More Meaties | Chickens in the Road

Jun
14

Yep, 25 more meat chicks (aka roosters). We lost four out of the first batch of 25, so four of these were discounted to make up for those losses. So now we have 46 rooster chicks.

We don’t need 46 roosters on our farm.

Helps a lot with the cuteness factor.

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6-14
6:39
am

stinkin cute…i lost two of mine …
thats alot of meaties..
Granny Trace
http://www.grannytracescrapsandsquares.com

Granny Trace

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6-14
7:18
am

Good thing they don’t stay so cute…….

marymac

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6-14
7:47
am

They are cute! It is good they don’t stay that cute and you don’t need that many roosters xD

You wont need chicken for a while once these guys are done!

Mandys

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6-14
7:56
am

Good thing these lose the cute fast and become meat blobs that must visit freezer camp before their legs give out. Makes it easier to harvest along with the fact that 46 roosters would not be good. Even if they survived until adulthood the testosterone overload would turn them into aggressive animals that would attempt to kill each other.

They will taste good!

Sheila Z

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6-14
8:14
am

Sheila, these are “regular” roosters (White Leghorns) not Cornish X. Still, I don’t need that many roosters!

Suzanne McMinn

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6-14
8:23
am

Suzanne-who’s going to do the butchering? That’s ALOT of work plucking all those feathers.Since they are leghorns they won’t grow as fast as your cornish x. I would keep one of the nicer ones for your farm, and who knows maybe they made a mistake and you’ll have a female in the bunch. Then you can have a hen who lays a white egg. You know – just for variety with all the other colored eggs you have.A white chicken on green grass is very pretty.

Cheryl LeMay

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6-14
8:31
am

Cheryl, we’re going to do them. We know a couple of people who have the plucker thingies, so we can borrow. I’ve got about half dozen roosters already, so I doubt I want anymore!

Suzanne McMinn

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6-14
8:35
am

We decided to increase to 100 meat birds this year. I think we are a bit nuts. LOL

Imperious Fig

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6-14
8:42
am

Pardon this city girls comment, but how do you know they are roosters, they are so little?

cindy3539

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6-14
8:49
am

You should time things so the birds are ready for butchering when you have your retreat. Call it a ‘hands-on lesson’. I’d be game for it because they wouldn’t be my birds the first time I butchered. It might sort of toughen me up.

And to prepare everybody, you could show the rooster scene from “Cold Mountain”, I think that’s the name of the movie. Best scene Renee Zelweiger (sp?) ever did. Ever!

lavenderblue

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6-14
8:51
am

cindy, they are sold as roosters, so they were sexed by the company (Murray McMurray). There MIGHT turn out to be a hen or two in there–we will keep those with our flock if so.

Suzanne McMinn

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6-14
8:55
am

Imperious Fig, if you have the room 100 chickens isn’t really all that much. If you figure you’ll have chicken at least once a week that’s 52 of them right there. Chicken every Sunday and all. And I know we have chicken usually more than once a week. Don’t know about people who raise other meat animals. I know I’d be heading for those pork chops more often if I had a freezer full of ‘em.

But I do feel sorry for you because processing them all is going to be a load of work. Either that or pretty expensive to get them done.

lavenderblue

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6-14
8:57
am

I predict a lot of chicken recipes this fall. Yum!

wildcat

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6-14
9:53
am

Have you butchered chickens before or is this your first year? I only ask because we’ve been taking our chickens to someone for butchering for the last 10 years and her prices have tripled so we are considering doing it ourselves. The thought intrigues me and terrified me at the same time. I don’t know if I can do it! I admire your spirit and hope to be further inspired by your efforts.

Chicken Crossing

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6-14
10:54
am

Suzanne, what made you try leghorns? We have butchered our extra roosters in the past from our dual purpose breeds, but this year we decided to try cornish crosses. This will probably be the last year we do this and will try one of the fry pan specials from a hatchery next year.

Halfpint

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6-14
11:33
am

Halfpint, the white leghorns are what come in the Murray McMurray “frying pan” special, so that’s why we got them. I didn’t want the Cornish X. They seem like mutant chickens to me.

Suzanne McMinn

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6-14
11:41
am

Cute little fellers. They’ll look even better in the oven. Yum. I love the taste of a slower growing bird. The carcass isn’t as big as the Cornish X, but you can’t beat the flavor, and that’s a trade off we can live with.

We skirting the edges of the local ordinances that say we can have 15 immature chickens (check!) but no roosters (oops! Straight run!) but they should be heading to the butcher before they crow. We’re lucky enough to have a USDA inspected chicken processor about 45 minutes from our house. They charge us $2/bird and treat them very respectfully. They keep a very clean operation and don’t use chemicals to clean the birds, just vinegar and ice water baths. They also act as a work program for the tribal drug abuse agency; the workers not only learn how to re-integrate into a work force, but they also receive monitoring and counselling on-site. So they do us a favor, and do noble work at the same time. We like that.

Merryment

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6-14
12:05
pm

Wow, what are you going to do with all that meat? Wait, you have teenagers. Nevermind.

Window On The Prairie

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6-14
12:06
pm

I just got my first chickens this year, and have two young roosters. That seems like a lot. Forty-six! How old do they have to be to be ready to butcher? Mine are two months old and are crowing already. (a black giant and a blue andalusian)

Jan Hodges

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6-14
12:10
pm

Jan, it depends on how big you want them to be, two to three months. These are slower-growing birds so might take three months to a good size. The Cornish X grow big really fast, but they are mutants, LOL. I didn’t get any of those.

Suzanne McMinn

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6-14
2:37
pm

Are these roosters going to live separately from the hens that you are keeping? Just curious.

oct4luv

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6-14
3:05
pm

I’m going to throw the hens out of the chicken house for awhile.

Suzanne McMinn

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6-14
4:58
pm

Oooohhh..those hens are going to be maaaad!!

CarrieJ

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6-14
4:58
pm

If you get ahold of a plucker, you’ll be just fine. We’ve done 48 before. Just get it set up like a production line and it’ll go lickity split. (you could even do a few of the other roosters if you want to bring the boy population down – they make the best soup/stock!) It’s so nice to have food in your freezer that you know where it came from. So happy for you!!!!

farmershae

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6-14
4:59
pm

My friend’s grandma came over and taught us how she butchered chickens. I was okay with it all until she skinned the feet and faces for soup. I felt a little woozy with those eyes looking up at me. Grandma lived through the great depression and they used everything. She still does.

She wrung their necks in front of the other chickens and I had a heck of a time catching the rest of them after that!

Katharina

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6-14
7:55
pm

Cool I think will try the Cackle Fry Pan special next year. Theirs is all heavy breeds and the Maran, Austalorp, and Barred Rock roosters we have bought from them in the past all dressed out at around 5-6 lbs at 17 weeks.

Halfpint

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6-14
8:38
pm

Suzanne,
Leghorn roosters will be hardly worth the trouble to butcher. There is almost nothing to one of them even when you raise them out to 6 months. Try growing Freedom Rangers next time, they are a really nice alternative if you don’t want to raise the Cornish X. They take a few weeks longer to grow out, but act like a chicken and are real troopers at foraging. You don’t get the losses from heart attacks and heat exhaustion like you do with the Cornish X. The meat is really good. Not mushy like store bought and the best tasting chicken I’ve ever eaten. Here is a link to the hatchery.

http://www.jmhatchery.com/free-range-broiler/colored-range-chicks/prod_5.html

Sheila Z

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6-14
9:15
pm

I think its great that you are doing meat birds! I must say that there is a chance you will be very unhappy with the Leghorn roo’s. They are so light to begin with, by the time they reach slaughter weight they will only be good for stews. We just did a batch of cornish in a pasture pen, and they turned out very nice. They were clean, healthy, and loved the fresh grass. The roo’s dressed out at 5lbs, and the hens at 4.5lbs in 8 weeks. It was our first time butchering ourselves, and it was pretty easy if you are well organized before you start. We did not use a plucker. Just a good scald, and some rubber gloves. Very worth it. We watched a quick video before we began, and it really made things run smoothly. Good luck

klowe77

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6-14
9:26
pm

Our first batch is heavies (mix of heavy breeds) and the second batch is the white leghorns, so I guess we will find out which work out best!

Suzanne McMinn

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6-15
9:18
am

You can try red broilers, too. They take a few weeks long to reach slaughter weight, but not as long as dual purpose birds. The flavor is outstanding, and they’re ready in 10-13 weeks. They forage well and are healthy. I get mine from Ideal, but they’re not the only ones who sell them.

Merryment

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