Preserving Meat/Veggies/Fruit

[ShrekDawg]

I think 16 weeks is the perfect age. Mine seem to mature a lot slower because they are part Jersey giant. It makes it a lot easier for me because at 12 weeks they would look very scrawny

Yeah, they’re definitely starting to fill out more and some of them look very tasty lol

I thought you had said some of them you were waiting until 20 or 24 weeks though? Or did I make that up?

 

[FortCluck]

Yeah, they’re definitely starting to fill out more and some of them look very tasty lol

I thought you had said some of them you were waiting until 20 or 24 weeks though? Or did I make that up?

Yeah now I am. I might not though. It's only because im testing things out. It's not because it's better to wait, it gets harder the longer you wait.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Yeah now I am. I might not though. It's only because im testing things out. It's not because it's better to wait, it gets harder the longer you wait.

Thanks! That makes sense! I might not end up butchering after all. I listed them on Craigslist a bit ago and got a reply in like 15 minutes haha

 

[Molpet]

I butcher most around 16 wk
The jersey giant mixes I waited on some until 6 months. Those build frame first and then the meat

 

[ShrekDawg]

I butcher most around 16 wk
The jersey giant mixes I waited on some until 6 months. Those build frame first and then the meat

So seems 16 weeks is a pretty common age? That’s good cause I was thinking it might be too young but I don’t think I could keep them much past this age. And I wonder if my Lavender Orpington is doing the “frame first then meat” thing because he is HUGE already but still pretty bony chest. I’m sure he will fill out more though. He is the one I’m keeping.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I remember a fairly recent post where someone butchered a Brahma or Jersey Giant cockerel, can't remember which, and de-boned it. If I remember right it was not a purebred but was a cross with a dual purpose breed. They did the same for another cockerel that looked a lot less bony and was chunkier. When they weighed the meat after deboning the bigger bony chicken had more meat.

That was a one-off. Not sure how repeatable that would be, but it might tempt someone with the opportunity to experiment. Things are not always as they seem.

 

[FortCluck]

I remember a fairly recent post where someone butchered a Brahma or Jersey Giant cockerel, can't remember which, and de-boned it. If I remember right it was not a purebred but was a cross with a dual purpose breed. They did the same for another cockerel that looked a lot less bony and was chunkier. When they weighed the meat after deboning the bigger bony chicken had more meat.

That was a one-off. Not sure how repeatable that would be, but it might tempt someone with the opportunity to experiment. Things are not always as they seem.

My jersey cross had more meat than the others except on the breast.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I remember a fairly recent post where someone butchered a Brahma or Jersey Giant cockerel, can't remember which, and de-boned it. If I remember right it was not a purebred but was a cross with a dual purpose breed. They did the same for another cockerel that looked a lot less bony and was chunkier. When they weighed the meat after deboning the bigger bony chicken had more meat.

That was a one-off. Not sure how repeatable that would be, but it might tempt someone with the opportunity to experiment. Things are not always as they seem.

Oh wow that’s really interesting!! Bet they weren’t expecting that haha

 

[ShrekDawg]

I just weighed Jack and he’s already almost 7 pounds.

Now I’m curious what the others weigh haha doubt I’ll get to find out though cause I think I might have found a home for all of them.

 

[Rsym]

Best advice I have when skinning is to wet ALL the feathers from the neck to the legs. It helps the skin come off plus you don't have feathers flying everywhere.

Yesterday I kept getting the smell of wet feathers everywhere! I had to go buy more wax melts to make my sense of smell stop tricking me.

It's a smell that I won't forget that's for sure. It's like when I dog gets wet, but I stead of wet dog smell it's wet chicken smell

I have a question about skinning... we did our first roosters today, they were born in Oct '19, so they weren't too old, but not really big either. One was a bantam, so of course he wasn't. Anyway, skinning wasn't necessarily easy, but we got it done and not too shabby for our first time. (I say "we", but my husband did all the work. ) What do you mean by getting the feathers all wet? Did you hose them down? Soak them? Hot water, cold water? I've read about scalding for plucking, but we don't want the skin, but is it the same process? Thanks for your help, I'm enjoying this thread!