Need help tough meat

[jrwoodward]

We've been raising and incubating our own birds for 3 years. We have yet to figure out how to butcher a young chicken and it not be tough unless slow cooked. We've researched and tried everything we've seen on the internet and if you're doing something or you know a secret please share. The last batch we gave an ice bath for 48 hours.
If you have a suggestion would you please also mention how long you have been raising chickens to eat.

 

[sourland]

What breeds are you working with, at what age do you process, and do they free range extensively?

 

[DemeterAD9]

New to chickens but not to killing/processing and cooking animals. You want to let any freshly killed/processed meat go through rigor mortis so it becomes floppy again. Letting a clean carcass rest in the fridge for 3 days to a week is a good idea. I usually eat fresh meat a few days after it’s been killed.

For tenderness (in birds at least) it basically comes down to age and breed being raised. Plus how you cook them. The last (and technically the first) chicken I had butchered was an ~15 week old EE cockerel. Rotisserie cooked for 1hr and I didn’t think he was tough at all but I can only compare it to wild birds I’ve eaten.

 

[jrwoodward]

What breeds are you working with, at what age do you process, and do they free range extensively?

Half Cornish half Plymouth Rock. We tried both free range and caged. We are only doing caged or pinned up.

 

[Molpet]

How old? Age determines cooking methods.
I have pressure cooked a rooster that was several years old for several hours and he was the best pulled chicken.

Are you resting until rigor mortis has passed? One day to ten. Older and larger birds seem to be better rested longer, for me anyway.