Slaughtering weight? Cornish Rocks

[jhook1997]

New to "meat birds" and have 10 Cornish Rocks that look ready to slaughter. How much should they weigh when it's time to do it??? Need to know b/c we thinking of doing it tomorrow.

 

[nivtup]

It is a personal choice that depends on what you want to do with them.

I would harvest at about 6-1/2 to 7 lbs live weight.


Fryers lighter than roasters.

 

[ladykbug]

Thanks for asking this question. I was just out in the coop and our Cornish Rocks are getting really big. We don't have a working scale here at home though...now what to do ?

Can anyone give me a 'jist' of the age of their Cornish Rocks & how much they weigh?

thanks

 

[dace316]

Mine will be 8 weeks on Monday. I was going to process my biggest 3 today--only did 1--knife slipped into my hand and 5 stitches. However, he dressed out at almost 5 pounds. I'm pretty pleased (except for the bandages, stitches and antibiotics....lol) I'm probably going to process the rest on Monday, maybe the smaller hens at the end of next week (almost 9 weeks old)

Good luck!

 

[ladykbug]

ouch ! hope you heal ok

thanks for the info

 

[what did I do]

I was wondering how things have gone with butchering and a cut hand.

 

[jhook1997]

Ouch, sorry to hear about the cut hand.

We did go ahead and butcher 8 out of 10 at about 6 pounds live weight. They turned out to be 3 3/4 to 4 1/2 pounds. I could have waited a little longer and they would have been a bit bigger but boy were they tender and yummy. I did keep two that were a bit on the small side. I'm going to wait until they are at least 7 or 8 pounds and see if there is any difference in the meat taste.

 

[debs_flock]

I usually pick them up and feel their legs/thighs/breast for size and meatiness. It seems a little barbaric, but when my son was in 4-H we'd also look at pigs and consider their "hams",

Deb

 

[Masterjoe]

Hello,

Sorry about the stitches too. I processed my first ever on Saturday, and had to skin it because I had the water too hot at about 170-190 degrees. Anyhow Dressed out weight at about 12 weeks was 7 lbs 12 oz for a rooster. Hope this helps!!