Who could stand to butcher their chickens

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Thanks for the information!
Being so new at this I am truly surprised at the 14 weeks. They don't look like they have enough meat on them for butchering.
I trust your advice, it's just the newbie in me showing. LOL.

As for the chickens not being friendly...they will come over when I have treats and they will come when I use food to get them into the coop. In the beginning they would jump up on my lap, but not lately. The RIR hens will let me hold them if I can reach down and grab one. I will have to work on my chicken skills. I would like to have a few that enjoy some people time eventually.

Again, thanks for the help.

Paula

There's a reason that people grow broilers instead of heritage breeds. I took my last meat batch to the processor yesterday. My white broilers (Cornish X, from Meyer) had a dressed weight of 5.5 - 6.5 pounds at eight weeks exactly. My EE cockerels had a dressed weight of just about 3 lbs. at 14 weeks. Dual purpose breeds would do better, but there will never be the amount of meat on a young heritage bird that there is on a young broiler.

Broilers are pooping and eating machines, but they do offer the most meat for the least money and time. They are also MUCH easier to process. I also think they are kind of cute, waddling around and beeping at me, but I know I'm in the minority on that one. I also LOVE that they're only around for 8 weeks max.

The reason you process your cockerels young is meat texture. The older the bird gets, the tougher the meat gets. Also, you do start to lose money on feed conversion. There comes a point, even with a white broiler, where the cost of the feed they are eating is more than the amount of muscle tissue you're getting back from it.

I've never done colored broilers, but they might be right for you if you don't want to do Cornish X. They go by the names Rainbow Broilers, Freedom Rangers, and RedBro. They are a more viable bird, but still grow a lot of meat. They are butchered later than white broilers, though.

 

[wsmith]

There's a reason that people grow broilers instead of heritage breeds. I took my last meat batch to the processor yesterday. My white broilers (Cornish X, from Meyer) had a dressed weight of 5.5 - 6.5 pounds at eight weeks exactly. My EE cockerels had a dressed weight of just about 3 lbs. at 14 weeks. Dual purpose breeds would do better, but there will never be the amount of meat on a young heritage bird that there is on a young broiler.



The reason you process your cockerels young is meat texture. The older the bird gets, the tougher the meat gets. Also, you do start to lose money on feed conversion. There comes a point, even with a white broiler, where the cost of the feed they are eating is more than the amount of muscle tissue you're getting back from it.

I've never done colored broilers, but they might be right for you if you don't want to do Cornish X. They go by the names Rainbow Broilers, Freedom Rangers, and RedBro. They are a more viable bird, but still grow a lot of meat. They are butchered later than white broilers, though.

Let me offer a slightly different view...

Chickens are chickens. Some like them as pets and keep them until they die. Fine; to each his own. My chicken philosophy is that chickens for me are livestock. AND I raise Heritage chickens, Dominiques.

True, "broilers" and the various meat crosses grow really fast and can be somewhat economical to produce, but I would disagree that Heritage breeds aren't worth the money to feed until a good butchering weight, and also to your assessment of growth rates. I butcher my excess cull cockerels at between 24-26 weeks. I have found that they put on more weight in the last 4 weeks than at any other time. Last year we averaged about 4-5 lbs dressed weight. This year's cockerels should be that or more due to selective breeding. Heritage chickens aren't tough at that age either, you just need to cook them at a lower temperature for a longer amount of time. Heritage birds have better flavor and texture than the meat crosses. The meat crosses don't have enough time to develop the flavor that chickens should have. Chickens are more than just a vehicle for added spice flavor. Due to factory chickens as I call them, over the last 35 years or so we have become accustomed to chicken meat that has no flavor, no texture, and that fall apart. This would include the meat crosses that are sold by hatcheries by the thousands.

So alot depends on why you are raising your chickens.

Back to the original question, a mean chicken has no place in my flock, but fills a nice place in my oven, and on the table. A mean chicken is a tasty chicken, and I remind my flock of this frequently. I don't know if they are listening though..... When I was a kid I was reminded frequently by my parents of the pitfalls of getting too attached to any of our livestock, whether it was a sheep, calf, chicken, etc. Eventually they would ALL end up on your plate.

When processing time rolls around, it is done respectfully and quickly. We remind ourselves (and my kids - who are helping) that raising chickens is more than just a pet thing for us. It suppliments our income and provides us with good food. Provident living and all.

These are just my opinions. I respect the right of other's to disagree.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Let me offer a slightly different view...


True, "broilers" and the various meat crosses grow really fast and can be somewhat economical to produce, but I would disagree that Heritage breeds aren't worth the money to feed until a good butchering weight, and also to your assessment of growth rates. I butcher my excess cull cockerels at between 24-26 weeks. I have found that they put on more weight in the last 4 weeks than at any other time. Last year we averaged about 4-5 lbs dressed weight. This year's cockerels should be that or more due to selective breeding. Heritage chickens aren't tough at that age either, you just need to cook them at a lower temperature for a longer amount of time. Heritage birds have better flavor and texture than the meat crosses. The meat crosses don't have enough time to develop the flavor that chickens should have. Chickens are more than just a vehicle for added spice flavor. Due to factory chickens as I call them, over the last 35 years or so we have become accustomed to chicken meat that has no flavor, no texture, and that fall apart. This would include the meat crosses that are sold by hatcheries by the thousands.

So alot depends on why you are raising your chickens.


These are just my opinions. I respect the right of other's to disagree.

I know there are a lot of passionate Heritage breed supporters, and for good reason. Those birds fed our forefathers well. But because this discussion was started to educate a new chicken owner, I do want to respond to a couple of your points.

First, I would point out the difference between a bird that you have to keep and take care of for 24 weeks to get to 4.5 pounds dressed weight vs. a bird that will hit 4.5 pounds dressed weight at seven weeks. That's a heck of a difference, and there will be more cost per pound associated with that bird.

Secondly, you're right that heritage breeds taste "chicken-ier." They do taste good. But a white broiler that's been raised humanely outside and eats some greens and chases bugs and sleeps in the sun tastes far better than a supermarket chicken, so the argument that only Heritage breeds taste good isn't accurate, either.

I disagree with the statement that they are not tough at 24 weeks. The first cockerel we ever butchered, a plump Barred Rock, we tried to make fried chicken with. We literally could not chew him, and he was 20 weeks old. We cried over throwing away that bird that we'd lovingly raised and butchered. Even in your post, you said they have to be handled differently, cooked low and slow. That's because they are inherently a tougher bird. For the people out there considering what to raise, I would offer the opinion that a freezer full of chicken that has to be simmered or stewed or thrown in the crockpot and can really be cooked no other way is a bit of a pain. I want to be able to pull out a bird and make fried chicken. Or stir fry. Or quick chicken breasts with a nice pan sauce on a weeknight. I don't want to eat slow-cooked food when I've been out in the hay field all day. I raise white broilers because they are a far more versatile meat.

People who are new to this, you've seen two perspectives here. The choice is now up to you!

 

[wsmith]

I know there are a lot of passionate Heritage breed supporters, and for good reason. Those birds fed our forefathers well. But because this discussion was started to educate a new chicken owner, I do want to respond to a couple of your points.

First, I would point out the difference between a bird that you have to keep and take care of for 24 weeks to get to 4.5 pounds dressed weight vs. a bird that will hit 4.5 pounds dressed weight at seven weeks. That's a heck of a difference, and there will be more cost per pound associated with that bird.

Secondly, you're right that heritage breeds taste "chicken-ier." They do taste good. But a white broiler that's been raised humanely outside and eats some greens and chases bugs and sleeps in the sun tastes far better than a supermarket chicken, so the argument that only Heritage breeds taste good isn't accurate, either.

I disagree with the statement that they are not tough at 24 weeks. The first cockerel we ever butchered, a plump Barred Rock, we tried to make fried chicken with. We literally could not chew him, and he was 20 weeks old. We cried over throwing away that bird that we'd lovingly raised and butchered. Even in your post, you said they have to be handled differently, cooked low and slow. That's because they are inherently a tougher bird. For the people out there considering what to raise, I would offer the opinion that a freezer full of chicken that has to be simmered or stewed or thrown in the crockpot and can really be cooked no other way is a bit of a pain. I want to be able to pull out a bird and make fried chicken. Or stir fry. Or quick chicken breasts with a nice pan sauce on a weeknight. I don't want to eat slow-cooked food when I've been out in the hay field all day. I raise white broilers because they are a far more versatile meat.

People who are new to this, you've seen two perspectives here. The choice is now up to you!

Yup. lots of opinions; and usually we each feel ours is best!

In regards to tenderness, alot also depends on how long a butchered bird is allowed to "rest" before cooking. I always allow my processed birds to rest for at least 24-48 hours in the refrigerator before cooking or freezing. If one cooks a chicken too soon after butchering, it will be tough. And yes, if a chicken is too old, it won't be good for frying.

And, I know that it isn't only Heritage breeds that taste good. I didn't say that. A chicken that is older tastes better. It just happens that I prefer Heritage chickens, Dominiques in particular. Either way, there are many different ways of raising chickens, and many different schools of thought. Personally I think the added cost of feeding them for a couple more months is worth it. That's just me. Also, some Heritage breeds are more economical to raise than others.

I think most would agree that there isn't just "one" method of raising chickens, or just "one" breed that does it all. (remembering that I am WAY partial to Dominiques...)

Everyone has their own experiences, and draws conclusions based on those experiences. I have a good friend (I think he's a little nuts...) who buys left-over cockerels from hatcheries, he doesn't really care what breed, and raises them for meat. He feels that they all taste the same and are equally tough/tender. Who knows.....

 

[Angelicisi]

This is a great reply. I love my birds...give them a good life and feel its one less production or battery hen that felt abuse her whole life if we process our own instead of buying one at the market. And the meat from our healthy, well fed birds is amazing in comparison to a store bought one. So as sad as it us we HAVE to rotate here due to number restrictions, if you don't have restrictions, send them out to pasture! Lol I met a guy with no restrictions and he saves ROOS from dinner tables (someone's gotta look out for the boys he says bahahaha Awwww) but they go run with their own flocks of old hens that aren't really producing and the ROOS protect them.

.

Too each their own....

Some people like having pets, they tend to keep them til they die, and feel bad when they lose them.

Some people like having flocks. To have a viable flock, new members are added, and old members removed. These people tend to keep chickens for years and even decades, but not the same chickens.

Mrs K

 

[Angelicisi]

I still can't do the deed myself...a friend's been teaching me, but don't have the guts yet by myself.

So if you wanted to rotate, or try your own but just can't, there's always a fellow chickener near to help or even process for you and return what you will only see as dinner- not one of your gals.

 

[GaryDean26]

I tried buing juvenile chickens and hatching eggs from others in the begining, but I was mostly dissapointed by their lack of knowlege when it comes to breeding chickens and was also dissapointed in the quality of what I was buying even when I went to the decorated show breeders. So I started my own flocks so that I could get the quality I wanted and even though I also was clueless, I was more confident that they would be done right if I was breeding them myself than if I had to take whatever was avialable from others. In moving for just buying pullets to hatching 30-50 straight run chicks every season we have a lot of birds that we couldn't keep. I didn't know how to process chickens, but I am not a vegitarian so we started processing the birds that weren't keepers. Yes we made some mistakes in the beginning. We didn't know that you have to fatten 18 week old cockerels to get the premier meat quality and ended up with a few tough chickens (especially the older ones that we held onto longer as back-up breeders). We are learning though and the meat quality is getting better every year as we learn what to do to get the best results. We still name all our chickens (well...I only have names for about 60 of the 100 we have on the property right now) and we definatly have favorites and definatly have pets. We have processed pets. It is just part of managing a flock and working towards better quality. We give them a good home and love them for as long as we can and then they fill the measure of their creation. We don't raise chicken for meat. We raise them for eggs, so the 8 weeks vs 24 weeks is not an issue for us. The meat is just a bonus. We keep a lot more dual purpose heritage birds than laying breeds because we don't cull day old cockerels. We give them all a full life (even if that is only 18 weeks) and would rather have a haritage dual purpose as a cull than a narrow bodied light weight production bird.

 

[Angelicisi]

I WANT to do this. You're doing it right!

I think it depends on the number of hens, your purpose for having chickens, and your financial situation.

We have 70 hens, an adult rooster, a bunch of babies of various ages (that includes some cockerels), and 12 broilers. They are all here for different reasons.

The hens lay eggs. If they stop laying eggs, they are culled. We give them their chance by putting them on Craigslist for a week, but then they are killed. With RSL and white Leghorns, they are culled before their second winter. With heritage breeds, culled before their third winter. The only exceptions are broody hens, that get to stay as long as they still brood clutches, and pet chickens.

Pet chickens are chickens that, for some reason, amuse us. They might be extra pretty, or extra sweet and my kids like them. We don't have more than two pet chickens at a time, usually.

We raise replacements for the birds we cull. There will be cockerels in those clutches. We keep the best of the cockerels for flock roosters, and cull the rest. Some of those we eat, if we have a meat pen going at the time. Some are culled the second I can tell that they are male, because I don't want to feed a non-contributing flock member.

Flock roosters are kept as long as we want/need their genetics, or if we're particularly fond of them. I rarely keep more than four at a time, but could keep as many as seven, I suppose.

Broilers are destined for the table from day one. Our last batch this year goes to the processor on Wednesday, along with six EE cockerels that are also in the meat pen.

We have chickens because we like them. But I'm not going to lose money on them, either. I have too many hens to keep non-contributing birds around. Can you imagine how many birds you'll have, even if you start with five birds, if you keep bringing in new birds without getting rid of any? Either that, or you have a flock of non-laying birds until they die and then start over. Neither situation sounds viable to me.

 

[RoostersCrow HensDeliver!]

Thank you GaryDean26 , for bringing up the fact that Show Quality heritage breeds are better for meat then the light weight hatchery versions. I don't think that a whole lot of new chicken owners realize that there's a difference.

 

[Mrs. K]

Very well written responses, one of the better series of posts on here.

I too have played, and now am starting to get a bit more serious about breeding and raising what I want. I find this a wonderful hobby.

Mrs K