Thought I bought hens-but are roos-now what?

[heidi586]

Ok, we've established 4 or 5 out of 6 chicks we bought are roos. How old/big should they be before harvesting them as meat? They are RIR & Australorp. We bought them on June 9 and I believe they were 3 weeks at that point - making them aprox. 3 1/2 - 4 mo. old, now. They seem rather skinny for eating. How hard is it to clean/dress them for the freezer? This is not what I signed up for....hahahaaa....I just wanted to add younger layers to my flock. We are slaughtering hogs today....but have no experience in this area with chickens. Any advice would be very helpful. THANKS!

 

[Fred's Hens]

They are as tender right now, as they are ever going to be. If that matters to you.

These are males of light weight laying breeds. I know they are "supposed" to be dual purpose, but the average, hatchery stock DP bird just isn't quite as large as its heritage cousins, in most cases. What you'll gain in adding another pound over the next month, you lose in tenderness. That's just one point of view. You've a choice, take them now as tender fryers or wait another month and you'll be slow cooking them, but either way, they are very tasty.

 

[Fred's Hens]

There are several good YouTube videos that would give you the gist of processing a chicken. Might want to take a peek at a few.

 

[heidi586]

Is it worth keeping one rooster around? The 1 RIR looks like he is going to be beautiful and seems to be rather nice. Will a RIR mate with Plymouth barred rock (?) and Australorp? How does that work for chicks? Come spring, just don't gather the eggs and let the hen(s) sit on them....waiting for chicks? I know this all sounds very uneducated about chickens....but I really have no idea past just caring for my hens. These roosters have added an entirely new demension to my little farm.

 

[Criskin]

I like to always have a rooster around just because they are fun to watch. A rooster will mate with any hen, regardless of breed. In fact, crossing your RIR rooster with your Barred Rock hen will result in what is called a Black Sex Link chicken. You will be able to tell the male chicks from the females as soon as they hatch because they will have white spots on their heads. Both Plymouth Rocks and Australorps will go broody, but only when they are ready, so I wouldn't bother just leaving eggs sitting out. Also, they don't only go broody in the spring (I have a Speckled Sussex sitting on a clutch of eggs right now). If you really want chicks, I'd recommend getting an incubator and hatching them out yourself. Otherwise, you should eventually have a hen go broody...there just isn't any way to tell when it will happen.