Getting Chicks

[mjc]

You can butcher the roosters when they are young and they'll be fine for just about any dish. After about 6 to 9 months...coq au vin or some other stew/long cooking time dish. After a year...shoe leather is easier to chew.

[ozarklady]

When I order alot of chicks, I often keep them caged, or in chicken tractors, until I can pick the hens out from the roosters, these birds are not free ranged, they are tender...
But, I try to save about 5-6 hens or more per rooster. So, if they arrive as a 50/50 mix, then, I will have alot too many roosters. I will butcher the excess and put them in the freezer, then turn the rest loose for free range.
These roosters are part game birds, tall, lean, and very muscular, add that to a year or more loose, and fighting, and cement might chew better. They would be very flavorful, but difficult to get tender at all... even in chicken in dumplings, they would be tough.

It is possible to eat them, just normally, not worth the mess to butcher one or two at a time, when I butcher, I hate that job, so I make a day of it, and get it over with.

[johno]

My in-laws bought a straight run (unsexed day-olds) and ended up with 75 roosters out of 100. Ha ha ha ha! That was the last time they did that. The woods were filled with roosters. [It was interesting, though, that the final three seemed bullet-proof against predators. If I had been breeding chickens at the time, I would have used those roosters. Talk about selection pressure!] So I'm going to select individual pullets and hope they turn out at least 75% female.

The year they had 100 chickens, sometimes some of them roosted on tree branches if they wouldn't go in the pen at night. Once in a while an owl would land next to them and scootch them toward the end of the branch until one fell off, then it would swoop down and catch it. [Is 'scootch' a word outside the Ozarks?]

Old roosters cook up okay in a pressure cooker.

[mjc]

I've never had an old rooster cook up into something edible...but I've made some great stock from them.

[mnjrutherford]

I wonder if it would be good for my Chinese chicken salad. The bird is first boiled for broth, the meat de-boned and shredded, the resulting chunks are then lightly breaded and deep fried. I'll have to give it a shot when I have an old rooster. That or I could pass my recipe on to you. Let me know if you want it. It's also online. Google "Chef Chu's Chicken Salad". The amounts make salad for about 24 people, but you can cut it down pretty easily.

[ozarklady]

I have to confess, I am simply not very fond of chicken meat. I raise them for eggs, and for bug patrol.

I mean I don't eat out at chicken places, the food is often too strong in taste.
Young roosters don't have that "strong" chicken flavor.
I absolutely refuse to eat chicken leftovers, because it gets stronger and stronger.

For someone who likes or loves chicken meat... the old roosters, or hens would be just what they would want. In fact, I have seen recipes that call for chickens at least 3 years old.
The younger chickens are sometimes sold in stores as... cornish game hens... these are just baby chickens. I wouldn't butcher them that small though.
Most of the chicken sold in stores are from chicken growing operations, and they are butchered as soon as, they reach a decent size...
So, I don't know if any of you have tasted an older chicken, with the rich flavor.
You could flavor enough soup for a year, from just one old chicken!

Chickens are wonderful pets, and the eggs are wonderful when free ranged.

But for dinner? Give me beef! ha ha

[mnjrutherford]

There is a tad more to Cornish Game Hens than JUST being small chickens. That's true, but it's also a specif breed cultivated for that express purpose. Pretty interesting story actually. My husband loves them, I can't really tell the difference... Here the WikiPedia entry on the matter:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_game_hen

We might just try butchering the extra roosters young...

[mnjrutherford]

So, last minute questions:

1. HOW long are the chicks in the brooder? Like, how many weeks.
2. Recommended feed for chicks?
3. Recommended supplements to chick feed?

[bluelacedredhead]

Jo, they are in the brooder until they begin to fly over the top.
Feed. Check with your feedstore to see what they have. Chick feeds are usually crumbles, meaning the consistency of cookie crumbles. As they get older, you can feed pelleted feeds or grains.
Medicated feeds are for poultry operations that have crowded conditions or have had poultry for many years with outbreaks of Coccidiosis. You needn't concern yourself with this.

[mnjrutherford]

Feb 23, 2010 8:55:53 GMT -5 bluelacedredhead said:

Jo, they are in the brooder until they begin to fly over the top.

And this will take what? A few days? A couple weeks? A month?

Gotcha on the medicated and thanks for that heads up!

OH! nearly forgot... can I put guinea keets with chicken chicks safely?

[bluelacedredhead]

I suppose it depends on how high the sides of the brooder are? Usually by week 3 I would have escapees over the wall of the soft-sided swimming pool, which was about 18" tall I believe.

[cornishwoman]

i46.tinypic.com/xaw8dy.jpg as a treat my chicks love warm oats when its cold.

[bunkie]

wonderful pics cw! we used to feed ours oatmeal on occassion, too!

[mnjrutherford]

Well, the deed is done and I now have 26 baby chicks in my bathtub! 2 are Amerucaunas, the rest are Barred rocks, and... I can't remember the other 2 breeds. But they are large, dual purpose birdies and they lay large brown eggs. In the end, that was good enough for me! ;o) Also, Robbsters, our older son, made his very first business purchase. He is the TRUE and RIGHTFUL owner of 1 of the Ameracaunas.

[bluelacedredhead]

Congratulations Rutherfords on the latest family members! And onwards and upwards Robb, in the art of poultry husbandry.