Processing Young Cockerels

[FoodFreedomNow]

My dogs would be very upset with me if I didn't pluck - they get all that skin after the cockerel is cooked and bone broth is made in the Instant Pot. I used to do it in a slow cooker, but IP is much quicker, easier cleanup, and makes the best bone broth!

The majority of my birds are around 5-6 months old at processing, but I recently had a 2 year old rooster and after 2 hours in the IP on Manual (the bone broth cook time), the meat was so tender, you'd never guess it came from an adult bird.

 

[TLCMidMichigan]

Just the other day I took 4 roos to the Amish in the morning. By 11:30am went back and they were all plucked and processed out. At $1.80 each. Can't beat that deal.
Brought them home and Vacuum packed them. Put them in the freezer for a roast sometime soon.

 

[aart]

I know AArt grills the young boys 14-16 weeks,

I do...love that crispy grilled skin and the grilled bones make great broth.
Last year I missed the timeline and they were so full of tiny pin feathers I ended up skinning most of them while parting them out.
Resting the cleaned carcass is always good, IMO...older the bird the longer I rest them.
2 days for the 16wo's....up to 4-5 days for the older hens.

 

[K0k0shka]

The last round of cockerels I butchered were exactly 16 weeks old. I'd never heard of resting the meat, so I wanted to test it out. One got rested for 2 days, the others did not. I found absolutely no difference whatsoever in the texture/toughness of the meat, not even in the breast. Maybe it works better with older birds, or larger animals, but on cockerels this young, it made no difference.

I don't skin them because we all LOVE chicken skin over here They made great pressure cooker soup and sous vide roast. We have a couple left in the freezer and are planning to rotisserie one of them. The breast will be some kinda tough regardless of what you do, compared to grocery store chickens, just because they've used it more, but I don't eat breast so I don't really care. The rest of it was tender and very flavorful.

 

[TLCMidMichigan]

I miss typed the amount of birds processed. It was 14 roos. At 15-16 weeks they weren't too large. If I end up with more roos the future, I'll let them get to 6 months. I can see now it will involve another pen area to contain them from the girls.

 

[Betsy57]

I miss typed the amount of birds processed. It was 14 roos. At 15-16 weeks they weren't too large. If I end up with more roos the future, I'll let them get to 6 months. I can see now it will involve another pen area to contain them from the girls.

Yes you will need a "bachelor pad".