I have dual-purpose chickens, 7 roosters and 9 hens. They are meant to be freezer bird and will be 12 weeks old on July 11th. I have decided its time for the roosters to go as they are becoming really territorial and aggresive. I would have liked to fatten them up a little more but they are fighting alot and have actually driven the weakest of them out of the pen..he's now living with my ducks in a stall. He had been torn up pretty good but has now healed in his solitude. I know that if I remove the cocks from the hens they won't fight but I don't have room! Is 12 weeks the right age to butcher them at? Anyone have advice on how to butcher them and how to dispose of any insides etc.?
Heidi, I choose to butcher for the freezer by weight, not age. I like large fryers, weight when dressed, 4 1/2 to 5 pounds. Grown well, they are meaty and you get a good piece with every part--nothing like Deli or the Colonel's whimpy chicken that is mostly fried batter! I cut my chickens up for the freezer, and package them for l meal for 2 people. For more, I use 2 or more pkgs. I make "best" pieces for company pkgs. And put gizzards in pkgs for soup stock (the best), liver and hearts for frying. Backs, wings, and neck parts go for "everyday" meals. Some of the breasts are pkgd separately for special recipes. You have a great choice when you open the freezer--oh, and if a nice shape and large, I freeze several whole for stuffing and roasting.
By Cjeanr on Thursday, July 5, 2001 - 01:00 pm:
The butchering can be a production if you have help. Chopping block, sharp ax, Bring water first to boiling, so it will remain very hotin a tub, for quick dip before picking off the feathers, (pick feathers into large paper sacks or garbage bags to lessen the mess of smelly wet feathers), brown paper sacks to roll into torches for a quick singeing of hairs and tiny feathers, tub of COLD,may be running water to cool the birds. All this outside, then into the house to eviscerate (in my kitchen sink,with lots of cold running water, and I collect the insides in a garbage bucket, and then I want them COLD before cutting up, as the fat is very greasy to handle otherwise. Pop into freezer bags. Disposition of the entrails will depend upon where you live. I pour diluted Bleach in the bucket, so smell is not attractive to varmits, then bury everything--deep, at the edge of the woods. You sure don't want it around a minute longer than necessary! Good luck--and after the work is done, freeze as fast as you can--then, later, when all this is forgotten, and you take the chicken from the freezer, it will be a very satisfying meal! CJR, PS, Sorry to offend, for those of you who cannot manage this part of the poultry raising, but it is a fact of life, and just as important as production of eggs. And someone may know of a website that will describe this in more detail??