This may be duplication of a post I had made but I feel I need to make it anyways. This following information was entered into a thread that KathyS had made about people throwing away cockerels. I know not everyone reads every thread. If you read my post in Kathy’s thread, ignore this one, it is identical.
This thread, which has a few pictures in it will show how much a bird can mature in a five week period. I think it important to show my observations. Now this information I give here has only to do with the buff Orpington breed. I did not take any pictures of the cochins for this comparision, but they are pretty similar in speed of growth and maturity as the buff orpingtons, perhaps a little more slow, but pretty close.
I am pretty sure that it is more cost effective to raise the meat birds that take such a short time to mature, than a cockerel that takes say, 6 months. No doubt. And I bet the meat birds taste good in certain ways. But there are studies shown that if you want a really nice tasting bird, the older it gets, the better the meat tastes. It has to do with food I am sure...now some people don’t like the taste of the long aged bird, the preference is for the bird that does not have as strong a taste. My Son-in-Law is a prime example of this. My Daughter, his spouse, on the other hand, loves the taste of the cockerels. Maybe it is all in his head. We live on their farm and I am sure that he is turned off by the chickens free ranging and rummaging through stuff, especially horse poop. Heard him talk about how the chickens run like there nary was a tomorrow when they see a tail of a horse lift and they spread that pile far and wide. I am sure that he realizes that all this stuff coming out the back end of a horse is hay and grains and such, but I think it has turned him off. Probably a city boy, turned country, who knows. Anyways, he loves chicken, but just not our farm raised. That’s OK, his loss, smiling. I like the taste of the birds grown here, for a long time, I think they taste strong and I like that flavour, smiling.
Ya, so where was I? Right. Grew on a good many cockerels last year. And had them processed at the abbatoir, two different occasions this fall, a few days apart.
The first lot to go was a whack of cochin cockerels. At the age of 20 weeks. The average was about 4 pounds dressed. The one year and a bit old cockbird was just over 5 pounds. 5.2 to be exact. These are coming from the cobwebs of my mind, so are not precise.
The next group of processed birds was the buff orpingtons. I had two that were of the age of 25 weeks and a whack the age of 20 weeks, same age as the cochin cockerels. The cochin cockerels and the buff Orpington cockerels were the same age, as indicated, and they dressed out to be about the same weight.
The two buff Orpington cockerels that were 5 weeks older, dressed out to be about a pound more than their counterparts of 5 weeks younger.
Prior to the big day of the processing of either of the two groups. It was a lovely day and I was outside looking at the massive difference between the 25 week old buff Orpington and the 20 week buff Orpington. I cannot speak to other breeds. But let me tell you, there was a huge amount of maturing that took place sometime after the age of 20 weeks old and before the age of 25 weeks old. When I was reading this thread, I had recalled that day when I was outside taking pictures of the cockerels. And I am glad I did.
I can remember that I always thought that a cockerel should be processed around the age of 20 weeks old. And then I also remembered that Coopslave said something about not processing her cockerels until they were the age of 24 weeks. Sometimes life gets in the way, and things must be done.
I had so many cockerels running free range around here this fall. I am speaking to the buff orpingtons. The cochin cockerels of the same age free ranged too, but did not have an over interest in mating with the buff orpingtons. And well, with two big roosters, they didn’t stand a chance to get in with the buff flock, smiling. I love the cockbirds, they do take care of their gals, in every way. From showing them tidbits to eat, to watching the very heavens above for things that might hurt their gals. They even sound the alarm that makes everyone hit the road when they see a plane fly overhead. Smart dudes...
Right, where was I? OK. Back to that day, think it was like October 23, last, 2012. A beautiful day, warm, blue skies, the cold had begun, but still nice enough to be outside mingling with my birds, camera in my back pocket, where it lives.
There was a need to take all these excess males off to the processor. So I could not wait until the cockerels had matured more. Would have been nice, but girls were getting very stressed with so many young males attempting to give them attention (yes, after the boys all left, it only took the girls about 2 weeks to begin to begin laying their hearts out. Was down to 2 eggs a day, and those were probably from the girls that were smart enough to stay away from the boys. Or then, perhaps it was the initiation of turning on the timed lights for 15 hours a day. Both were performed at the same time, so really, no clue, but I am leaning towards just the honky boys bugging girls, despite the cockbirds’ work to keep them away). Ya...
I will provide a short narration to try to explain these pictures, which are actually very self-explanatory, but I like to say things, so look, watch and listen. Have a beautiful day, CynthiaM.
Out in the horses’ paddocks, probably kneeling in a bunch of crap. But hey, that is me, knees always dirty with one thing or another. Get really nice pictures of things when I am kneeling down.
This is a picture of a 25 week old cockerel, buff Orpington, probably, smiling, and to his right, the less mature one of 20 weeks old. To me. There is an amazing amount of maturity that occurs after 20 weeks to the age of 25 weeks. There were four males of the 25 week old, one of which I kept on for the breeding group this year. All four of them looked similar with maturity. Of the 20 week old cockerels, I think there were about 7. They all looked the same too. Look closely.....huge difference. I actually do not know exactly how long the difference in maturation takes. But I do know there is 5 weeks difference in age between the two.
That is not dirt on the nostrils, that is something that has come from scrumaging in brown stuff that comes out of the horses' butts
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Just another shot of how the birds look....
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Closer single view of the 20 week old buff Orpington cockerel. Look how gangly he still looks!!
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Out in the alfalfa field. The youngsters, at 20 weeks old are way off there. In the forefront, again, you can see the 25 week old and the 20 week old. Quite the difference eh?
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Ya, that was when the alfalfa was still growing free and wild....a huge field to the east and a huge field to the west of our property. This year was a pretty high year for grasshoppers, but nothing like 2011!! Lots of protein in our birds with alfalfa and bugs!! Wonder if this makes the meat taste even better, smiling.
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Oh and just a cool picture of a big, beautiful pullet, had to throw this one in. We did not eat her, smiling that big smile.....
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I wonder why hens always get annoyed with another hen after she has been mated? Seen that time and time again that they watch intently and then go over and peck that girl on the head. Go figure!!
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This thread, which has a few pictures in it will show how much a bird can mature in a five week period. I think it important to show my observations. Now this information I give here has only to do with the buff Orpington breed. I did not take any pictures of the cochins for this comparision, but they are pretty similar in speed of growth and maturity as the buff orpingtons, perhaps a little more slow, but pretty close.
I am pretty sure that it is more cost effective to raise the meat birds that take such a short time to mature, than a cockerel that takes say, 6 months. No doubt. And I bet the meat birds taste good in certain ways. But there are studies shown that if you want a really nice tasting bird, the older it gets, the better the meat tastes. It has to do with food I am sure...now some people don’t like the taste of the long aged bird, the preference is for the bird that does not have as strong a taste. My Son-in-Law is a prime example of this. My Daughter, his spouse, on the other hand, loves the taste of the cockerels. Maybe it is all in his head. We live on their farm and I am sure that he is turned off by the chickens free ranging and rummaging through stuff, especially horse poop. Heard him talk about how the chickens run like there nary was a tomorrow when they see a tail of a horse lift and they spread that pile far and wide. I am sure that he realizes that all this stuff coming out the back end of a horse is hay and grains and such, but I think it has turned him off. Probably a city boy, turned country, who knows. Anyways, he loves chicken, but just not our farm raised. That’s OK, his loss, smiling. I like the taste of the birds grown here, for a long time, I think they taste strong and I like that flavour, smiling.
Ya, so where was I? Right. Grew on a good many cockerels last year. And had them processed at the abbatoir, two different occasions this fall, a few days apart.
The first lot to go was a whack of cochin cockerels. At the age of 20 weeks. The average was about 4 pounds dressed. The one year and a bit old cockbird was just over 5 pounds. 5.2 to be exact. These are coming from the cobwebs of my mind, so are not precise.
The next group of processed birds was the buff orpingtons. I had two that were of the age of 25 weeks and a whack the age of 20 weeks, same age as the cochin cockerels. The cochin cockerels and the buff Orpington cockerels were the same age, as indicated, and they dressed out to be about the same weight.
The two buff Orpington cockerels that were 5 weeks older, dressed out to be about a pound more than their counterparts of 5 weeks younger.
Prior to the big day of the processing of either of the two groups. It was a lovely day and I was outside looking at the massive difference between the 25 week old buff Orpington and the 20 week buff Orpington. I cannot speak to other breeds. But let me tell you, there was a huge amount of maturing that took place sometime after the age of 20 weeks old and before the age of 25 weeks old. When I was reading this thread, I had recalled that day when I was outside taking pictures of the cockerels. And I am glad I did.
I can remember that I always thought that a cockerel should be processed around the age of 20 weeks old. And then I also remembered that Coopslave said something about not processing her cockerels until they were the age of 24 weeks. Sometimes life gets in the way, and things must be done.
I had so many cockerels running free range around here this fall. I am speaking to the buff orpingtons. The cochin cockerels of the same age free ranged too, but did not have an over interest in mating with the buff orpingtons. And well, with two big roosters, they didn’t stand a chance to get in with the buff flock, smiling. I love the cockbirds, they do take care of their gals, in every way. From showing them tidbits to eat, to watching the very heavens above for things that might hurt their gals. They even sound the alarm that makes everyone hit the road when they see a plane fly overhead. Smart dudes...
Right, where was I? OK. Back to that day, think it was like October 23, last, 2012. A beautiful day, warm, blue skies, the cold had begun, but still nice enough to be outside mingling with my birds, camera in my back pocket, where it lives.
There was a need to take all these excess males off to the processor. So I could not wait until the cockerels had matured more. Would have been nice, but girls were getting very stressed with so many young males attempting to give them attention (yes, after the boys all left, it only took the girls about 2 weeks to begin to begin laying their hearts out. Was down to 2 eggs a day, and those were probably from the girls that were smart enough to stay away from the boys. Or then, perhaps it was the initiation of turning on the timed lights for 15 hours a day. Both were performed at the same time, so really, no clue, but I am leaning towards just the honky boys bugging girls, despite the cockbirds’ work to keep them away). Ya...
I will provide a short narration to try to explain these pictures, which are actually very self-explanatory, but I like to say things, so look, watch and listen. Have a beautiful day, CynthiaM.
Out in the horses’ paddocks, probably kneeling in a bunch of crap. But hey, that is me, knees always dirty with one thing or another. Get really nice pictures of things when I am kneeling down.
This is a picture of a 25 week old cockerel, buff Orpington, probably, smiling, and to his right, the less mature one of 20 weeks old. To me. There is an amazing amount of maturity that occurs after 20 weeks to the age of 25 weeks. There were four males of the 25 week old, one of which I kept on for the breeding group this year. All four of them looked similar with maturity. Of the 20 week old cockerels, I think there were about 7. They all looked the same too. Look closely.....huge difference. I actually do not know exactly how long the difference in maturation takes. But I do know there is 5 weeks difference in age between the two.
That is not dirt on the nostrils, that is something that has come from scrumaging in brown stuff that comes out of the horses' butts
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Just another shot of how the birds look....
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Closer single view of the 20 week old buff Orpington cockerel. Look how gangly he still looks!!
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Out in the alfalfa field. The youngsters, at 20 weeks old are way off there. In the forefront, again, you can see the 25 week old and the 20 week old. Quite the difference eh?
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Ya, that was when the alfalfa was still growing free and wild....a huge field to the east and a huge field to the west of our property. This year was a pretty high year for grasshoppers, but nothing like 2011!! Lots of protein in our birds with alfalfa and bugs!! Wonder if this makes the meat taste even better, smiling.
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Oh and just a cool picture of a big, beautiful pullet, had to throw this one in. We did not eat her, smiling that big smile.....
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
I wonder why hens always get annoyed with another hen after she has been mated? Seen that time and time again that they watch intently and then go over and peck that girl on the head. Go figure!!
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