your tips for raising and butchering leghorns

[PunkinPeep]

My friend is giving me her packing peanuts, which ideal says is probably leghorns (little pure yellow boy chicks).

At my house, roosters that aren't one of the breeds we want to breed are for the freezer. But i've never considered butchering leghorns before. Do y'all have any tips for making them good (enough) meat chickens? Will it be worth my time and feed to raise them for meat? Should i try to sell them?

 

[Clay In Iowa]

HorseFeatherz NV just posed this article ,

www.albc-usa.org/documents/cookingwheritagechicken.pdf

It directly addresses your question and actually uses Leghorn as an example.

 

[PunkinPeep]

wow! thanks!

 

[scooter147]

If you are looking for feed to meat conversion a leghorn is probably the worst. So economically it makes not "cents".

I have raised leghorn roosters to about 6 months and made soups, dumplings and chicken salad out of them.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

When I read what this was about, I looked at your location......a state away. Darn. I am planning on caponizing my RIR roos that started hatching out 2 nights ago. Plan on doing it in 3 weeks. I would think a leghorn capon could probably get to be the size of a RIR rooster.
But still......I don't spend a lot on feed, because I pasture them by day and give them grain from the grain elevators.
They will be lanky, but if you slaughter them as soon as they are large enough to consider that most of their growth has occured, it should be worth it.

 

[PunkinPeep]

I read the article posted above.

I'm considering butchering a couple at twelve weeks and see about that.

Anybody done that?

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I suppose I could say that I have. I have eaten chickens at all those ages from my yard. I can't argue that age will improve the taste. Also your leghorns will be more meat and less fat than those monster chickens that grow real fast.
I am the frugal one in the bunch and all I can say is try to make it worth the investment. Feed chick starter in the beginning but then when they are old enough, try to feed them free of charge or almost free of charge, if you have access to open spaces. I can't lie......I would try and make it work.

 

[silkiechicken]

They are thin, but the extra leghorns we had were culled out at about 14 weeks and were good for what meat they did have.

 

[BirchHatchery]

i raise leghorn roosters by the 100s for meat i feed full access of broiler feed i butcher them at 20 weeks of age use them for Friers!!! cut em up for dumplims tacoes salads things like that. they are the cheapiest breed to raise rather for meat or for eggs i also free range when the weather good they make the best freiers i have ever eaten no fat good flavor. people eat quail people eat pheasent a leghorn roo has about much meat as a pheasent does farms around here raise pheasants buy the 1000s ive seen em cut up next to my leghorns their bigger so i dont see the issue when people say little meat on them so Economiccaly yes they make sense Economically yes i do make profit on them its the only chicken the bars in town use !!! any chicken can be eatin from a banty to pigions so yes their worth your time i get mine for 10 cents each (day olds total cost come 20 weeks of age around 4 dollars purdy cheap for 2 lbs of home grown meat. in the past thats the only chicken people used for Friers my grandfather supplied the bars in our small town with frog legs and leghorn cockerals and i am doin the same today. They may not have the meat of the cornish rock but the taste will be far supirior of one and alot less FAT!

 

[Slinkytoys]

I like the packing peanuts......we let them grow up then process them for our dogs. The meat/bone ratio is perfect for the raw diet.
Slinky