why were they so fatty?

[spish]

so after months of excuse making i finally got round to slaughtering my first two chickens. both 11 months old free range red sex links.
i had a 'professional' come round to teach me how to do it (a friend from work whos done it a million times before)
she made it look so easy! why was i ever so scared to do it i dont know, anyhow..both chickens were a little on the scrawny side (not a lot of meat) but when we cut them open they were very fatty inside. what would cause this? im not sure what theyve been fed since birth as i only picked these two up 2 weeks ago, but ive been feeding them layer pellets and scrath alongside their freeranging....

i have another 4 i wish to slaughter but would like to increase the meat percentage first and lower the fat...whats the best way to do this?

 

[Ridgerunner]

What you probably saw was the fat pad. This is where hens store extra energy when they eat more than they need for body maintenance and egg production. It is a big lump of fat in the pelvic region. It can get so big that it can cause egg laying problems.

I'm not aware of any way to increase the amount of meat on the hens. Anything you feed them, including protein, above what they need will most likely go to that fat pad or as fat around their internal organs. I often find a lot of fat around the gizzard and liver too. This is why I am not a big fan of overfeeding hens.

 

[Oregon Blues]

You increase the amount of meat by using good genetics.

 

[Bossroo]

This is what happens when one tries to use an egg laying breed or much older DP bird as a meat bird. Render the fat and use it as a broth to increase the flavor of the chicken soup when one boils the meat off the bones or in another dish.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've had some pretty big fat pads on some fairly young dual purpose breed pullets, those just at Point of Lay or just startingt to lay, as well as on older hens. Those were not fed anything extreme either, either 16% Grower or 16% Layer and free ranging most of the day.

It does seem to run by breed.

 

[spish]

ah right so its to do with the breed not what they are eating?

thanks for that....!

 

[Bossroo]

The genetic type of the bird as well as what type, quality and quantity of feed it eats are only a few factors. The other factor is... as the slower growing bird gets older the more oportunity it has to deposit excess daily feed calories to fat before it produces enough muscle meat to be economicall worth processing. These birds are usually harvested between 18-24 weeks of age on average for a 4-6+/- pound carcass. The chickens that are selectively bred for egg production are very good at producing eggs from their available feed intake and any excess caloric energy is stored in the form of body fat. However they are very poor at producing any real quantity of edible meat economically. The true meat bird is harvested at a much younger age because it utilizes it's genetic potential of very rapid growth to use what it consumes to efficiently gain muscle mass very rapidly and is processed at 35 days of age for about a 2lb Game Hen, at 6 weeks for a 4-6lb frier or 8 weeks for a 6-8lb roaster. The true meat bird converts approximately 2 + pounds of scientifically designed and commercially prepared feed into 1 lb of meat under environmentally controlled growing conditions, while the others will consume approximately 2-4 x more feed per pound of meat and take approximately 2-3 times as long to do so. My Cornish X convert on average 2.2 pounds of feed per pound of edible meat at not so ideal growing conditions inside my open non climate controlled barn (many predators). Millions of $$$ and years of research and selective genetic crossbreeding by University and Corporate scientists whent into the development of the meat chicken. I hope that this gives you some insight to increase your meat production and lower fat content of your birds. Have fun !