Best Weight to Process Dual-Purpose Cockerels

[U_Stormcrow]

Here is another weekly weigh-in of my cockerels. The marans are steadily growing, but the Wyandotte and Sussex are losing weight. I am thinking that the marans are calling dibs at the food. The wyandotte losing 9.5oz in a week is pretty bad, definitely since they are for meat.

I put the process weight of the big maran on the chart, 2.18lbs to 2.31lbs. Does that sound like a good weight for processing? I am thinking that processing one of the marans will partially take away the food competition with the two losing weight. The maran also impaled the fleshy part of his cheek with his claw and tore down, so he might have to be butchered early because of that anyway.



Big Maran:
06/05/24: 3lb 12.7oz (+7.5oz)
06/14/24: 4lb 3.3oz (+7.4oz)
06/21/24: 4lb 7.4oz (+4.1oz)
(Process Weight: 2.18lbs to 2.31lbs)

Small Maran:
06/05/24: 3lb 4oz (+9.7oz)
06/14/24: 3lb 5.5oz (+1.1oz)
06/21/24: 3lb 9.2oz (+3.7oz)

Wyandotte:
06/05/24: 2lb 9.0oz (+4.5oz)
06/14/24: 2lb 11.9oz (+2.9oz)
06/21/24: 2lb 2.4oz (-9.5oz)

Sussex:
06/05/24: 2lb 15.7oz (+6.3oz)
06/14/24: 3lb 3.6oz (+3.1oz)
06/21/24: 2lb 14.2oz (-5.4oz)

A 2# bird is a good meal. and that's 2# of meat, your carcass weight with bones and skin should be more like 3 1/4# - so should have leftovers.

and look at the Wyan's droppings see if there is evidence of stress from infection, infestation, etc. Obviously, you don't want to see worm segments (rings), bright green (liver issues, often) or the like. A bird should NOT be losing that much weight even in food competition w/o other signs of problems, like feather picking, extreme lethargy, etc.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Thought this might be abit helpful.
If you got the time to do so, you could always breed for tenderness(Learned about this recently).
I butchered a hen a 1yr old hen, & ate her a month later she was very tender surprisingly.
She did hang by her feet in the garage for 24hrs before butchering. So it was probably that, plus genetics that played part in this.
She hung in temps between 39°F - 45°F in the spring time.


This will apply to cockerels as well.

 

[GlicksChicks]

A 2# bird is a good meal. and that's 2# of meat, your carcass weight with bones and skin should be more like 3 1/4# - so should have leftovers.

and look at the Wyan's droppings see if there is evidence of stress from infection, infestation, etc. Obviously, you don't want to see worm segments (rings), bright green (liver issues, often) or the like. A bird should NOT be losing that much weight even in food competition w/o other signs of problems, like feather picking, extreme lethargy, etc.

I will take a look at him again, but from my inspection today he looked very healthy. No feather loss, weird poop, injuries. His comb is bright and red, the biggest out of the 4. I give them a look over every time I weigh them.

I will most likely end up butchering the big maran this weekend. I will put up the live weight and the yield after.

 

[GlicksChicks]

Thought this might be abit helpful.
If you got the time to do so, you could always breed for tenderness(Learned about this recently).
I butchered a hen a 1yr old hen, & ate her a month later she was very tender surprisingly.
She did hang by her feet in the garage for 24hrs before butchering. So it was probably that, plus genetics that played part in this.
She hung in temps between 39°F - 45°F in the spring time.


This will apply to cockerels as well.

You hung her alive for 24 hours? Or you hung her after you culled her and before you processed her?

 

[MysteryChicken]

You hung her alive for 24 hours? Or you hung her after you culled her and before you processed her?

She was slaughtered before hanging, of course. Before processing yes.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I will take a look at him again, but from my inspection today he looked very healthy. No feather loss, weird poop, injuries. His comb is bright and red, the biggest out of the 4. I give them a look over every time I weigh them.

I will most likely end up butchering the big maran this weekend. I will put up the live weight and the yield after.

if you take pics of the insides when you butcher, I'd be interested

 

[GlicksChicks]

if you take pics of the insides when you butcher, I'd be interested

I will take pictures! Would you like pictures of the Maran or the Wyandotte, or all of them when I get to butchering them?

 

[GlicksChicks]

She was slaughtered before hanging, of course. Before processing yes.

Very good, i was a little scared because to me, butchering is killing them

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I will take pictures! Would you like pictures of the Maran or the Wyandotte, or all of them when I get to butchering them?

Yes please. If you take and post pics of all, you will have reference for the future. Benefits everyone

 

[GlicksChicks]

Yes please. If you take and post pics of all, you will have reference for the future. Benefits everyone

Of course! I plan on butchering the maran tomorrow, so I will put pictures up!