Photos of your meat

[BantyChooks]

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

He was the 2nd biggest cockerel I have ever raised. He looked massive with all his feathers on, and his shanks were thicker around than my thumb.

 

[Joeschooks]

He was the 2nd biggest cockerel I have ever raised. He looked massive with all his feathers on, and his shanks were thicker around than my thumb.

Do you have to slow-cook/tenderize at 10 months of age? And I imagine also quite flavoursome?

 

[BantyChooks]

Do you have to slow-cook/tenderize at 10 months of age? And I imagine also quite flavoursome?

I put the bird in the pressure cooker, then shredded it and put it in the slow cooker for chili. Turned out great.

 

[GaryDean26]

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.
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Well..if you are doing meat birds a cheap as possible then the "correct age" is going to be bases on growth rates. You have to do a weigh in every week or two and over the first few seasons establish when their growth slows down. That is typically at about 3 months by verries by selective breeding and other factors. If you are doing meat birds for the best quality possibly then you wan't to keep them a lot longer than than. The refinement in the texture of the meat, the darker color, and the richer flavor come with time. The French Red Albled birds are required to be a minimum of 4 month old. The capones are typical 10 months old, etc. The finishing process on some of the slow grown chickens is interesting too. some have special diets for the last 2-4 weeks that restrict grains that cause corse meat, can change he body composition to a marble fat through the meat. 10 months can be a very tough Autralorp but if finish, processed, and cocked right could be better than any 3-4 month old Australop you could have raised. We don't do chickens for meat. We raise them for eggs and exhibition. Meat is just what we do with the culls and surplus. We sometime will do young cockerels when they are about 1-2 lbs. We then stuff them and serve each person at the table their own bird like a cornish game hen. That is a good way to get rid of a lot of surplus cockerels early one. When we serve 4+ month old cockerel we typically server two to the family at a meal. Again, it keep the freezer cleaned out.

 

[andreanar]

It also helps the meat be more tender if you wait for rigor to come and go. Let the meat rest in the fridge for 48 hrs before cooking or freezing it.

 

[lomine]

Here is a picture I took while butchering. Decided to take care of extra EE boys at the same time some of the CX were ready. The CX was 6 weeks and I think the EE was 13 weeks. The EE is an Ameraucana crossed with either BO or Delaware (not sure which egg it came from).

 

[Joeschooks]

Here is a picture I took while butchering. Decided to take care of extra EE boys at the same time some of the CX were ready. The CX was 6 weeks and I think the EE was 13 weeks. The EE is an Ameraucana crossed with either BO or Delaware (not sure which egg it came from).
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Good photo! There’s a HUGE difference in size isn’t there!?

 

[lomine]

Yeah big difference in size. But the EEs had a lot more flavor. One still makes a decent meal.

 

[GaryDean26]

I snapped some photos of Sunday Dinner. This is a 6 month old Cream Legbar Cockerel. This time one was enough for the family of five and we even had left overs for me to bring to work for my lunch today.

 

[Joeschooks]

I snapped some photos of Sunday Dinner. This is a 6 month old Cream Legbar Cockerel. This time one was enough for the family of five and we even had left overs for me to bring to work for my lunch today. View attachment 1276521 View attachment 1276522

Wow he looks very meaty for a CL! Looks tasty!! How did you cook it and was he tender?