Rooster Culling and Broiler Size

[rebrascora]

@duluthralphie Thanks for correcting me. Just shows you should never comment on something you have no experience of! Slapped wrist for me

 

[duluthralphie]

@duluthralphie Thanks for correcting me. Just shows you should never comment on something you have no experience of! Slapped wrist for me

If you feed them more they will develop Ascites and have kidney and heart problems...( I thought I should give the reason instead of just disagree with you).....sorry

 

[rebrascora]

@duluthralphie No need to apologise. I am happy to be corrected and learn something.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Actually once a day is best, free range them, otherwise they will over eat. When I raise CX's I only feed 15-20 minutes every morning after about 2 weeks of age.

The way I interpret this is that Ralph pastures them. They get to eat and drink the rest of the day, but it's pasture, not the high quality and expensive feed. If all they eat is what you feed them then you might need to feed them differently.

 

[duluthralphie]

The way I interpret this is that Ralph pastures them. They get to eat and drink the rest of the day, but it's pasture, not the high quality and expensive feed. If all they eat is what you feed them then you might need to feed them differently.

Not a whole lot differently, Pasturing gives them exercise and keeps them healthier, but FEED and boredom are the death of CX's. They will become lazy and eat themselves to death.

They taste better if they have exercise too. I understand not everyone has the room I have though and they must do the best they can.

 

[Perry17]

Thank you everyone!!

Okay I think if the Wyandotte Roosters are fine to eat, I just won't worry about worming them. Yea I don't think I will get much meat from them at all, they are in that tall lanky stage, and most likely crossed with my leghorn hens since they turned mostly white. But I'm glad I will get some practice with them so I won't ruin my broilers when the time comes. I will definitely disect the gut to check for worm signs.

The Cornish Hen comment was amazing! Thank you so much! That makes a lot more sense now. I just had my heart set ready to have big broilers, only to be told they won't grow to be anything (the family member has never even had chickens, so I don't know why I listened to them in the first place).

I've always wanted to raise my own meat birds, so I am very excited. I honestly have no plans on cooking them, just thought I would let them go until around 9 weeks, butcher them, and maybe try a few different cooking methods. But now that I know that its normal to butcher younger for a smaller carcass, it just opens a whole new door I never thought about. This is more of just a trial run, so I'm excited to try all the different ways to cook them. I love raising them, I think I will love the harvesting process and getting meat to put up, so I'm hoping I will love the meat just as much so I can continue to produce my own year round.

They are doing pretty well just being fed once a day, they probably have feed for 30 mins in the morning until it runs out. They are all a good size, with good breast condition, and very active. As day old chicks they were chubby and lazy and would lay around, so I was scared they would be super lazy while they were growing too. Especially after hearing horror stories about them online. But they run around and fly and climb like my regular chicks do, just thicker with more muscle to them.

I don't think I am going to worm my flock, they don't seem lethargic and nothing is wrong with them, so I'm just not going to worry about it. I'm going to wait until the roosters are gone, and not pooping in my nest boxes, the eggs might just be dirty from the roosters doing that. I'll ask more about worming if the eggs still look bad after the roosters are gone.

Looking at my broilers at 4 weeks, I think 5 out of 6 are males. Which I heard is good since they will be a little bigger. But which are easier to butcher, hens or roosters? Or are they about the same? I am probably going to butcher a few at a time over the course of a few days. Just so I can take my time and learn how to do it right. Would you recommend skinning or plucking my first few I attempt? I'll probably just skin the older roosters.

Thanks again everyone! I'm so glad I found this site, way better than google or YouTube.

 

[rebrascora]

I love chicken skin so I would always pluck. I have been known to dry pluck but dipping them makes the job much easier..... I hang them by the feet from my clothes line at a comfortable height to work and place a large garden waste bag below and strip the feathers straight into the bag. There are always a few that escape but not many.
It's a great idea to practice on the Wyandotte cross cockerels. You may find you need to slow cook them rather than roast or grill, but they will be tasty and you can make some great broth from the carcasses, giblets and feet. There are some great YouTube videos that show you how to process/eviscerate them. You should find the Cornish Cross easier to process than the cockerels as the connective tissue becomes quite a bit tougher once they hit adolescence.
Good luck with them.

 

[Smuvers Farm]

These stupid Cornish Rocks are driving me crazy. They were great to raise, not lazy or anything like I have heard...but they turn into wild animals when they get hungry.

It started at around 4 weeks old. I went out to feed them in the mornings, they would bite me. Not like a cute little peck, like biting on trying to eat flesh.

I feed them at 7 every morning. A few weeks ago I was sick and decided to sleep in a little late. I went out to feed them at 9, and they had killed and hollowed out one of the Cornish Rocks and ate everything. I just though maybe it was sick and they killed it. Just a freak accident kind of thing.

Today I ran out of feed so they only got half of what they usually eat. I went to town, got home today at 12 to feed them more, and found they have eaten the butt off of one of the Cornish Rocks. It's ridiculous! They are flesh eating monsters!

Is this common for meat breeds? I have never had chickens act like this before. I really liked the thought of raising them to butcher. But at this rate they have killed 1/6, and ruined 1 out of the remaining 5. The mutilated one acts fine, but I am most likely going to put it down. I don't think it's a good idea to eat a half eaten chicken.

So I am now down to 4. And have decided to go ahead and butcher the remaining 4 whenever I get the chance. They are probably close to 7 weeks old, but I am just tired of dealing with them.

Would you create a new thread and post this? I'd like to have some old timers answer this, as it's now got me very intrigued.

 

[Perry17]

Sure! I'll make a new thread about it.

I was about to order at least a dozen or so more online soon. But after this, it makes me not ever want to do it again. I have never hated a chicken so much in my life lol.

 

[duluthralphie]

I have never heard of this with CX. I have raised 600 or so of them and never had that problem.

I now raise toads, but before I did the CX were always sweet and mild. I hated to process them because they were such nice birds.

Did you have something shiny on your legs when they pecked at them? I had a Dom peck at my button on my shirt yesterday, I thought she was being mean until I figured out what she was after.