Two excess roosters; never eaten one of our own before.

[Hatrick]

So in October we received four chicks that a friend hatched for us, three of which turned out to be roosters. So we had hoped for all hens as we're typically only raising our birds for eggs. They're now 17 weeks old and people are telling us we should get the two roosters butchered, but scanning a couple threads on this forum has made me wonder whether they'll be appropriate for this. All this talk about certain feeds and age of slaughte, medicated feed etc. We didn't raise them for this purpose so we just fed them chick starter freely and didn't think anything of it. Can we still use them for meat at this point?

 

[galanie]

Absolutely. That's what many, many folks do. Just raise them all the same way then butcher the extra cockerels. All that talk about certain feed is mostly just for raising cornish crosses for meat and meat alone.

 

[bj taylor]

glad to learn about this.

 

[LilyD]

I do the same thing raising rooster right in with my other birds. I hatch them out each year and feed them the same as the pullets that hatch out. The pullets usually get sold for egg layers for people and eventually the boys get eaten if no one needs them. We feed regular chick starter until about 8 weeks then chick grower until they are of laying age then layer after that. The only added thing I do is adding treats because all my birds including my meat roosters are spoiled lol.

 

[mama24]

We ate a Blue Andalusian last week. Scrawny thing with barely any meat, but he was delicious! He was eating layer feed along with the rest of the flock. I don't buy into all the different types of feed, etc. Yes, you need higher protein if you want them to grow super fast. But if fast growth isn't your goal, regular feed is fine.

 

[deborah]

How old was your Blue Andalusian when you butchered him mama24?

We've hatched 4 chicks this year and can't have any more roosters When we let the mam hen hatch these chicks, I told myself we would butcher any roosters. So far, I know at least 1 is a rooster. They free range with the rest of the flock, so they are getting lots of exercise. We once butchered a 7 month old rooster, and he was too tough to eat. I don't want these to go to waste. I'd really appreciate any advice.

 

[Azriel]

I normally wait till the cockrels are about 18-20 weeks before I butcher. The meat is not going to be as soft and tender as the store bought chickens, but you have to remember that from the store they are only about 8 weeks old. DP roos just don't get any meat on them that fast. But, they are never too old to eat, you just have to know how to cook them. I just cooked a 3 year old roo in the crock pot, he was

, I put him in the crock pot with some water, a little Teriyaki sauce and a small onion, cooked him on med most of the day, and the meat was so tender it just fell off the bones.
I would say that most DP birds are not going to be able to be used as fryers, they will be tough that way, you might be able to get by with coating them and baking, but they need low moist heat, so if your are going to bake, I would do low heat, maybe 200, cover the pan, so it gets steamy, and then when its almost done uncover the last half hour so the skin and coating can crisp up some. I've never tried it that way, but it should work. Which reminds me, I've got to go take a chicken out of the freezer.LOL.

 

[tec27]

Its funny cuz the first time i wanted to slaughter one of my roosters, i thought about all the medicated feed i fed it when he was a baby and i thought that would be gross to eat. But then i thought about how many synthetic drugs are in the store bought chickens so i got over it. It was perfect. And really yummy.