Tender Meat?

[NealB.]

Hi guys, looking for some advice,

I've done about 30 or so cornish x rocks I've raised from chicks, and some by eggs over the past year. My kids love my home grown chickens and the meat is very juicy and even seems more dence than store bought. The problem me and my wife have is they really don't seem to be very tender. I find that if I butcher them and cook them that day they are VERY stringy. At the advice of my local feed store I've been butchering them then letting them sit in the fridge for 4 or 5 days then they are MUCH better but still not as tender as I would like. I kill them between 12 weeks till about 6 months and it doesn't seem to make a difference although after 6 months they seem to get very tough. I read about people butchering their chickens and having wounderfuly tender meat that night. Is it the type of chicken? I feed them mostly layer crumble till about 12 weeks then there on pellets with the rest of my birds. They also free range during the day but I usually only see them eating the grain, they hang around the food bowl like a drunk at the bar and never go far from it. Does this matter? Any help would be appriciated, Thanks NealB.

 

[jjparke]

Try feeding your next batch meatbird feed not layer mix. Butcher them sooner too. Butchered 10 of mine this morning. They are 6 weeks old and dressing out at about 5 pounds. 6 months is too old.

 

[Red Tie]

As I type this we are eating a Cornish X butchered on Thursday, it's seven week birthday. It aged for the past few days in the fridge and today was rubbed with 2TBLS melted butter, 2TBLS olive oil, 3 TBLS lemon juice mixed with 2 tsp. garlic powder, 2 tsp. black pepper, and one tsp. cayenne pepper. Rub all over chicken and inside. Then sprinkle with seasoning salt to taste. Fill cavity with onion quarters.

450 degrees for twenty minutes then reduce heat to 375 until meat thermometer reads 175 degrees.

Let rest for 10 minutes before cutting.

let me tell you, this was a terrific chicken. God Bless Birdzilla! See his picture on "first time doing it" post .

Jane

By the way, this bird ate only Purina Broiler Show Chow for it's entire life. It weighed NINE lbs. live weight. Seven lbs dressed......

 

[chickenfanatic]

mmmmm red tie sounds tasty

 

[dancingbear]

The Cornish X's are meat to be butchered at 6-8 weeks old. Beyond that, they start to get tough. The ones you've already got though, please don't throw out. They'll do fine cooked in the crock pot, or pressure canned. They just aren't fryers anymore. I just posted under another thread, "Butchering non meat birds", if you have trouble thinking of how to use the meat.