cockerel for the chop advise needed

cherrypie · « **on:** October 19, 2007, 08:14 »

can anyone give me advise on when to dispatch a cockerel. i've got two cockerals about 22 weeks old they have just started to crow and i promised my neighbours that they would be gone by Christmas if they were noisy so now i am thinking about when will be the best age /time to send them on their way. i intend to celebrate their magnificance with all the trimmings roast potatoes stuffing and proper gravey!
should i feed them on anything particluar to "fatten them up" they are still eating growers pellets because i have two hens not yet laying. is there an age when chucks are at their tenderest. they also get a handfull of corn in the afternoon i haven't had to do the deed before but thanks to muntjies posts i'm ready to have a go.

this is my buff sussex. he's a mighty fine looking bird he very obligingly stood on the kitchen scales and he weighs 3.7kg we'd just clipped his wing to stop him flying over the 6 foot fence!
thanks in advance
cherrypie

Bodger · « **Reply #1 on:** October 19, 2007, 10:01 »

Pick your cockerel up and feel its chest. You will be able to tell if its got a good covering of flesh on its breast or not. If all you can feel is a very prominant breast bone, then you aren't going to get very much out of it.

The one thing that you will get however, is meat that is very much better than the stuff you get in a shop.

A word of warning. Some breeds of chickens will not plump up no matter how much food you shovel down them.
Best of Luck

muntjac · « **Reply #2 on:** October 19, 2007, 10:13 »

best advice there bodger old chap .if its got no real meat on it .. do them both and steam them and then take the meat off and make a pie or casserole

WG. · « **Reply #3 on:** October 19, 2007, 10:18 »

Is he really 3.7kg !

muntjac · « **Reply #4 on:** October 19, 2007, 10:29 »

only a 7.1/2 lb bird ? take the wings n all the other rubbish off for the oven he is 6lbs ?.. thats some bird? :shock:

muntjac · « **Reply #5 on:** October 19, 2007, 10:30 »

i sure as hell wouldnt worry about " fattening him up " lmaooooooooooo

WG. · « **Reply #6 on:** October 19, 2007, 10:34 »

or clipping his wings to stop him flying

cherrypie · « **Reply #7 on:** October 20, 2007, 08:59 »

thanks guys, yes he really does weigh 3.7kg, i was wondering how much i'd loose once he was oven ready. he certainly does feel nice and plump, husband offered to feel up the girls breasts but i told him not to be such a pervert!!!!!sorry DH only kidding.
so you reckon now is as good a time as any to plan my sunday lunch. do birds become tougher the older they get? when would you consider a bird too old to eat or wouldn't you.
muntjac when are you going to post the next in your really useful series, i need to know about plucking and gutting etc, do chickens benefit from being "hung" for a few days/weeks like you would with red meat - logic says not but you guys might know better.
thanks agin
cherrypie
ps and yes i found him sitting on a 6 foot fence looking like the king of the world so when i got him down he had his wing clipped he might have only flown up 4 foot though by using his coop as a staging post.

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cockerel for the chop advise needed

Bodger

WG.

WG.