Photos of your meat

[Joeschooks]

I've not yet butchered a chicken but I am hatching more now and finding homes for the boys is becoming increasingly difficult. As such I'm only used to big meaty store-bought chickens. I think my next hatch is going to be Legbar (not ideal for meat I know) and Wyandotte. Does anyone have photos of these breeds or any other (non-Cornish) breeds dressed/cooked? I'd be interested to know what age you butchered. Is it even worth the effort to butcher spare roos from breeds such as Legbar?

 

[Gray Farms]

I don't have any pictures but I've always butchered my extra Legbar cockerels. I was surprised at the amount of meat on them. I'd usually butcher them at around 3-4 months of age and they made nice "little" freezer birds.

 

[sourland]

@Pork Pie Ken, I believe you have processing pics ?

 

[sourland]

Lightly built birds make great fryers. Not so great as roasters.

 

[Pork Pie]

@Pork Pie Ken, I believe you have processing pics ?

Not even a chicken nugget, I'm sorry to say

 

[YdogsflY]

All chickens are are great to eat in some way. Like said above, th esmaller birds are good for frying around 16 weeks of age. They also grill up nice, make good chicken soup, broth, chicken salad, etc. You just might have to cook 2 birds to get enough meat compared to a cornish X from the grocery.

Don't worry too much about them being smaller than the store chickens, they taste better.

 

[GaryDean26]

If you are used to "big meaty store bought chicken" you are in for a learning curve. The store bought chicken are typical 8-10 weeks old when they are butchered. The meat is very soft. Older birds get tougher meat. If you search for your great grandmothers chicken recipes you will see that it has a lot of tenderizers in it that the modern recipes don't use. Also, the young chickens don't have much flavor to them though. We processed a 2-1/2 year old legbar cock and his meat was so dark and rich that we thought we were eating beef and not chicken (and it wasn't even though). I did have a photo of a cooked Cream legbar cockerel. It is now buried somewhere in the Legbar Thread. Before the BYC overhaul you could search threads and images and I would have been able to find it but I am not having any luck now. We have processed Marans, Baque hens, Breda Fowl, Plymouth Rocks, Legbars, Silkies, Leghorns, crosses, etc. The Marans were my favorite with the Legbar a #2.

 

[Joeschooks]

I managed to find a few pics online. They do look very skinny but I expected that. I was surprised how dark the meat looks. One day I might harden up and do it. Once it’s dead I’ll be able to do the rest but it’s plucking up (no pun intended) the courage to kill that I find so hard.

 

[BantyChooks]

I've not yet butchered a chicken but I am hatching more now and finding homes for the boys is becoming increasingly difficult. As such I'm only used to big meaty store-bought chickens. I think my next hatch is going to be Legbar (not ideal for meat I know) and Wyandotte. Does anyone have photos of these breeds or any other (non-Cornish) breeds dressed/cooked? I'd be interested to know what age you butchered. Is it even worth the effort to butcher spare roos from breeds such as Legbar?

This was a 10 month old Australorp, butchered later than he should have been. 3.7 lbs. Barely enough for chili. Note the extremely long legs in comparison to CX.

 

[Joeschooks]

Yes those are long legs. Not as skinny as the other photos I googled but a totally different shape/build to Cornish X and a similar colour meat