Processing Day Support Group ~ HELP us through the Emotions PLEASE!

[Beekissed]

This pic shows the tension created by pressing down on the chicken's lower jaw/beak that brings the skin taut. This knife position is for cutting across the entire neck, but nowadays I just cut the right side of the neck as it is positioned in the pic...but the left hand position is pretty much the same. In cutting the right side, the knife point is positioned towards me and I cut from near to far in a deep, decisive cut. Sort of like the knife position and cut one would make while whittling a piece of wood...

 

[Darkangael]

Hi there

 

[3 NH reds]

I would love to learn to caponize but I don't know where in Mass I could.

 

[ronott1]

I would love to learn to caponize but I don't know where in Mass I could.

You can get instructions and practice on Cockerels that you process. When you are comfortable with the process you can start on live birds.

 

[aoxa]

I needed to share this article I just wrote about the CX after hearing so much negativity about them. Please take a couple minutes to read it, I sure would appreciate it!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/raising-cornish-x-for-meat-the-truth

 

[BCMaraniac]

I would love to learn to caponize but I don't know where in Mass I could.

Have you gone to Kaussandra's thread, and asked if there was someone in your area who would be willing to mentor you? I did a lot of research on it, and taught myself, but that isn't for everyone. Now I didn't practice on a dead bird, and I lost my first one to bleeding because I nicked the vena cava. It was a very quick demise, though, and I took advantage of the situation to get a look at all of the anatomy of a bird of they age that needs to be caponized. If you practice on a dead bird first, you will definitely have to keep in mind that a live bird will look very different that a dead one with the presence of blood in the vessels.

PM me and I will send you links to the resources I used for my research.

 

[BirdbyGavin1103]

I needed to share this article I just wrote about the CX after hearing so much negativity about them. Please take a couple minutes to read it, I sure would appreciate it!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/raising-cornish-x-for-meat-the-truth

Awesome article! Very well planned and laid out. I plan on free ranging our next batches, which I plan for spring/summer of next year. The ones we had this year were only on FF, I can't wait to see how they turn out with foraging.

 

[Elke Beck]

I needed to share this article I just wrote about the CX after hearing so much negativity about them. Please take a couple minutes to read it, I sure would appreciate it!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/raising-cornish-x-for-meat-the-truth

Wow, your CX's were much smaller than the ones I raised this spring! I raised 5, and the smallest dressed out at just over 3 pounds at 5 weeks - I did him earlier than planned because he seemed to have chronic bronchitis or asthma, and kept having episodes of wheezing. The largest dressed out at almost 9 pounds at 9 weeks - he was like a small turkey.

I do not mean this as any criticism, I am just surprised that yours were not bigger because they grow so fast.

 

[Beekissed]

I've found that they come in different sizes, according to their source. The first batch I did was big and tall, long bodied and long legged...finished out at appropriate wts and body size. The second batch, sourced from a hatchery out west, were short, squat and like little volleyballs. Not at all like the first, though grown in very similar manners for a similar grow out period. My first batch had been from TSC.

I helped a lady with processing this summer who had also gotten hers from TSC and they were the biggest chickens I've ever seen...bar none. She too free ranged, fed similar feeds and grew them out for a similar time frame.

It's all according to the genetics being used, I'm convinced. Though mine from the hatchery out west were cheaper per chick, I'd not use them again because of their disappointing body size...they were very much more Cornish genetics than they were White Rocks, for sure.

 

[aoxa]

Wow, your CX's were much smaller than the ones I raised this spring! I raised 5, and the smallest dressed out at just over 3 pounds at 5 weeks - I did him earlier than planned because he seemed to have chronic bronchitis or asthma, and kept having episodes of wheezing. The largest dressed out at almost 9 pounds at 9 weeks - he was like a small turkey.

I do not mean this as any criticism, I am just surprised that yours were not bigger because they grow so fast.

No criticism taken. I don't think our genetics are the same here in Canada. My birds are not much smaller than those raised here conventionally.. at least not that I've ever seen.. Every bird at the farmer's market tends to be under 5 pounds dressed.

Remember I feed 1/3 of what is stated in charts I have found online.

I am good with my 5 pound average. That's just enough for us.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/531016/when-to-butcher-cornish-x-meaties
So many different weights given at butcher time here. 6-9 weeks was stated averaging 4-6 pounds dressed.

I feel like my live weight was almost double processed... I've heard 75% of live weight is dressed weight, and I highly doubt that with mine!