we just butchered our first 2 birds, man where they tough!

[Sierra pachie bars]

The flavor can't be beat. I crock pot mine. But I think age has to do with toughness doesn't it ?

 

[Sunny Side Up]

The older the bird, the more liquid you should use in cooking, and the slower time/lower temp you should use. You can also avoid toughness by letting it rest in the refrig for 1-3 days, and also soaking it in brine or buttermilk.

Most of my meat birds are standard or mixed-breed roos. I keep them confined to a tractor and butcher them when they get big enough, usually around 20 weeks. I let them rest 2-3 days in the fridge and then slowly simmer them on the stovetop until the meat melts off the bones. Then I use the meat in soups, stews or chilis, to make its goodness go further.

It's always been good, and not tough. I wish you a better experience with your next birds.

 

[Judy]

Resting meat for several hours is to let it go through rigor mortis. You need to do this even with younger birds.

 

[cutlass1972]

my roos where 15 weeks old, I did not think they where big enough yet (2.5lbs after dressing) but I needed to thin out the roos before they started killing each other, so I think theoretically they where plenty young enough to be tender



I vacuum packed them and left them in the fridge for 3 days, baked them covered at 325 until internal temp reached 170 and they where chewy as could possibly be. I put them back in uncovered for an additional hour and they tendered up a bit, but still chewy.

 

[Mrs. Glassman]

This has been really helpful.

I plan to process a roo tomorrow. He is 6 months old, but still looks skinny breasted to me.
I try to picture him without his feathers & wonder what do commercial breeders do to plump up a chicken that way in such little time.

I plan to cook him whole, in a roasting pan, on the grill very slowly, (it's too dang hot to cook inside), with a bit of water & lemon pepper. I plan to brine him 3 days first.

What do you do to enlarge a chicken?

I've had him in a 2ft x 1&1/2ft pen since I decided to cull him.
I've fed him starter (the feed store says "starter" & "grower" are the same) the whole time. But to me, he looks SKINNY compared to what I'd find at the store.

 

[skeeter]

Quote:
thats right,15 weeks old is a very young bird,it should haqve been very tender
we baked 2 that were older than that and they were so tender and delicious,and I fryed one that was around 6 months old and was equally good but I always soak in salt water for a day or so,thats any bird,or rabbit or small game,not too much salt but enough to pull the blood out and keep them from drying out during cooking

 

[silkiechicken]

After you butcher the bird, let it sit in the fridge for two days or so, that should help make it tender. However, it will never be mushy like store chicken and should have some chew to it and not fall apart in your mouth.

 

[Judy]

Mrs. Glassman :

This has been really helpful.

I plan to process a roo tomorrow. He is 6 months old, but still looks skinny breasted to me.
I try to picture him without his feathers & wonder what do commercial breeders do to plump up a chicken that way in such little time.

I plan to cook him whole, in a roasting pan, on the grill very slowly, (it's too dang hot to cook inside), with a bit of water & lemon pepper. I plan to brine him 3 days first.

What do you do to enlarge a chicken?

I've had him in a 2ft x 1&1/2ft pen since I decided to cull him.
I've fed him starter (the feed store says "starter" & "grower" are the same) the whole time. But to me, he looks SKINNY compared to what I'd find at the store.

I'd rest him in the fridge for a day but not sure I'd brine him that long. Depends how big a salt eater you are. They do get a bit salty after a few hours.

Enlarge? You can fatten them a little, I think mostly with corn, but it won't add much to the meat, if anything. Cornish X have much bigger breasts than most others. It's not what they do but what breed they raise. He WILL be skinny, compared to store bought Cornish X.

Well, you could learn to caponize, I guess.​

 

[Sunny Side Up]

What do you do to enlarge a chicken?
Well, you could learn to caponize, I guess.

This is the next trick I want to learn! All the birds I have to put in the Dinner Theater Pen are my home-hatched mixed-breed cockerels and sometimes other friends' packing peanuts they don't want. I grow them to about 20 weeks so there's some meat on them, but they just don't get as plump & chesty as a Cornish X.

I'd love to learn how to caponize to beef up these guys and get them crowing soprano.

Meanwhile, I rarely roast my birds whole, but instead simmer them to get their meat off their bones and use it in soups, stews, chilis, & pasta or rice dishes. It makes the meat go further and really is a healthier way to eat. Also, after allllllll the work it takes for me, mostly alone, to get a chicken to the table I want it to go a long way. Otherwise Mister & Teen Son would gobble up an entire bird in one sitting.​

 

[Bossroo]

Quote:
I'd rest him in the fridge for a day but not sure I'd brine him that long. Depends how big a salt eater you are. They do get a bit salty after a few hours.

Enlarge? You can fatten them a little, I think mostly with corn, but it won't add much to the meat, if anything. Cornish X have much bigger breasts than most others. It's not what they do but what breed they raise. He WILL be skinny, compared to store bought Cornish X.

Well, you could learn to caponize, I guess.

In my experience of raising the dual purpose as well as egg laying breeds for many ,many years... feeding corn to an older skinny rooster in a confined cage will mostly add yellow intestinal fat as well as into the skin making it more yellow. It will do very little to add breast meat. It will, therefore, increase flavor as the flavor comes from fat. One can feed most roosters for months on end this way untill they succomb from obesity and they still will not compare in breast meat production to the commercial Cornish X at 6-8 weeks of age due to it's genetcs. It will also make them a little less stringy due to inactivity of confinement. 40-50 years ago, the dual purpose chickens were much more suited to meat production as that was their intended use. Today's so called dual purpose birds are a far cry from the original birds as they have been selected more and more for egg production and now resemble an egg layer breed more than the original dual purpose type. This shift was necessary due to the commercial development of the Cornish x as the most economical meat producer and are raised by the millions. They simply could not compete in the commercial poultry meat marketplace. The dual purpose breeds of today are still the mainstay of the small farm flock as a niche market for those that want free ranged or organic meat and egg prodution where time and labor are not of much concern.