[ANHBUC]

For those who have asked in the past and those who have wondered, "is a cockerel any good for meat?"  Here is a picture of one of my prepared young bantam cockerels.

As you can see the meat is really lean and no sign of fat.  A bantam would be enough for 2 people and a large fowl enough for 4.  You can use the carcass as stock or even a chicken soup base.

So before you try to rehome your unwanted cockerels to someone who may use them for cock fighting consider using them for meat.  You know they have been looked after and what they have been fed.

I know it is not for everyone but for those who are actively breeding it should seriously be considered.   

[arugula]

We have friends who rear chickens mainly for egg-laying and do despatch young cockerels. We've tried the Light Sussex and they make an excellent casserole, as do the Pekin X banties which we've tried more recently. Lovely lean meat, packed with flavour.

[Prod]

Whilst chicken is my favorite meat  I just couldnt imagine eating Thatcher..........  or any of the girls come to that, never mind killing them first.  I cant even take the bag of giblets out of a shop bought one!!!!! :wacko

[Dawnuss]

Interesting read i was considering getting some hatching eggs in spring when my one hen turns broody (which is a garantee lol) im still very unsure and im doing my research but one of my issues is the whole cockerel to hen ratio. How young is the youngest you can cull to get a good meat bird and how hard is it to cull a bird? Im not sure if i could do it when the time comes and end up with lots of crowing and angry neighbours lol

[ANHBUC]

I had 5 cockerels out of 5 hatched Light Sussex Bantams and 2 cockerels out of 6 hatched Welsummer Bantams then 1 cockerel out of 1 Light Sussex x Partridge Wyandotte Bantam.  There are no guarantees so you have to be prepared to either dispatch or rehome to somewhere they will be looked after.

I have culled at around 16/18 weeks which is when they seem to start crowing and not just practicing. 

Culling isn't hard but you have to be in the right frame of mind and accept that it is not pleasant.  Then you have the plucking, hanging and gutting.  Not for the squeamish so it is really something that should influence people who are thinking of hatching fluffy little chicks.   

As I said not for everyone.  Now where is my chicken recipe book?   

[Dawnuss]

Thanks for the advice. My OH would do the culling etc hes never really been atatched to the chooks anyway its just im torn cause i think i would probly run out with my protest boards lol or my son would become attached  but you make a good point rehoming them could come to a crispy roasty end  at least i suppose i would know where they have come from and they were culled in the most humane way. Still got a lot of thinking to do i think.

[ANHBUC]

I know who my friends would want on their survival team if the need every arose.   :happy:

[Debbieta]

Hi,  just thought I'd mention that we had 3 cockerals from 6 chicks last year. 2 Ancona, and one rir.
The Ancona were dispatched at 18/19 weeks and were very tasty, although I cooked these on days and one daughter was out as she can't handle the thought of eating any of our chickens. However, the rest of us thought they were lovely.  However, it was my eldest daughter who is my hero at  dispatching and preparing the birds.  She is brill, but I do let her decide when she wants to 'so the deed' so she is in the right frame of mind.  She first culled a couple of her quail several weeks before.  We still have the rir to go, but he's looking quite plumpscious, so it wont be long.  But my daughter agrees that if you have (and breed) birds, you should be prepared to dispatch if necessary (or have someone in the family who can).

[ANHBUC]

Well done that girl.     How old is she?

That is exactly how I started with a mental male quail who had been attacking the females and nearly killing them.  He was really easy to dispatch.    

[Spana]

We eat our cockerels and when i kept ducks we ate muscovy, appleyards and even call ducks.

I dont bother to pluck or gut. I just make a small slit along the breast bone and skin, it comes away with the feathers easily. I cut the breast meat off the bone and then take the legs off. Sometimes i take the livers out through the side.

The breast meat we like cut into goujons and just turned over quickly in a very hot frying pan. All our poultry are freerange so the cockerels are running about until one night they are lifted off their perch and done, so the legs need slow cooking in a casserole. If i think the cockerels are too old to eat the legs, the dog who has a BARF diet gets them.

I found 6 brace of pheasants hanging on the gate yesterday and they will be done the same

All the carcasses are then put out for the buzzards who pick them clean.

[ANHBUC]

We eat our cockerels and when i kept ducks we ate muscovy, appleyards and even call ducks.

I dont bother to pluck or gut. I just make a small slit along the breast bone and skin, it comes away with the feathers easily. I cut the breast meat off the bone and then take the legs off. Sometimes i take the livers out through the side.

The breast meat we like cut into goujons and just turned over quickly in a very hot frying pan. All our poultry are freerange so the cockerels are running about until one night they are lifted off their perch and done, so the legs need slow cooking in a casserole. If i think the cockerels are too old to eat the legs, the dog who has a BARF diet gets them.

I found 6 brace of pheasants hanging on the gate yesterday and they will be done the same

All the carcasses are then put out for the buzzards who pick them clean.

Do you hang the meat and if so do you leave the feathers on whilst hanging? 

[Sassy]

We have eaten the cockerel out of our hatches. However, whilst I don't mind preparing them I would struggle to do the deed. My farrier does it for me. However, we live in a village where there are a number of people I can call on in an emergency so it is a bit of a cop out for me. I am a coward. I also prepare mine like Spana it is so much quicker.

We would cull out the Light Sussex at beteeen 21 and 24 weeks - they eat beautifully

[Spana]

We eat our cockerels and when i kept ducks we ate muscovy, appleyards and even call ducks.

I dont bother to pluck or gut. I just make a small slit along the breast bone and skin, it comes away with the feathers easily. I cut the breast meat off the bone and then take the legs off. Sometimes i take the livers out through the side.
 the dog who has a BARF diet gets them.

Do you hang the meat and if so do you leave the feathers on whilst hanging? 

Yeh, usually hang just as they are for 2 days. If i do want a whole chicken to roast I  pen up the chosen one for 24hours with water and starve so that the crop and guts are  empty. I pluck after about half hour while the bird is still warm but dont draw until after hanging. I have hanging bags made from old net curtains.
Our dog would eat the carcasses from all the birds we do if they were all starved before culling but she doesn't like them after they have been hung with the guts in. Shes a spoilt dog

[nuzuki]

Hi all, great thread idea. We have killed 2 of our cockerals so far. The culling is easy the prepping is fiddly. We plucked the feathers off whilst the body was still warm and then waited 24-48hours before chopping the head and legs then doing the rest of the prep. If its left to hang for a day (upside down) then all the blood seems to dry up in the head. It basically makes it far less messy but it also has something to do with relaxing the muscles so the flesh is more tender. We have a third cockerel that started fighting with our head cockerel so we have seperated him from the rest and currently fattening him up with corn only. So it will be interesting to see if this corn fed chicken tastes any different to our previous ones. We have another 2, 6 week old cockerals which will also be fattened up for the table. Its just all part of the cycle. We did have a lady from the village pleading with us to take their cockerel but we had to say no. It makes me wonder people shouldnt hatch if they cant kill. What do people do with the cockerals they cant get rid of? I had to cull one for another friend who couldnt bring themselves to kill it. I wonder if theres a market for a culling service 

I love the feeling of fresh meat available 24/7 on my doorstep

[JaK]

We've eaten the cockerels that we couldn't find homes for too. The Sussex and the Cream Legbar ones fed the four of us and then made a good soup base too. A few others just made a stew or soup as they weren't quite as meaty but weren't at all wasted.