Thanksgiving.... chicken?

[SandraMort]

If I have September 3 hatched color rangers, they will be 12 weeks old a day or two before thanksgiving. When is best to process them to serve on Thanksgiving, assuming I want to brine them and roast them? How big should I anticipate at nearly 12 weeks and is there anything I can do near the end to the selected lucky fellows to boost the growth and make extra impressive for the family? Obviously I can choose my fattest birds for the meal, but I have 14 meat eating adults and 6 kids to feed, in theory. I could process sooner and freeze until the big date, then I'd need three instead of two? How do people make these decisions?!?

Edit: My husband just added 5 adults to the list. And I'm likely to add one or two more.

 

[SandraMort]

OH, and would it be more impressive to have one (or two) chickens and one (or two) ducks instead of just two (or three) chickens? I'm going to be doing muscovies as well as color rangers this fall. I THINK the ducks will be ready to process by T-day.

 

[mommy9994]

I have no idea, but your question reminds me of a song by a group my boys listen to. They are kind of a big band/swing type of group, and in one of the songs, it's talking about Thanksgiving...

I was voting turkey but we had chicken anyway...
Never thought I'd get sick, but the bird had it's reasnin'
Nothin' better than good ole' sam-O-nella poisnin'

LOL, sorry. Please, carry on.

 

[Red Tie]

With 25 people to feed, I would be doing two turkeys, one about 24-26 lbs and one about 20. Our family eats MEAT!!

Doing chickens, I would figure about a pound of meat per adult. Half for the kids unless they are teenage boys. I would probably do four big birds. You do need leftovers! Chicken or duck or both. Duck would be pretty cool to have too.....

As for processing, I let mine all rest in fridge for three days after processing. If you are going to brine, be careful not to do it too long so they don't get too salty. Three days gives you plenty of time to rest, brine, stuff.....etc.

Now I'm starving....

Jane

 

[SandraMort]

Quote:
Wow. That sounds like a lot! I don't know how much my inlaws usually cook, now that I think about it. Too much.

Doing chickens, I would figure about a pound of meat per adult. Half for the kids unless they are teenage boys.

Only one teenager, I had him listed as one of the adults. The other kids are 11, then jump down to 6 and under. My kids aren't counted, since they're vegetarian.

I would probably do four big birds.

Define big birds? That's what I'm trying to figure out.

You do need leftovers!

LOL! I do? After cooking that much chicken, I'll need a break from it!!!​

 

[SandraMort]

OK, so, if I'm cooking four birds (or more!) then obviously I can't cook them all at once. How does that work... I cook them almost all the way through the day before, then heat them up the day of in a more crowded oven than I'd normally use to cook?

 

[miss_jayne]

Quote:
all i'm going to add is i know where you are now, Red Tie and i might show up for that dinner!

 

[keljonma]

Back in the day when we ate meat..... I used the America's Test Kitchen recipe for brined turkey. The bird is brined, butterflied and cooked flat on top of the stuffing. The recipe is Crisp-Skin High-Roast Butterflied Turkey with Sausage Dressing. IT WAS WONDERFUL!

 

[SandraMort]

I wouldn't mind eating that but can't cook that, or my husband and kids wouldn't get any dinner. The meat's the only nonvegetarian part of the meal. But you can invite me over...

Quote:

 

[keljonma]

Quote:
Quote:
We don't do meat anymore......