What is the best age to butcher non-meatie roosters?

[scubaforlife]

Capons can go a while. Non-capons, I wouldn't want to wait too much over 18 weeks. Unless you have a pressure cooker, then let it go as long as you like.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

most people go around 20 weeks; letting them get as big as possible and butchering when they start to harass the hens.

 

[georgialee]

horsefeatherz - is that the weight of your bantam cochin roos? I'm going to have a bunch of those in my future, lol.

 

[foxflower]

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I guess your revived it. Thanks for the link; that was helpful.

 

[hipeatall]

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I guess your revived it. Thanks for the link; that was helpful.

agreed! thank you

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

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One was a RIR bantam - he was the heaviest 1 pound 4 ounces and the other was a Rosecomb - 1 pound and almost an ounce. Both were Roos - not cockerels - and I crockpotted (?)

- cooked them in the crockpot. Very yummy, I just added whatever I wanted - one was teriyaki and the other was just seasoned, put the pot on low all night and took the meat from the pot in the AM. I did make sure there was liquid in the pot - water/chicken stock at least and extra teriyaki/water in the other.






foxflower - glad you found it helpful, I know I sure did

Just learning fryer/broiler/stew was interesting.

 

[foxflower]

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Exactly! I was raised a veggie and don't have much experience with meat period. The cooking instructions were great also. There is a co-op in Reno (Great Basin Co-op) that might be interested in purchasing butchered chickens. Maybe you are familiar with them? They are members of Slow Food USA. I digress, I thought the instructions would be helpful if I decided to market all the extra chickens I have so that people know what to expect and how to change their cooking methods.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Quote:
Exactly! I was raised a veggie and don't have much experience with meat period. The cooking instructions were great also. There is a co-op in Reno (Great Basin Co-op) that might be interested in purchasing butchered chickens. Maybe you are familiar with them? They are members of Slow Food USA. I digress, I thought the instructions would be helpful if I decided to market all the extra chickens I have so that people know what to expect and how to change their cooking methods.

No I did not know about them, Thank you - I will contact them and see - maybe eggs also. Thank you!

 

[Mahonri]

I don't like them to have TOO much testosterone moving around. Although I see some crowing at 10 weeks, they get enough meat to harvest between 16 and 20 weeks. After that they get tough.

 

[foxflower]

Quote:
Exactly! I was raised a veggie and don't have much experience with meat period. The cooking instructions were great also. There is a co-op in Reno (Great Basin Co-op) that might be interested in purchasing butchered chickens. Maybe you are familiar with them? They are members of Slow Food USA. I digress, I thought the instructions would be helpful if I decided to market all the extra chickens I have so that people know what to expect and how to change their cooking methods.

No I did not know about them, Thank you - I will contact them and see - maybe eggs also. Thank you!

I heard about it word-of-mouth, so I'm not sure.

If I got it all correct they said they can never keep enough poultry available. Hopefully that will work out for you. If it does I may want to add some. But if I butcher (will probably have too) I will try to sell local first before selling in Reno (3.5 hours away). Will you let me know what you find out?

I won't have any ready for harvest for at least 6 weeks anyway.