rooster overload

[bj taylor]

i have three roosters out of nine birds. too many. they are just now old enough to climb on the girls. today is the first time i've seen them do it.
two are black aust. and one is rir. i want to keep the biggest australorp. i've got a friend that wants the other. the rir is destined for the cook pot. he's just so scrawny right now. i'm going to try to wait awhile for him to beef up some as long as the flock remains harmonious.
he will be my first time to kill anything for food, except fish. i've decided i want to decapitate rather than slit their throat. the bleed out just sounds too slow for me. hubby has made it clear he wants nothing to do w/processing the chickens. he says he would rather go to the store and buy one in a package. so it's just me. darn it.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

If your only doing a few birds, you shouldn't need your hubby's help, I do most of my killing by myself. When your own your own, chopping the head off is hard because you have to hold the hatchet with one hand and the bird with the other, hit it hard enough and not miss. Slitting their throat is much easier if you do it by yourself because you can put them in the cone and use both hands to do the deed. There are several good threads in the butchering sections with pictures on how to do this.

 

[chickenbythesea]

I'm in the same boat... at what age do you do them in? I have 2 more roosters than I need and it'll be me doing it as my hubby won't and I can't seem to be able to give them away.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

I do them at about 19 weeks. Heritage birds take much longer to fill out the Cornish X's so if you do them too young you'll end up with a bird with a huge frame and no meat on it, it'll be pretty scrawny. But if you wait too long they'll be very tough.

 

[n8ivetxn]

hubby has made it clear he wants nothing to do w/processing the chickens. he says he would rather go to the store and buy one in a package. so it's just me. darn it.

My DBF said the same, what's wrong with those guys!

But if you wait too long they'll be very tough.

I just had 2 done last weekend, the ladies told me to cook those boys for a while! - I can't imagine chicken being tough like a steak!

 

[chickenbythesea]

maybe roosters are better as a crock pot bird... cooking slow and tender?

 

[srd5757]

I have one that is 13 wks. He's destined for the same fate. And my hubby also says he wants nothing to do with it. I watched several youtube videos on how to do it. several different ways and I couldn't handle the one where he chopped off it's head and it jumped around and got up and walked into a fence. Man, if that happened to me I wouldn't be able to continue. Anyways, I saw one video called respectful chicken harvest and it is one girl who does it all, peaceful, by herself. I think that is how I am going to do mine, once he's big enough. And he will be going in the crock due to what I've heard from everyone about roosters being tough... we'll see.

 

[County Boy]

I butcher my birds with a hatchet/ cleaver. Make sure you butcher him under 7 months as ours were so tough they couldn't be eatn. They were like rubber. It's easy to hold them if you grab the the legs and pull one wing at a time back to where you can hold both wings and feet with one hand. It doesn't hurt them at all and the don't struggle what so ever once in this position.. Then lay them sideways on your your killing stump and with all the strenght you've got give a mighty blow seperating the head from the body. Then lay em down and run as the blood sprays everywhere and you can't hold on to them very well. If you butcher in the winter they will be better as grass toughens the meet and if it's end of winter they would have been fed feed all winter. Also, after you have the head off you can stink them in a snowbank so you are less likely to get bloody. Also, the nerves will act up and the may flop or even begin to walk but they are truely dead. One last tip is that make sure you are holding the bird in your less dominanat hand so you will be swinging the hatchet with more force.

 

[n8ivetxn]

Use a cone! It's much easier and sanitary - not so messy..

 

[County Boy]

Use a cone! It's much easier and sanitary - not so messy..

cone sounds more slow dieing.