I can't wait, the buff orpington cockerel process

Yep, just what it says. I have many a buff orpington cockerel that I am growing out from my new line of orpingtons which I got from Ontario last May as hatching eggs. The adults will be one year old on June 1 and have given me many babies. I have also hatched out a whack of the babies from a cross between the rooster of this line and two of my hatchery stock line. Those eggs have always been easy to tell from the Ontario line, as the eggs are very, very big, comes from older hens, the younger hens have somewhat smaller eggs, smiling.

This will be a year for the test. I will be growing out the Ontario line cockerels and process at 20 weeks (at the government inspected processor $4 a bird, not bad) and the Ontario line rooster crossed over the hatchery line hens) at 20 weeks. I am so stoked to see what size difference there may be between the Ontario line cockerels and the Ontario line rooster crossed over hatchery line hen's cockerels.

Last fall the cockerels of the hatchery stock birds dressed out at 4 pounds. To me a decent carcass, but this year will be the proof in the product to see if there is a difference.

I look at the size of the Ontario line rooster and hens and they are pretty close to 1-1/2 times bigger than the hatchery line counterparts. These are big birds, but is the carcass so much bigger too. A good thing to be able to test and put the proof in my mind of what is up and what is down. Watch for results this fall, smiling. have wonderful days, CynthiaM.

That will be a mighty intersesting report! Lots of people on here (myself included) are quite interested in such data!

I will be watching as well. I got my roo and have fallen for the orpingtons.

Nice going on the project, I am looking forward to results and pictures of carcasses with weights prior and after butchering. Do you also weight them at monthly intervals? As I do with my Flemish, I weight and report data on average weights per family group weekly and also individual weights on keepers after 8 weeks (at that time those are tattooed and so have an ID) up until 6 months or so. All that does is it gives a guideline as to what is alright and what is not enough. It does not depict who is best even tough it is the largest breed of rabbits, size is definitely not everything.
I am tracking my chickens that way also and measuring width, legs, heads etc(caliper) can help. Very much is in the small detail you don't directly see that can make the difference in the whole appearance and give more of a "wow" factor.

Piet

Piet, you certainly have more guts and gumption than I do. I don't know if I am a lazy chicken gal or what. I certainly am a very inquisitive type person and need to know things. But. At this point in time I don't really give a hoot nor a hollar about how fast they grow, size of parts of the body as they grow until the end product is reached. For me, that is 20 weeks, give or take a couple of days. Maybe I just don't care enough about the progression. Maybe just not important enough for me to do that, takin' my hat off to those that do this type of record keeping. A record keeper yes, but not an indepth record keeper for surely. My book looks like something that a kindergarten child would create , this, that and the other thing, all over the map. I have the nicest handwriting, always have, but just can't seem to focus enough to get a good record book going on. Maybe I should....well, maybe I don't care enough to bother....but maybe I should. Hmmmm....thinkin' maybe I should pull this together, hmmmm, then maybe not. YOu see, I am sitting on a fence, maybe one day will fall off on one side or the other .

I never thought about weighing prior to the processing. That is not important to me, but then maybe it should be. Some birds have thicker legs, bigger heads, bigger everything, including innards. Some new things for thought surely. Would only take a minute to string up a bird and weigh before I gently place them into the carrier that goes off to the wild blue yonder to bring me back a beautifully processed and bagged bird. Hold on. Nope, I don't want to, nor will. I just thought about it. How on earth could I keep all those birds in order. Like who is who before and after. Nope, seems too daunting to me. Unless someone can give me a simple method to weigh and keep track of that bird at the processor, I don't think I will bother. I know that the dressed bird is APPROXIMATELY 75% of the live bird (correct me if wrong please). Ya, when the birds are done and back home, certainly those records will be let loose also to the wild blue yonder with my forum pals. Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

This is great CynthiaM, I am interested to see how they process. I am wondering it the birds from the smaller hens may end up bigger. Heterosis and all.

I find my Partridge Chanteclers need 22 to 24 weeks to reall have a nice product. 20 weeks is just not quite enough for them. I think after 24 weeks they are getting to big and roostery. Good technical term there!

So with mine I aim for 22 weeks and give the smaller fellows to 24 to catch up with the quick growers.

I will be interested to hear how your boys go. Make sure you compare them to the Buckeyes again this year.

CynthiaM wrote:Piet, you certainly have more guts and gumption than I do. I don't know if I am a lazy chicken gal or what. I certainly am a very inquisitive type person and need to know things. But. At this point in time I don't really give a hoot nor a hollar about how fast they grow, size of parts of the body as they grow until the end product is reached. For me, that is 20 weeks, give or take a couple of days. Maybe I just don't care enough about the progression. Maybe just not important enough for me to do that, takin' my hat off to those that do this type of record keeping. A record keeper yes, but not an indepth record keeper for surely. My book looks like something that a kindergarten child would create , this, that and the other thing, all over the map. I have the nicest handwriting, always have, but just can't seem to focus enough to get a good record book going on. Maybe I should....well, maybe I don't care enough to bother....but maybe I should. Hmmmm....thinkin' maybe I should pull this together, hmmmm, then maybe not. YOu see, I am sitting on a fence, maybe one day will fall off on one side or the other .

I never thought about weighing prior to the processing. That is not important to me, but then maybe it should be. Some birds have thicker legs, bigger heads, bigger everything, including innards. Some new things for thought surely. Would only take a minute to string up a bird and weigh before I gently place them into the carrier that goes off to the wild blue yonder to bring me back a beautifully processed and bagged bird. Hold on. Nope, I don't want to, nor will. I just thought about it. How on earth could I keep all those birds in order. Like who is who before and after. Nope, seems too daunting to me. Unless someone can give me a simple method to weigh and keep track of that bird at the processor, I don't think I will bother. I know that the dressed bird is APPROXIMATELY 75% of the live bird (correct me if wrong please). Ya, when the birds are done and back home, certainly those records will be let loose also to the wild blue yonder with my forum pals. Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

Measuring is knowing, that is just something I picked up from the horseworld and is also applied with rabbits. It is just something to do if I am bored and does not have to be done generation after generation, off course if you do it for a few years, than that helps later on as an extra guideline, just one more piece of information to look at

coopslave wrote:This is great CynthiaM, I am interested to see how they process. I am wondering it the birds from the smaller hens may end up bigger. Heterosis and all.

I find my Partridge Chanteclers need 22 to 24 weeks to reall have a nice product. 20 weeks is just not quite enough for them. I think after 24 weeks they are getting to big and roostery. Good technical term there!

Hmm....Coopslave, some food for thought here. I am always interested in experimenting. I know that my buckeyes take way longer to mature than the orpingtons. For example, the orp hens lay at 24 weeks, the buckeyes, not about 28 weeks, a good month difference there. Hmmmm....maybe gonna have to do a couple of age processing tests. I will have enough cockerels (orpingtons and buckeyes) to do that if I so choose. I'll be working on what I want to test over the next while. I honestly think that these things are good. And guess what!!! I am so stoked.

Farmchiq came over last night for happy hour, smiling, and brought some very interesting news about an abbatoir setting up business on their own property, just around the corner from where she lives. A most interesting turn of events, there will be a government inspected processor less than half an hour from me. No more driving 1.5 and 1.25 hours to get my birds to the government inspected abbatoir, yay (hope it was OK to let the cat out of the bag Farmchiq, don't think it was a secret, but I didn't see you make a post, which kind of surprised me). What is cool especially about this is that I can do two processing dates, as it is so close, yay!!! Have a most awesome day, CynthiaM.

Well, that day came and went. I must say that I am not overly impressed with results. I am impressed enough, but I don’t think there was an awful lot of difference between the weights of the birds that I had processed last fall, which were hatchery stock buff Orpington cockerels. I saw an improvement by about ½ a pound on some, but pretty much identical weights with some. Let me explain, the list below will hopefully do that.

This may be a little confusing. These cockerels were processed at 20 weeks old and a cochin rooster (Shipperke Sue cockerel I had raised, processed at 1 year). The hatchery stock cockerels were processed at the same age last fall. All hatchery stock cockerels were about 4 pounds. They were actually 3.82 give or take a few ounces.

In this processing of 12 birds there were two lines of Orpington. I have lots to do to improve size, and that is coming, but I certainly see a lot of work to do. Pictures. I’ll try and get some when I take them from the processing bags in the next couple of days and freezer ready with my food saver, which vacuum seals and the product will stay fresher longer. The fellow that performs processing was most impressed with the size of the cochin rooster and asked what the breed was. I think I have some really nice cochins coming as the black cochin rooster I have is even bigger than the one that was taken for processing, now that is a thing to shout about, smiling.

I had a most wonderful conversation the other day with my oldest Grandson. He had been at our house, Hubby was helping him install a big boomer box in his little red Honda car. The stereo had already been worked on and installed, but there was more to go in, lots of wiring. This was accomplished and he hurried off to go to work. He had to be there by 5:00. He got there by 5:00, but mistook which day of the week it was (well, ain’t that something, must be the summer mind). So he phoned me to tell me of this funny thing that made him laugh. He was sitting in his car, talking to me on his phone. In the hot sun, might I add. He was asking about what kind of chickens I was taking to the processor and I got into explaining some things with him. He had thought that there was only one type of chicken, one that made eggs and food. Indepth conversation about the types of chickens that are used for different purposes ensued. He was intrigued. I told him of how I am working to make my chickens bigger and better and more to how the breeds looked. He was intrigued. I told him that there was a huge difference in the taste of a farm raised chicken than the store bought rolly poley round body chickens. He was intrigued. I told him that I wanted to take some more of my chickens to a poultry show if there is one this fall. He was intrigued. I told him that I have been learning lots and lots through studying. He was intrigued. This is a very intelligent, sweet dude (and has his girlfriend that mirrors him with intelligence). He told me that he needed some Grandma/Grandpa time to chill, soon – a movie night and a good dinner. I was intrigued. I told him that I was going to cook him the chicken dinner of his life. He was intrigued. This young man loves my cooking. I was intrigued. I will cook him the yummy homegrown chicken dinner of his life. Now that I know I have the skill to cook a very tender and most luscious young chicken cockerel. This is intriguing. It was time to go, he was cooking, sitting in his car, talking to Grandma, but was so intrigued, he could have been sitting out on a cold snow hill and had the same intrigue. Did I mention that he was intrigued by what I am up to? He knew I keep chickens, pretty chickens, but never knew the deep down of what his lil’ ol’ Gramma has been up to. Yay!! Perhaps another chicken lover coming along, and I don’t mean eatin’ chicken. A new partner in crime? Who knows what love of things can instill in someone, when they adore and look up to someone. Did I mention my Grandsons love me, smiling that big smile. Have a most awesome day, CynthiaM.

Cochin rooster, 1 year old: 5.38 pounds
Buckeye cockerel, 20 weeks old – 3.9 pounds

7 Ontario buff orpingtion line cockerels 4.23, 4.21, 4.13, 4.12, 4.08, 4.03 3.9 pounds

4 Ontario line buff Orpington cockerels, Ontario rooster over hatchery hens 3.56, 3.57, 3.59, 3.82 and 2.83 pounds (no clue why one was so tiney at 2.83, bad). No hatchery hens here now, all gone.

So absolutely, the 7 Ontario line buff orpington cockerels had a definite bit of weight over the Ontario line X hatchery hen birds. Improvements. Yes. By about one half pound or so? Not there yet, but seeing improvement is a good thing.

I am keeping my rooster. He is a monster. I have more pullets that are coming to the point of lay soon, they will be going into the breeding group. I still have a few choices to make of who will actually go into the breeding pool next spring, but that will not be performed until spring, when these young gals have matured more and better choice can be made.

So, if anyone was waiting to hear results of if there was a difference between the two lines that I had bred for meat, there you have it. Hands down the Ontario oprington X Ontario Orpington are giving a larger bird.

CynthiaM you may be processing them a little early. Next year, if you can, try to leave them 22-24 weeks. I have to leave the Chants that long. 20 weeks is just not quite enough for them.

Instead of going just by weight, what do the carcasses look like? Is there less bone and more flesh on the ones from this year? That is something I am trying to pay more attention to. Where are they fleshing out and is it better than last year.

Glas you are keeping us up to date on this sort of thing. It is good to know what others are doing.


Sorry CynthiaM, I see I have posted this before. That's me, the broken record......

Thank you for sharing your processing results, Cynthia. I'm not surprised the Ontario line out performed the hatchery cross. Those show birds are bred for size, and the hatchery stock just doesn't have that same genetic potential...even taking into account any boost they might have gained from a complete out-cross.
I'm finding this all very interesting and love to hear from others raising and processing their extra roosters.

I'll have some results to post soon too. Last night I separated the first group of roosters as I was planning to take them to the abbotoir in a few days. They are 20 weeks old now, but after catching them and giving them a good once over, I can tell I would be disappointed in the end result at this point. They will need at least another 2 weeks, which brings them to the 22-week age as Coopslave suggests.

So now that I've got them in a separate area, I'll just keep them there, feed them up extra well with a bit of added corn and see what happens. This group includes 10 Chantecler roos and 2 Buff Orpingtons of assorted bloodlines which are 12 days younger.

Hmmmm, wonder where I got the impression that roosters should be processed at 20 weeks. Maybe read it somewhere. But that was what I had grown the cockerels to last fall that age, so I had to adhere to the same age to do any specific comparisons of processed age. I fortunately have a whack more cockerels, buff orpingtons and cochins that I am growing out. For surely I will await until the age of 22-24 weeks and see if there is further improvement in growing out a couple of weeks longer. At 20 weeks the orpingtons are crowing, just beginning, but that is gonna be a noisey scene. I do not have the luxury of an extra coop to grow this batch out in. So they will be on a combination of layer pellets (18%) and broiler finisher, so still will not get a true result with age and weight comparisons. Oh well, it is what it is. I'll get some pictures soon of a comparison of body structure looks. Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.