Post pics of your Heritage chickens (processed and/or cooked)

[CowgirlPenny]

I don't know. Sweet guy. Had his eye pecked as a chick and it closed up. Looked like he was winking at you all the time. lol He was good! Stewed his meat in some chicken broth in the crock pot, shredded and used him in a Mexican chicken soup the next day.

 

[maggiemo]

Thanks Bossroo.
We harvest all our DP roosters and I like them alot. I don't like cornish X so maybe it's a personal taste thing.

 

[LilyD]

Please list the breed or non-commercial mix of the bird/s you post. Age, gender, weight after processing, and details about husbandry (ie. fed a commercial diet, free-ranged, etc) are bonus bits of information. Can't wait to see people's birds!

Okay so my entry is a 8 month old Light Brahma rooster ( He may have been 9 months I forget, he is one of the last ones left from last years processing) He weighed 5.8lbs dressed and wasn't one of the biggest ones. He was free ranged and fed fruits, vegetables all the bugs he could eat and free choice broiler feed. He was started in the crock pot at 5:30 this morning and cooked until I got home at 8:00 with 2 pats of butter, a tablespoon of garlic in the cavity, salt, pepper, lemon, soy and paprika and thyme on the outside. He is deceptively fat in this picture because as he cooked he sank into himself so his breasts look a bit plumper than they actually are but boy does he taste amazing and is very tender too.

 

[LilyD]

Thanks Bossroo.
We harvest all our DP roosters and I like them alot. I don't like cornish X so maybe it's a personal taste thing.

It is totally a taste thing and what you are looking for in a rooster. I want a self sustainable flock that can give me meat and eggs. So DP birds work for me since I can get eggs from the girls and I can get meat from the roosters. I don't necessarily get as much meat as you would on a CRX bird but I love the taste and I don't have to order new birds each year unless I want to add more birds to the flock. For me it's a win win situation.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Oh man Lily, what a squat a delicious looking meal! Thanks for all the great background information. It looks like he has quite a wide and tasty breast on him?

 

[LilyD]

Oh man Lily, what a squat a delicious looking meal! Thanks for all the great background information. It looks like he has quite a wide and tasty breast on him?

He had a decent amount of breast but the picture is a bit deceiving. I should have taken a before I cooked him picture because his breast was much pointier before I cooked him if you know what I mean. As he cooked for a while everything settled and sort of fell as it fell off the bones and his keel bone fell down to his backbone. I wish I could have gotten my hand in beside him in the pot because I would have taken a picture to show you. He looked pretty squished and flat after cooking. I will be taking his leftovers to work with me today hehe. What I loved was that the legs and thighs were almost purple they were so dark and there was so much dark meat. I am a dark meat kind of gal myself so the legs and thighs are for me. I deboned the rest of him and put him in the fridge for sandwiches for the week.

 

[scooter147]

I prefer the DP roosters as well. The cornish cross taste watery and feel very MUSHY in my mouth.
I prefer the Delaware and the Brahma roos.
for those of you considering DP roos for frying keep in mind that the dark meat is going to be a little more "chewy" than the cornish cross. This is simple due to the fact that the DP breeds walk, run and flap about. The cornish just plop in front of a feeder and only move to move to the waterer.

 

[LilyD]

I prefer the DP roosters as well. The cornish cross taste watery and feel very MUSHY in my mouth.
I prefer the Delaware and the Brahma roos.
for those of you considering DP roos for frying keep in mind that the dark meat is going to be a little more "chewy" than the cornish cross. This is simple due to the fact that the DP breeds walk, run and flap about. The cornish just plop in front of a feeder and only move to move to the waterer.

I agree but there are ways to cook them differently so that you can still roast them. If you roast them with the cover on the roasting pan and a little less heat then it isn't as tough. I turn my temp down to 300 or 275 and cook until they get to temp. It takes a little longer but the bird stays moister. Then take the top off for the last 15 minutes to brown the skin. It's amazing. I haven't had a CRX in the house in two years. My son says they taste like sponges he can't eat chicken from the store anymore because it tastes different. I love it.

 

[WinklerFarms]

I prefer the DP roosters as well.  The cornish cross taste watery and feel very MUSHY in my mouth.
I prefer the Delaware and the Brahma roos.
for those of you considering DP roos for frying keep in mind that the dark meat is going to be a little more "chewy" than the cornish cross.  This is simple due to the fact that the DP breeds walk, run and flap about. The cornish just plop in front of a feeder and only move to move to the waterer.

It's all in how you raise them. You can get a better flavor out of a cx if you do it right. If you keep the feeder full all day of course they will sit in front of it. Let it run out for a while and they will free range and get up and move more. I have eaten a lot of the cx and I prefer them to my dp birds. Either way any home grown chicken is far far better than commercial raised chicken. It's all in personal taste.

 

[bobbi-j]

We just butchered two of my Brahma X cockerels yesterday. I'll try to get some pictures up after work today. They weighed in at 4 lbs, and 4.75 lbs. They free ranged until a month or so ago, when they started harassing the pullets, then got put in a grow-out pen and were fed grower/finisher feed and kitchen scraps. I have no idea what they were crossed with. I had 8 laying hens this spring and crossed them with my big brahma rooster.