Golden comets as meat birds?

[Floof]

I'm planning to get a small breeding group of chickens so that I can try to become a little more sustainable. I'm planning to get some delawares and a rhode island red roo with the intention of eating and hatching eggs. From what I understand, the chicks produced would be sexable by color, with the girls being red and the boys being white. I want to keep the girls for eggs but can I grow out the boys and eat em? Do they take too long to gain enough weight to make it worth the endeavor? Ideally I would be able to butcher the males before they start crowing. Have any of you given this mix a try?
Thanks and I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this question!

 

[Beer can]

Yes, will be very good. Just not your typical store bought meaty cornishX.
I try to process all my birds cockerels and pullets I don't plan on keeping for breeding or eggs about that time, I don't count weeks just figure about the time I know, about the time the cockerels start crowing. Will be nice tender birds even on the grill, just only about 2-3lbs dressed. Any older than that and your just spending $$ on feed for a little more weight.
Most important thing I'd like to add, I didn't think it was that important in the beginning but it makes a super difference is a resting period after processing. Let them sit in the fridge for a few days after processing. Gets the rigor mortis out of them (if you don't it makes them tough), makes them more tender. Even if your going to freeze them let them rest in the fridge for a few days first.
Brining them helps also, I don't but I do soak them in a marinade before grilling, kinda almost the same thing. Italian dressing works, I make my own garlic and herb Italian dressing for soaking them. Another important thing I realized after yrs of wondering why my chickens didn't taste as good as local BBQ chicken was I saw the secret recipe, they add egg, no crap, egg makes it stick to them better. So I whip up some marinade and add a egg and whip it in,

 

[Beer can]

Where I saw the secret recipe;
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjALegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw163UezkC1SlLmANhl_moKz

 

[Floof]

Yes, will be very good. Just not your typical store bought meaty cornishX.
I try to process all my birds cockerels and pullets I don't plan on keeping for breeding or eggs about that time, I don't count weeks just figure about the time I know, about the time the cockerels start crowing. Will be nice tender birds even on the grill, just only about 2-3lbs dressed. Any older than that and your just spending $$ on feed for a little more weight.
Most important thing I'd like to add, I didn't think it was that important in the beginning but it makes a super difference is a resting period after processing. Let them sit in the fridge for a few days after processing. Gets the rigor mortis out of them (if you don't it makes them tough), makes them more tender. Even if your going to freeze them let them rest in the fridge for a few days first.
Brining them helps also, I don't but I do soak them in a marinade before grilling, kinda almost the same thing. Italian dressing works, I make my own garlic and herb Italian dressing for soaking them. Another important thing I realized after yrs of wondering why my chickens didn't taste as good as local BBQ chicken was I saw the secret recipe, they add egg, no crap, egg makes it stick to them better. So I whip up some marinade and add a egg and whip it in,

Thank you! I've never had much luck with that sort of thing and my family is so tired of roasted chicken.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm planning to get some delawares and a rhode island red roo with the intention of eating and hatching eggs. From what I understand, the chicks produced would be sexable by color, with the girls being red and the boys being white.

Correct, they will be red sex links as long as the male is the red one. With that cross they will be very easy to separate from hatch on.

I want to keep the girls for eggs but can I grow out the boys and eat em? Do they take too long to gain enough weight to make it worth the endeavor? Ideally I would be able to butcher the males before they start crowing.

You could write a book to respond to this question. We all have different goals and tastes. You can cook any chicken of any age and any sex, but the older they are the more flavor and texture they have, especially cockerels after they hit puberty and the hormones kick in. If you let them get older you have to adjust how you cook them. If you are used to the chicken from the store you are used to 6 to 8 week old Cornish X with a lot of breast meat compared to other chickens. Those are very tender and kind of bland to me but if that is what you are expecting you might be disappointed with the texture and flavor of our home grown dual purpose chickens.

There is no set age when cockerels begin to crow. Some people have posted they have had cockerels just a few weeks old start, I've seen some wait more than 5 months to crow. People that are not allowed to have roosters often use 12 weeks to butcher them, that's usually early enough and they should still be tender enough you can grill or fry them. But there is very little meat on those bones. Very little. It would not be worth it to me but some people are OK with it.

After 12 weeks is when they should sort of hit a growth spurt and start putting some meat on those bones, plus the bones are still growing. With mine that growth spurt is pretty much over at 23 weeks or so which is when I butcher but I'm not worried about crowing. Many people are happy around 16 weeks, but others choose other ages. There is no one age that is perfect for all of us, too many variables.

Another factor is that mine forage for a lot of their food. If I were buying practically everything they ate my method would be less efficient. If you feed them a high protein food they will grow faster.

I think you will be disappointed in the amount of meat you get even if you wait a while to butcher. Our dual purpose are just no comparison to the Cornish X. To a lot of us it's not so much how much meat we get but that we are raising it ourselves.

Have any of you given this mix a try?

I have not done that specific cross but I have done several similar. I'm comfortable my experiences will be close enough to make my comments valid.

 

[Floof]

I'm planning to get some delawares and a rhode island red roo with the intention of eating and hatching eggs. From what I understand, the chicks produced would be sexable by color, with the girls being red and the boys being white.

Correct, they will be red sex links as long as the male is the red one. With that cross they will be very easy to separate from hatch on.

I want to keep the girls for eggs but can I grow out the boys and eat em? Do they take too long to gain enough weight to make it worth the endeavor? Ideally I would be able to butcher the males before they start crowing.

You could write a book to respond to this question. We all have different goals and tastes. You can cook any chicken of any age and any sex, but the older they are the more flavor and texture they have, especially cockerels after they hit puberty and the hormones kick in. If you let them get older you have to adjust how you cook them. If you are used to the chicken from the store you are used to 6 to 8 week old Cornish X with a lot of breast meat compared to other chickens. Those are very tender and kind of bland to me but if that is what you are expecting you might be disappointed with the texture and flavor of our home grown dual purpose chickens.

There is no set age when cockerels begin to crow. Some people have posted they have had cockerels just a few weeks old start, I've seen some wait more than 5 months to crow. People that are not allowed to have roosters often use 12 weeks to butcher them, that's usually early enough and they should still be tender enough you can grill or fry them. But there is very little meat on those bones. Very little. It would not be worth it to me but some people are OK with it.

After 12 weeks is when they should sort of hit a growth spurt and start putting some meat on those bones, plus the bones are still growing. With mine that growth spurt is pretty much over at 23 weeks or so which is when I butcher but I'm not worried about crowing. Many people are happy around 16 weeks, but others choose other ages. There is no one age that is perfect for all of us, too many variables.

Another factor is that mine forage for a lot of their food. If I were buying practically everything they ate my method would be less efficient. If you feed them a high protein food they will grow faster.

I think you will be disappointed in the amount of meat you get even if you wait a while to butcher. Our dual purpose are just no comparison to the Cornish X. To a lot of us it's not so much how much meat we get but that we are raising it ourselves.

Have any of you given this mix a try?

I have not done that specific cross but I have done several similar. I'm comfortable my experiences will be close enough to make my comments valid.

Wow thank you, that's really informative. I think ideally, I would butcher at 16 weeks. About how much did yours weigh then? I have about 1/4 of an acre for them but I know that they can decimate a yard pretty quickly so I expect I'll have to feed them.

 

[Curnow]

I'm planning to get some delawares and a rhode island red roo with the intention of eating and hatching eggs. From what I understand, the chicks produced would be sexable by color, with the girls being red and the boys being white.

Correct, they will be red sex links as long as the male is the red one. With that cross they will be very easy to separate from hatch on.

I want to keep the girls for eggs but can I grow out the boys and eat em? Do they take too long to gain enough weight to make it worth the endeavor? Ideally I would be able to butcher the males before they start crowing.

You could write a book to respond to this question. We all have different goals and tastes. You can cook any chicken of any age and any sex, but the older they are the more flavor and texture they have, especially cockerels after they hit puberty and the hormones kick in. If you let them get older you have to adjust how you cook them. If you are used to the chicken from the store you are used to 6 to 8 week old Cornish X with a lot of breast meat compared to other chickens. Those are very tender and kind of bland to me but if that is what you are expecting you might be disappointed with the texture and flavor of our home grown dual purpose chickens.

There is no set age when cockerels begin to crow. Some people have posted they have had cockerels just a few weeks old start, I've seen some wait more than 5 months to crow. People that are not allowed to have roosters often use 12 weeks to butcher them, that's usually early enough and they should still be tender enough you can grill or fry them. But there is very little meat on those bones. Very little. It would not be worth it to me but some people are OK with it.

After 12 weeks is when they should sort of hit a growth spurt and start putting some meat on those bones, plus the bones are still growing. With mine that growth spurt is pretty much over at 23 weeks or so which is when I butcher but I'm not worried about crowing. Many people are happy around 16 weeks, but others choose other ages. There is no one age that is perfect for all of us, too many variables.

Another factor is that mine forage for a lot of their food. If I were buying practically everything they ate my method would be less efficient. If you feed them a high protein food they will grow faster.

I think you will be disappointed in the amount of meat you get even if you wait a while to butcher. Our dual purpose are just no comparison to the Cornish X. To a lot of us it's not so much how much meat we get but that we are raising it ourselves.

Have any of you given this mix a try?

I have not done that specific cross but I have done several similar. I'm comfortable my experiences will be close enough to make my comments valid.

Agree with Ridgerunner for sure!
We are fairly new to butchering our own. But I can tell you that home grown Cornish Cross is still better that store purchased. But absolutely give that rest period. We learned that the hard way. But we will also never do them again.
We free range, so our feed costs are cut some compared to confined birds.
I butchered an English Orpington rooster that was too rough with the ladies at just over a year old. That is a slow growing breed, but he was the sized of a small turkey. Good sized carcass with large breast and huge legs. Loads of rich dark meat! I skin instead of pluck. That roo rested 3 days in fridge, was stuffed, and roasted low and slow. The flavor was over the top!! No store or Cornish X could compare! I didn't notice that it was any tougher than I expected.

If time/feed is not an issue, I would suggest maybe a large dual purpose heritage breed to make your sex links. We have Barred Rock, Cuckoo Marans, Light Brahma, Cuckoo English Orpington hens that we plan to breed for just this purpose. Mix of Roosters from English Orpington to Rhode Island Red crosses. Those are also my best broody hens...let them do the work of hatching if you can!

I got lots of info reading on the meat bird forum. People were kind enough to show picture of different breeds too.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Wow thank you, that's really informative. I think ideally, I would butcher at 16 weeks. About how much did yours weigh then? I have about 1/4 of an acre for them but I know that they can decimate a yard pretty quickly so I expect I'll have to feed them.

I don't have a clue, weight is not important to me. For some people it is. I butcher excess pullets as well as the cockerels. Since there are only two of us I can get two meals out of a fairly small pullet, though the second meal is soup. A larger cockerel just means I have more leftovers for my lunch. I consider that a good thing.

A couple of things I have noticed with cockerels. Don't try guessing by appearance. Some have a lot more feathers than others. Weight would be a good help too, but do not rely on appearances. The best way to get an idea of relative size is to feel the meat, not just look at feathers. The other is do not be surprised to see as much as a 50% difference in weight or size of cockerels from the same flock at the same age, especially with hatchery birds. Cockerels of the same breed mature at different rates and grow to different sizes.

If someone has been breeding for size for a few generations that difference is probably not going to be that great between the smallest and largest. When I breed my goal is not to get the largest one cockerel I can, my goal is to get the runt to be a pretty good bird. I eat the ones I don't want to eat and breed the ones I'd rather eat.

 

[Mosey2003]

Of the people I know that breed sexlinks, they DO eat the males, yes. Mostly black sexlinks though.

If I were going to enter such a venture, I would get the best parent stock you can from breeders breeding to the standard, as the birds tend to be much larger than hatchery birds.

They'll never grow as fast and large as a real meat breed, but they'll be edible at 14-16 weeks. Also would be a good venture to try caponizing, if you'd be interested in doing that.

 

[cmom]

I'm planning to get a small breeding group of chickens so that I can try to become a little more sustainable. I'm planning to get some delawares and a rhode island red roo with the intention of eating and hatching eggs. From what I understand, the chicks produced would be sexable by color, with the girls being red and the boys being white. I want to keep the girls for eggs but can I grow out the boys and eat em? Do they take too long to gain enough weight to make it worth the endeavor? Ideally I would be able to butcher the males before they start crowing. Have any of you given this mix a try?
Thanks and I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this question!

With a Delaware female and a Rhode Island Red male, the female chicks will look like the Rhode Island Red and the males will look like the Delaware. If you reversed it and put a Delaware male with a Rhode Island Red female, the chicks would all look like Delawares.