What age do you slaughter?

[Southern Chickens]

What age do you slaughter? I have heavy breeds, do I just go untill I like the size or when they atart crowing? They are 5 weeks old. I have Jersey Giants, Barred Rocks, Orpingtons, any a few other breeds. Do I wait longer on the giants cause they get bigger?

 

[Llysse]

I think Jersey Giants don't actually make very good meat birds (that is, raised strictly for meat, to be slaughtered at a young age) because they take so long to develop to size. If you want to raise birds strictly for meat, you'd be better off going with Cornish or Cornish Rock crosses. Those I believe are slaughtered commercially at around 6 or 8 weeks old.

Orpingtons, Barred Rocks and so forth are considered dual purpose birds because they lay well, and after their "useful" life as layers, they are large enough to still have good table qualities, whereas birds like Leghorns that are strictly layers don't really have any meat to them at all (although they may be good for soup).

 

[joanna]

What I have done is just wait until they are a nuisance (sp?). Where I used to live, the crowing wasn't such an issue so I chose to wait until they got aggressive, which mine all did at some point. Where I live now, I'd be a lot more concerned about the crowing bothering the neighbors. Just know that unless you have done this before, it is not as easy as it looks or sounds. I've tried several different ways and it's only been emotionally easy on the one who attacked my child while he was feeding.

There used to be a thread about this specific thing; I haven't been on this board long enough to know if it's here or not (used to be on the EZBoard site).

whatever you decide, good luck

 

[Freebie]

I love chicken, but I cannot kill anything and clean it to eat. I have to send it away. It costs money, but if I didn't do that I would never get rid of any of my livestock. (and my freezer would be empty)

 

[Southern Chickens]

I was raised on a farm so we ate all the animal that we raised. I don't see why the food animals can't be loved too. You do have to have a tough skin, but I have one. They can taste good and be spoiled in their lives.

 

[Freebie]

Quote:
I totally agree, I tell everyone, the more you love them and the better you treat them, the better they taste.

I definately don't have a problem eating them. Just killing and cleaning, Unfortunately my skin is not that thick. My daughter though, I think she could do it if someone would teach her.

 

[wynedot55]

heavy breed chickens can be butchered at 12 to 14 weeks of age.

 

[Llysse]

I just have to say that I love this board for threads like this. We all love chickens; we all recognize that they have individual, wonderful personalities and we all want to spoil them. None of us who have posted here so far appear to be vegetarians (although I certainly respect that choice), and although some of us confess we couldn't bring ourselves to raise for meat, there's no judgment on those who do... only support because we also recognize what a wonderful life their chickens are having in comparison to those suffering in commercial operations.

How nice it is to know all of you.

 

[wynedot55]

i for 1 am a meat eater.an i have no problem eating what i raise.i mean you get meat an eggs out of the store.an they all started out on a farm somewhere.im not ranting.but people need to realize where there food comes from.

 

[ameador1]

For sure... my wife is a high school science teacher and when we lived in Tampa, FL; you wouldn't believe the things these teenagers thought when it came to sources of food.

One girl though meet grew on trees (for real, not teasing). Potatoes on trees, carrots on trees, etc… Mostly they thought everything grew one trees and were disgusted to find out a lot of food grows in the ground and comes from animals.

These were teenagers - how sad...