those with older cornish cross...

[Elke Beck]

I am processing my CX this coming weekend and next, and then I have RR's coming May 13. Have you processed any of your RR's? My concern is the tenderness of the meat if the RR cockerels begin crowing at 9 weeks of age. I am thinking that I might try to get my order changed to all pullets instead of straight run, just in case. After I ordered my RR's, I began thinking about the 80 day maturation, so that is 11-12 weeks and wondering about the sexual maturity of the boys. I guess time will tell if I get straight run chicks.

I just did my first Red Ranger yesterday, and he was pretty scrawny. There's enough meat to make it worthwhile, but not a generous amount. Of course, I did the last two CX's along with him, so it is hard not to make comparisons when one dressed out at almost 7-3/4 pounds and the other was over 5 pounds. I have him resting in the refrigerator, and will probably cook him Thursday. I will let you know how he is.

 

[srm220]

Quote:
pix? please

 

[Elke Beck]

I think you will be able to guess which is the Red Ranger. Both birds are the same age.

 

[BCMaraniac]

I think you will be able to guess which is the Red Ranger. Both birds are the same age.

How old are they? I know the Red Rangers mature slower...80 days, I think I read. So I was expecting to have to hold them longer.

 

[Elke Beck]

How old are they? I know the Red Rangers mature slower...80 days, I think I read. So I was expecting to have to hold them longer.

Both the Cornish X and the Red Ranger were just over 9 weeks old. I think the Red Rangers need to go to at least12 weeks and for the pullets, probably 14 to 16. There is meat on him, but it is definitely not a plump bird. Thursday I am going to roast him and we will see what he is like.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Both the Cornish X and the Red Ranger were just over 9 weeks old. I think the Red Rangers need to go to at least12 weeks and for the pullets, probably 14 to 16. There is meat on him, but it is definitely not a plump bird. Thursday I am going to roast him and we will see what he is like.

Thanks. I have 20 coming in two weeks, and was planning on them taking a few weeks longer than the CX. Hopefully the roos will stay tender holding them that long...

 

[Elke Beck]

Thanks. I have 20 coming in two weeks, and was planning on them taking a few weeks longer than the CX. Hopefully the roos will stay tender holding them that long...

They will be a little more firm than the birds you get in the store, but not tough. Last year I had three cockerels from a clutch my hen hatched, one pure Rhode Island Red and two red sexlinks (Rhode Island Red father, Rhode Island White mother) that I processed at about 16 weeks, and they were firm but still tender. Think of it like the difference between a filet mignon and a T-bone steak. The T-bone will not be melt in your mouth tender like the filet, but will be pleasantly chewy and not tough.

 

[ThePinkCoop]

I think you will be able to guess which is the Red Ranger. Both birds are the same age.

I love that some people can process their chickens, but mine have become too loving and since i have never met the chicken breasts on sale at Dillons... i may have to turn in my pioneer woman card. So much for my farm raised roots!

 

[Elke Beck]

I love that some people can process their chickens, but mine have become too loving and since i have never met the chicken breasts on sale at Dillons... i may have to turn in my pioneer woman card. So much for my farm raised roots!

I can't have roosters, and if I give them away at best they are going on someone else's dinner table, and at worse they will become bait birds for cockfighting or otherwise be treated inhumanely. That is how I got started raising meat birds. Now I have my layers who have a permanent home, and meat birds that are short timers. I do not get attached to the ones that I know are short timers, and devote my time and energy to interacting with my layers. It is all in the mind set.

Also, I know a little too much about how commercial fryers/broilers are raised and processed, and I want clean, wholesome meat on my table. Just the chilling tanks filled with chlorinated water and feces that the vast majority of chickens go through on the way to your supermarket's refirgerator case turns my stomach far more than DIY butchering. I like knowing my food chain start to finish, and raising my own gives me that.

 

[Elke Beck]

And this is the pay off

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