To grow cornish hens what age do I butcher and when can I give them grower?

[affacat]

As an update, ate some breaded tenders tonight. They were fantastic. So that's a plus. Definitely looked, felt, and tasted like very high quality chicken.

With feed considered, probably cost us half price plus labor (which was considerable overall, if you include the butchering).

Still unsure whether I'll repeat next year but probably? It'll likely be easier next year with lessons learned. Though I might stick with the quick butchering method I used.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

We ate one of our 8-week old Cornish hens tonight and she was delicious. Actually, between DH and myself, we ate half the bird. I broiled it and it took twice as long to cook it as my recipe called for due to the size and density of the meat (I used a recipe for broiled chicken, not broiled Cornish game hen). He likes white meat and I prefer leg and thigh so we still have half a bird for tomorrow. In future, I will definitely process at three to four weeks rather than at 8 weeks. Lesson learned!

 

[TheChickenGirl16]

Hello everyone,
I know this is an old thread….
But I have questions.
I accidentally bought a CX chick.
She is 16 weeks old, and healthy.
Is this too late to process?
I was never planning to venture down the meat road….

 

[NatJ]

Hello everyone,
I know this is an old thread….
But I have questions.
I accidentally bought a CX chick.
She is 16 weeks old, and healthy.
Is this too late to process?
I was never planning to venture down the meat road….

You can eat a chicken at any age. Younger chickens are generally more tender, and older chickens have tougher meat. This means you get the best results by cooking with different kinds of recipes for chickens of different ages.

There are quite a few posts talking about this in various levels of detail. Here is an example:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/age-to-butcher-dual-purpose-birds.1630884/#post-27903229

 

[TheChickenGirl16]

You can eat a chicken at any age. Younger chickens are generally more tender, and older chickens have tougher meat. This means you get the best results by cooking with different kinds of recipes for chickens of different ages.

There are quite a few posts talking about this in various levels of detail. Here is an example:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/age-to-butcher-dual-purpose-birds.1630884/#post-27903229

Thank you!