What age do you slaughter?

[Southern Chickens]

When I was a little girl, 20 years ago, we would have feildtrips for kids to our farm. To see the look on thier faces when they saw a cow for the first time, in REAL-LIFE. They loved to pick the veggies and to collect the eggs. I didn't understand what was wrong with them! I guess that I just took advantage of it. Not knowing what a cow or pig was or how to pick the squash, okra, corn, watermelons, etc. was just lucky for them. I knew how, when and why to do it all too well.

 

[ameador1]

It's a good thing to know that stuff - just think of all the others you can teach. People ususally take for granted what they know. There's always someone out there that will be amazed and excited to do what you think is mundane.

 

[alcmaeon]

I had a friend tell me that she understood how I could go out and catch a salmon, kill it and eat it but the thought of raising a chicken or rabbit to butchering weight, killing and eating them disturbed her greatly. This from an educated, meat eating (and for that matter she loves to cook and is great at it) basically average American.

This I don't get, how one can dissociate oneself from your food supply to the point that the though of not buying it from Safeway is disturbing.

 

[motherhen]

I am new, and I am ashamed to say I am just opening my eyes to what is happening around us--environment. We removed ourselves so far from our food supply that we, depend mostly on supermarkets for food. We may not be able to live without them, to have food shipped for miles before we get it. Flavourless food.

I am building a coop now and was planning on raising both egg and meat birds. My husband doesn't believe that I would have the nerve to kill a bird, but I know the taste of a home grown bird is far better then a store bought one. My husband was also a Chef at one time, how weird is that.
Does anyone know what types of birds are best for my area? I would love any feed back.

 

[justusnak]

Motherhen...is there a local feed store near you? Or a TSC?? They should be able to tell you what is good for your local area....Even maybe ask around..local farmers?

We are raiseing Buff Orpingtons for dual purpose. They lay large brown eggs...and will lay through the winter. They are a heavy breed..so tolerate cold well.
This spring, we bought Cornish X for the freezer ( my little freezer pops) At 5 weeks, they are between 4 and 5 pounds. Ready to dress.!

Good luck on your search...

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

We feed our chickens as I have mentioned in a previous post mainly steamed rice and a little feed mixed in. They are also free-range, eating vegetables, fruits (figs, blackberries, watermelon etc.) this keeps them from getting fat we prefer a lean chicken with hard bones. There is no age requirement as far as I am concerned which is my opinion. Since we cook our chickens in a pot whole (soup broth) and cut them up after they have been cooked. Most of our chickens are at least a year old when we cull them except in the case of a rooster which we cull as soon as they start crowing we only had one in the 18 chicks from last year. We don’t like a soft chicken with a high fat content, which seems to be the case in most commercial chickens today or ones which are fed improperly.

 

[motherhen]

thanks just. I will talk to the feed store. I was wondering how hard it was to slaughter your own birds the first time? I think I can do it but still a bit iffy.

 

[RoyalHillsLLC]

I have a variety of bantams or "banties" than I am raising, free range during the day and in a coop at night. They are about 6 weeks old now. Will their be enough meat to justify slaughter on the extra roosters? They look awful small.
I am also curious what method everyone would suggest for slaughter. Is it worth plucking or should I just skin them?

 

[MayberrySaint]

I have 15 Red Star males that MM sent for warmth...they are going to have to be dispatched, but I have had no luck finding someone to do the deed. Well, I still have several weeks to go.

Andy

 

[Blisschick]

I got some Cornish X Rocks that were supposed to have been butchered back last December, but for some reason didn't seem to be growing very well, and they stayed small for the longest. Then one thing or another got in the way, so we didn't get around to butchering any of them until the weekend before last. By then, they had been on a diet of turkey feed (28% protein) and had muscled out really well. My smallest dressed was 5 1/2 lbs., the largest a little over 6 lbs. These birds were right at 6 mos. I don't think they would have gotten any larger than they did. I still have 5 more to butcher out next weekend. They were so large, I ended up quartering them into cuts rather than freezing them whole.

Layers will have next to no real muscle on them. They really aren't worth the trouble to slaughter, IMO. We did that with our extra roos, and were pretty disappointed. Layers are putting most of their resources into making eggs, not muscle. The Jerseys were the biggest disappointment. They do take longer to mature, the first 6 mos. going into growing their bones. I don't do it for mine, but I would think feeding them a higher protein feed might help.

Dual purpose birds are a little better, but still not overly meaty. I had to cull some extra BLR Wyandotte roos, and they definitely had more muscle, but not as much as I would have liked.