too many rooster chicks

[chicken potpie 2020]

I order some small orders of chicks and with these chicks they sent me baby rooster of unknown breed im goin to raise them of the meat but id like to known at what age do you start to cull. Thanks

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not sure what breeds these "packing peanuts" are. The were included to keep your other chicks warm during shipping. So depending on the breed and whether they are bantams or full sized can make a difference, but the bantams and smaller breeds are never going to be very big. I'm real comfortable saying I would not expect them to be broilers.

Some people start eating them at maybe 12 weeks, but you are not going to get very much meat off them. I purposely hatch and raise them for meat. I would not dream of eating them before 15 weeks and usually wait until about 18 weeks. But with my set-up, I can manage quite a few young hormone-crazed teenaged roosters. You may not have that much space. So my answer would be to wait until at least 12 weeks and try to wait longer if their behavior will let you.

One thing I'll mention. The older they get the tougher they can be. This does not mean they become inedible. Not at all. It means you have to watch how you cook them. Most of the recipes you get off the internet or in the modern cookbooks assume you are going to be cooking store-bought chicken that is harvested at 6 to 8 weeks old. If you cook even 15 week old chicken by those recipes, they are likely to be stringy and maybe too tough for you and your family. Instead of frying them or grilling them, if the first one you cook turns out to be stringier than you'd like, change the method of cooking to a slower, moister method.

It may take overnight in a crock pot, but even a real old tough rooster can be pretty tender and flavorful if cooked right. But if you don't use the right method, you may think he is too tough for shoe leather. There can be some trial and error involved, but don't get discouraged.

 

[chicken potpie 2020]

Thank you very much for your help