When to butcher?

[Celtic Hill]

So instead of trying to sell or give away my packing peanuts I decided im going to raise and butcher them. I was wondering when should they be butchered? They are Barred rocks and Production Reds?

 

[Azriel]

I'll be watching this one, as I was going to ask the same question. I have BA, sexlink, orp mixes.

 

[journey11]

Regular chickens can be processed anytime between 5 to 8 months for tender meat or any time after that for moist heat cooking methods (stewing hens or pressure cooked for soup, etc.) Good idea to put roos in a smaller pen away from the girls. They'll run around less and the dark meat will be more tender. Packing peanuts are nearly always roos.

 

[donrae]

I've always heard eighteen to twenty weeks.

 

[Naughty]

This is gonna sound gross but - what do you do with the "parts" and blood after you butcher them? I am putting down 2 today. Don't want to leave stuff that might attract predators to the area because my girls are pets.

 

[StupidBird]

Bury deep in the garden - a shovel blade's depth at least. This has worked for me with the rodent wars, as well as those carp my uncle paid me a quarter a piece for when I was a little kid. (he had the BEST roses - and those people were Serious in the neighborhood about their Roses and Tomatoes).

 

[booker81]

There really isn't a lot of stuff to clean up when butchering a chicken. Maybe 1/2 cup of blood or less, and the guts can fit in a large hand. If I don't feel like burning, I just put them in a plastic bag and they go out in the garbage. Same with feathers - burn or compost or grocery sack and garbage.

 

[punky rooster]

Quote:
Yeah, I would say around 20 weeks to get some meat on those birds. The longer you wait I think the better they are.