When are they ready?

[emsevers]

Ok I have a baby roo that I am not able to keep. He is basically a mutt that came from Red Star eggs. So my question is, if I decide to keep him for meat is there any way that he would be big enough to eat before he starts crowing or is there no point? Should I get rid of him now and not waste the feed? If there is anyway that this could work I'd rather use him for meat than just cull him but then again if it's not worth it, it's just not worth the feed.

 

[william9792]

he should not crow till he is at least 15 weeks, and should be big for meat at 9 to 11 weeks, if you give him game feed. i kill my meat birds at 9 weeks. william

 

[jaku]

Quote:
Keep him and butcher him whenever you choose. One extra bird isn't going to eat THAT much. He might not have a ton of meat by the time you need to butcher him, but you'd get some, and it would be good practice.

 

[emsevers]

Yeah, I would like to have some practice. We've never butchered any before. So do I really need to feed him a different kind of feed than what I'm feeding my layers. I would have to separate him from the others and I don't really want to do that.

 

[jaku]

Quote:
You'll be fine with regular feed. The high protein feed is only necessary with Cornish X's.