using heritage roos for meat birds

I was wondering if those of you who use your extra boys as meat birds would share your experience. I am almost finished my 1st go with the cornish giant crosses. Although I did not like them at first they have kind of grown on me. They go for processing on friday

I have a tentative plan next year to cross a production RIR with production type orphingtons and keep the hens for my egg layer flock and keep the boys and grow for meat.

My questions are:

What breeds are you using? What age are you slaughtering at and what weights are you getting? HOw are you feeding and finishing them to get maxium meat? Any special tips?

Anne

I did my Partridge Chantecler roosters last year and I was very happy with them. They were done right around 20 weeks. Lovely flavour and the first one I just roasted like a abnormal chicken you would buy from the store. He was actually very nice. I usually slow cook them though.
I think I have some pictures some where of them......yep, here they are:



I am sorry, I can`t remember what they weighed, but I remember being happy with the weight of them I would have liked a bit more breast meat, I think I would have had to wait a bit longer for that. They were surprisingly easy to pluck for a dark bird too.

I have good and bad feelings of using heritage roosters for meat birds.
First the pros:
There is always an abundance of extra roosters when raising and selling chicks, as most customers want only pullets
The roosters finish out reasonably well and if done early enough they are not tough
The cons:
The roosters end up fighting alot, and sometimes I have to butcher before they are plump enough
I find the cornish crosses are nice for the fact you can butcher them early, I have a picture somewhere of the comparison of the two and your cornish by far out perform any of my breeds with breast meat and overall weight in 1/3rd of the time.

I think if you were able to keep small groups together, and like sized and breed roosters you wouldnt have as many issues, but for me with so many different breeds I find it hard to keep like sized and temperment birds together, just not enough room.
Definately the meatier breeds like the chanties, buckeye's, and maybe even this line of Barred Rocks I have would compare a bit better not sure?

For a good roasting meat bird I still prefer the cornish, raised on grass and grains, and butchered at 8 weeks of age.

Like Hidden River I still prefer a cornish for a good roasting meatbird but I definitely still butcher all my extra roos. I breed the Blue Laced Red Wyandotte and have the extra cockerels in a large area of their own where they have lots of room and access to another large area to free range. They get extra grain and the majority of the goodies from the kitchen that go out to the chickens. They are quite spoiled and happily live their lives there until they start to crow. Then its off to freezer camp!! I am finding with this breed that they are slower to mature, the last batch I raised til they were 7+ months old before they felt the need to crow. If I remember correctly the dressed weights were around 3 1/2ish pounds. Not great but I haven't really been concentrating on fattening them up for the freezer yet. As I have 10 roos to do in a few months I will be thinking more about that! I roasted up a batch of coq au vin not too long ago that was delicious so these roos definitely have a place in my life!

XOX Monika

We only have experience with our australorps and they finish reasonably well. Great leg and thigh meat, could do with more breast. Anywhere from 20-25 wks we take them in. When raised together, even with our head roo, we don't seem to have any problems but have never had more than 6 at a time. We don't lock them up but we do add more oats near the end. We have them on hand anyway. Tried oats and barley but didn't get through it all so it was a waste. I kinda forgot about it until the rats got to it

I sure don't mind having those extra heritage roos to butcher each fall. I enjoy having them around the yard while they mature, and it just feels good to know they will be put to good use by providing wholesome food for the family at the end of their days.
My parents come to help with the butchering and we make a day of it. At the end of the day we divide up the bounty. There is a a real sense of accomplishment that comes from hatching, raising and finally processing your own chickens.

This year I plan to keep better track of how my different breeds compare for weight and carcass quality. It won't be very scientific, since they were hatched out at different times, but it might be interesting anyway.

I have never done meat birds, just cockerels and old hens/roosters. All are very tasty but since they are skinned they don't look quite as fleshy as if they were plucked because I noticed that difference when we plucked a few once. Young cockerels are usually around 2.5 pounds and older birds anywhere from 3-5 pounds depending on the sex.

Thanks for this thread - and please keep the comments coming! I have 9 eight-week-old heritage cockerals that I guess I'm going to leave to grow out for a much longer time than I'd thought. I have never weighed them, but they're pretty lean. I am just one person, but I do want a bird that's more than bones.

Cheers,
FC

Yes thank you for all your info!

I had figured that the extra growing time plus extra groceries would not really compare to the cornish.

But I would rather make use of them then dispose of them inappropriatly.

Anne