Orpingtons for meat?

[LilyD]

Processed my two Orphingtons today. It went pretty well being that it's my first time doing it on my own. They were a good size although I didn't weigh them to get an exact weight. I took a few pictures of them whole and once they were cut up so you could see the sizes of the breast and the legs and thighs.





The breasts aren't as big as a CornishX but they were still decent sized. The legs and thighs were the same size as the ones at the grocery store. Don't know how they taste yet since they are still resting but the meat sure looks good.

 

[galanie]

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Looking at the breasts, I'm guessing these were 20 weeks or less? You still have lots of tasty leg and thigh meat there! And the stock you can make /swoon

 

[LilyD]

Quote:
Looking at the breasts, I'm guessing these were 20 weeks or less? You still have lots of tasty leg and thigh meat there! And the stock you can make /swoon

Hehe you are definitely right on. They were not very old. Just old enough to have come in to their manly hormones and start irritating the ladies. The breasts aren't a bad size actually although I am not sure if it shows up in the pictures. They are a bit over 1/2 inch thick. Not monster ones like in the CRX but definitely enough for a meal for us. Being a dark meat and chicken soup kind of gal I was pleased to see that they had great legs and thighs and I love making stock too so nothing will go to waste. All in all it took about an hour per bird. My son was sad when he got home even though they had started biting him. He understands that they had to go but didn't want them to, if that makes any sense.

I am proud that it went very well. Some things that I think I got right was to hang the chickens directly over a trash can lined with a bag. All the feathers and every thing fell right into the bag which made clean up very easy. I am still not sure of myself when it comes to cleaning out the birds. Thought I was but boy the difference between doing it with CRX versus a dual purpose is like apples to oranges in my opinion. It went well and I didn't contaminate the meat at all but boy was I more unsure with them and getting them cleaned out. I hate to say practice makes perfect but I think it's going to take me just doing it on my own more to get more comfortable (is that the right word or would hardened work better?) with it.

I also need to look for a good sharp knife. The one I used worked well but was huge I need something much smaller to make me feel more comfortable with the process.

Any ideas what do you guys use?

 

[galanie]

Those breasts weren't all that small (imagine if someone didn't know we were talking about chickens?) when it comes to Orp breast meat, they just don't look grown up yet. Orps have the best legs and thighs. In my limited experience other breeds have more breast meat. Anyway, I have a tiny wood carving knife that I like to use that's about scalpel sized for the throat slash. I pretty much keep it at razor sharpness all the time. But I also have used a regular utility knife with a new blade and that works really well too. Then I pick up an 8" cooks knife to finish the job. I could do the whole thing with the smaller knife but I just don't have as much control when cutting into the gut and such with the smaller one.

I like the term "more comfortable" over "hardened" lol but thats just personal preference. I still revere life and don't enjoy taking one, it just bothers me less the more chickens I do.

 

[Avalon1984]

Orps =

 

[birdbrain5]

Quote:
Looking at the breasts, I'm guessing these were 20 weeks or less? You still have lots of tasty leg and thigh meat there! And the stock you can make /swoon

Hehe you are definitely right on. They were not very old. Just old enough to have come in to their manly hormones and start irritating the ladies. The breasts aren't a bad size actually although I am not sure if it shows up in the pictures. They are a bit over 1/2 inch thick. Not monster ones like in the CRX but definitely enough for a meal for us. Being a dark meat and chicken soup kind of gal I was pleased to see that they had great legs and thighs and I love making stock too so nothing will go to waste. All in all it took about an hour per bird. My son was sad when he got home even though they had started biting him. He understands that they had to go but didn't want them to, if that makes any sense.

I am proud that it went very well. Some things that I think I got right was to hang the chickens directly over a trash can lined with a bag. All the feathers and every thing fell right into the bag which made clean up very easy. I am still not sure of myself when it comes to cleaning out the birds. Thought I was but boy the difference between doing it with CRX versus a dual purpose is like apples to oranges in my opinion. It went well and I didn't contaminate the meat at all but boy was I more unsure with them and getting them cleaned out. I hate to say practice makes perfect but I think it's going to take me just doing it on my own more to get more comfortable (is that the right word or would hardened work better?) with it.

I also need to look for a good sharp knife. The one I used worked well but was huge I need something much smaller to make me feel more comfortable with the process.

Any ideas what do you guys use?

Im just curious, why do you think butchery a dual purpose bird was much different than a cornishx? Im looking into raising my own meat birds and I really would rather go with a dual purpose than cornishx, so I am just gathering information!

 

[LilyD]

Birdbrain5

I think it was more difficult because the cavity was smaller. Even though I have small hands I was more worried about tearing something because my hands just didn't fit. The actual killing and defeathering went fine but because they weren't as large as the CRX I was less sure of myself than before. It might also be that this was the first time I did everything by myself without anyone to helpor offer suggestions.

 

[circlefivehomestead]

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this is great to know. We just raised and "processed" 6 cornish crosses and I personally didn't like the way they grow so fast. We plan on raising 6-12 dual purpose breeds (probably mostly orps and australorps) this feb and adding some to our layer flock and "processing" some. All this info was helpful. thanks! we have 4 buff orps and I was wondering how they really would be as a dinner in the future.

 

[peterlund]

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Cornish X.... Isn;t that all we eat here in the USA? Maybe we NEED to experiment with other breeds. I know they are ready in 48 days, but for a family... we can wait a few more weeks with planning... right?

 

[LilyD]

As far as dual purpose breeds I am loving my Delaware and Brahmas. Dellys seem smaller but they are very compact and heavy for their size. They also were used as the meat birds before the USA switched over to using the CRX. They have a good amount of breast meat by 12 weeks of age and can get to 7 or 8 pounds live weight depending if it's a boy or girl. I have heard from a lot of people that brahmas grow slowly but I have to say if you buy breeder stock from a known breeder that doesn't seem to be the case. The birds I got from the breeder are 17 weeks right now and weigh about 8 or 9 pounds for the roos and 7ish for the girls. They seem to be getting bigger every day. The only negative I have about them that I have come across is that they are such pushovers for being so huge. My smaller roosters can run circles around them and they will just back down. Hatchery Brahmas and Dellys are not as big as these guys so if you start with them it will take a while to get the bigger birds. I do have some hatchery ones too and they do get to the larger size but they also take a lot longer to grow than the breeder birds. If you are selective they can work really well because you select the faster growing larger birds for the ones you keep and soon that becomes a trait that is more dominant in the birds.