Cooked chicken real tough

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Hummingbirdhollow any advice on the cooking of my roos? I would like to smoke them...but sounds like that will not be much of an option ????

Fall of 2011 one of our 4 or 5 month old Black Jersey Giant pullets was attacked by a bobcat. I chased the bobcat off, but the pullet died moments later. I decided to butcher her (partly because I was considering getting meat birds the following spring and wanted to know whether I could do it). We ended up brining her in the salt water in the refridgerator for two or three days and then my husband cooked her in our smoker. If memory serves, she was just as tasty as the corish game hens we buy when they go on sale and cook in the smoker.

 

[gg706]

Thank You for the info. Sounds like they need to be butchered fairly early. I would hate to go thru all the butchering, just to be have a stringy unedible carcass in the end. Is the time to butcher when they first start crowing?

 

[Aaron B]

Quote:
Thanks for the tip on the brine solution. I will try that as I have another rooster to do.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Thank You for the info. Sounds like they need to be butchered fairly early. I would hate to go thru all the butchering, just to be have a stringy unedible carcass in the end. Is the time to butcher when they first start crowing?

Remember the song "She'll be comin' round the mountain"? In celebration of who ever "she" is coming, thy kill the old red rooster. prepared properly, older chicken can be very tasty (such as Coc au Vin) You just won't be able to cook them the same way you do store purchased chickes that probably aren't more than 8 weeks old at the time of their death.

I butchered my most of my Freedom Rangers between 10 and 12 weeks of age. They were straight run and while it was obvious which were pullets and which were cockrels before they were butchered,I haven't been able to tell any real difference between them roasted...all equally delicious. The single rooster and single hen I kept and butchered when they were older were delicious too, but I didn't roast them.

 

[gg706]

Thank You so much for all the great info. This will be my first time butchering if I can muster up the courage. The chicks I have now are not meat birds so I am sure they will have a much smaller carcass than the store bought birds. They are 2 Golden Laced Wyandottes and possibly 1 Australorp...the Australorp is supposed to be a sexed pullet but "it" is looking awfully rooish so I am not sure yet. After I complete the butchering on these 3 birds and see how I can handle it, I may order some meat birds.

 

[jyurina]

Thank You so much for all the great info. This will be my first time butchering if I can muster up the courage. The chicks I have now are not meat birds so I am sure they will have a much smaller carcass than the store bought birds. They are 2 Golden Laced Wyandottes and possibly 1 Australorp...the Australorp is supposed to be a sexed pullet but "it" is looking awfully rooish so I am not sure yet. After I complete the butchering on these 3 birds and see how I can handle it, I may order some meat birds.

It seems a lot worse than it is. For me once the head was off it was not an issue. Sounds gross but I kept reminding myself that my chickens were raised with love and care so they were much better off than a store chicken.Good luck

 

[ellandeeranch]

Thank You so much for all the great info. This will be my first time butchering if I can muster up the courage. The chicks I have now are not meat birds so I am sure they will have a much smaller carcass than the store bought birds. They are 2 Golden Laced Wyandottes and possibly 1 Australorp...the Australorp is supposed to be a sexed pullet but "it" is looking awfully rooish so I am not sure yet. After I complete the butchering on these 3 birds and see how I can handle it, I may order some meat birds.

Personally, I think a chicken is easier to clean than a big catfish, jumpy trout, or scaly bass!

Richard

 

[Phoenixxx]

I love this site! Everytime I have a question, I punch it up in the search bar and - voila! My answers appear

I just wished I searched for THIS thread BEFORE I made dinner tonight

Last summer, we butchered two hens that I busted eating eggs; they turned out super-tough - like, break-your-teeth tough - but I thought it was because I accidentally (way) overcooked them. Today I took out my first chicken (my husband did the last two) and made sure to turn and baste every fifteen minutes or so and watch not to overcook but I got the same result! I have no idea how old my chickens are - I got them all "second-hand". They're at least 2 years old for sure. I'll definitely give the fridge thing a try and check out the link that was posted in one of the posts. Thanks, everyone!

 

[redsoxs]

I love this site! Everytime I have a question, I punch it up in the search bar and - voila! My answers appear

I just wished I searched for THIS thread BEFORE I made dinner tonight

Last summer, we butchered two hens that I busted eating eggs; they turned out super-tough - like, break-your-teeth tough - but I thought it was because I accidentally (way) overcooked them. Today I took out my first chicken (my husband did the last two) and made sure to turn and baste every fifteen minutes or so and watch not to overcook but I got the same result! I have no idea how old my chickens are - I got them all "second-hand". They're at least 2 years old for sure. I'll definitely give the fridge thing a try and check out the link that was posted in one of the posts. Thanks, everyone!

Resting in the fridge is a good idea for all chickens...but if the ones you are cooking are 2 years old they will still be tough if you roast or fry them. Might want to consider some slow cooking instead and the best chicken and dumplings ever!!

 

[sandspoultry]

With home raised birds cooking should be done either hot and fast or slow and low. Even with older birds you can grill the breast hot and fast just don't over cook. I smoke the leg quarters often on a smoker grill, I put them in a pan with a rack and add water under the legs, cook them uncovered until I get the smoke I want on them and then cover with foil to finish cooking. After a few hours the meat falls off the bone. A good fast way is use a pressure cooker, 15 minutes at 15 pounds and it's done. You can use that meat in casseroles or for taco's etc and you get a couple quarts of great broth also.