Just from him, I got 3 jars of shredded meat and 7 jars of broth! Here are some pics

 

[CNJ]

Turns out that rooster (16 m/o heritage NH) weighted 7lb30z dressed. Musta been at least ten lbs live if going by the rile of thirds. What a monster! His dark meat looks and tastes more like a steak than i chicken! Just from him, I got 3 jars of shredded meat and 7 jars of broth! Here are some pics
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If you cross that line of NH with Jumbo Cornish X, you will get 10lbs at 16 weeks.

 

[Tre3hugger]

If you cross that line of NH with Jumbo Cornish X, you will get 10lbs at 16 weeks.

true, but a big part of the project for me is moving away from cornish x. cause I can't/dont want to produce them myself. So I would still be chained to buying from the hatchery every cpl years. For me that defeats the purpose. If I was going to do that i would probably just raise the cornish x.

 

[CNJ]

true, but a big part of the project for me is moving away from cornish x. cause I can't/dont want to produce them myself. So I would still be chained to buying from the hatchery every cpl years. For me that defeats the purpose. If I was going to do that i would probably just raise the cornish x.

You won't have to buy Jumbo Cornish X once you cross it with your NH line. Father/daughter to brother/sister should keep you busy for a very long time.

Then you can rename them to the 3 Hugger New Hampshire.

 

[Tre3hugger]

You won't have to buy Jumbo Cornish X once you cross it with your NH line. Father/daughter to brother/sister should keep you busy for a very long time.

Then you can rename them to the 3 Hugger New Hampshire.

That would be one route I could take. I think I will just stick with my heritage breeds for now though