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At what age to slaughter?

 
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Welshy



Joined: 25 Jun 2011
Posts: 38
Location: North Wales
PostPosted: Wed Oct 26, 11 1:02 pm    Post subject: At what age to slaughter? Reply with quote
    

Today we slaughtered a couple of our Light Sussex which were approx. 6 months old, once plucked we realised how much fat they had on them

My query is now at what age its best to slaughter dual breeds?

judith



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire
PostPosted: Wed Oct 26, 11 1:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Were you feeding them a lot of corn? That does put fat on quickly. Otherwise I would say that 5 - 6 months is about the right time. Much earlier and there is no meat on them.

Welshy



Joined: 25 Jun 2011
Posts: 38
Location: North Wales
PostPosted: Wed Oct 26, 11 1:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

judith wrote:
Were you feeding them a lot of corn? That does put fat on quickly. Otherwise I would say that 5 - 6 months is about the right time. Much earlier and there is no meat on them.


Well, they had a few handful of corn every night but as they were by far bigger than any of my other birds they bullied themselves to the corn I guess


judith



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire
PostPosted: Wed Oct 26, 11 1:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

They should taste good though.

Welshy



Joined: 25 Jun 2011
Posts: 38
Location: North Wales
PostPosted: Wed Oct 26, 11 1:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

judith wrote:
They should taste good though.


hope so too!

Would you slaughter any bird, providing there is enough meat on them, at 5-6 months or only the dual birds as we still got some Plymouth Rocks, Black Rocks, which are not far of being ripe for slaughter

judith



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire
PostPosted: Wed Oct 26, 11 1:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I would aim to do that if possible. Much older and they start being a bit chewier, and you are putting a lot of feed into them for not a right lot of return. That said, life does sometimes get in the way of doing things at the right time!

Welshy



Joined: 25 Jun 2011
Posts: 38
Location: North Wales
PostPosted: Wed Oct 26, 11 1:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

judith wrote:
I would aim to do that if possible. Much older and they start being a bit chewier, and you are putting a lot of feed into them for not a right lot of return. That said, life does sometimes get in the way of doing things at the right time!


Thank you very much for the useful advice, seems like slaughtering week

mochyn



Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales
PostPosted: Wed Oct 26, 11 2:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

We killed a cock who had gone nasty at about 10 months. Best bird I've ever eaten, and that was roasted!

Welshy



Joined: 25 Jun 2011
Posts: 38
Location: North Wales
PostPosted: Wed Oct 26, 11 4:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

mochyn wrote:
We killed a cock who had gone nasty at about 10 months. Best bird I've ever eaten, and that was roasted!


Wow! what breed was the cock?

mochyn



Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales
PostPosted: Wed Oct 26, 11 4:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

He was a totally mixed bird! There was Araucana in there somwhere, but otherwise no idea!

Tavascarow



Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall
PostPosted: Wed Oct 26, 11 4:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I'm tending to go the other way now & treat the males I rear as petit poulet & spatchcock them at 14 to 16 weeks.
They are a lot tenderer & just as tasty as long as they have had plenty of greens.
With corn at £7.00 for 25kgs I can't afford to feed them any longer than necessary.
I'm feeding a bag a week to two dozen 16 week old pullets if their brothers where still alive that would be two bags.
If I took them to 26 weeks that would be nearly three bags a week & very expensive chicken dinners/pullets.

Bodger



Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 11 7:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Traditional large breeds, as in birds with larger frames take longer to come to hand, where as a smaller breed may very well produce a usable carcasse at a much earlier age. The large birds such as LS seem to spend a lot of time putting the work in on their skeleton, rather than putting meat on their bones.
The answer can only come with experience. Breeds of chickens vary, and strains within thse breeds also do. Add that to differing ways of feeding and keeping chickens and you'll be able to see that there's no hard and fast rules as to when birds are ready for the pot.
Given experience, you'll be able to tell when they are going to be ready by picking it up and having a good feel, or if you're still not sure, you can kill one and then see if its ready for the oven, or the soup pot.

Lorrainelovesplants



Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne
PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 11 9:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Im rapidly going off LS for eating and using more orpington - again a large frame, and seem to put it all on the chest....really nice to eat...well worth doing at 6 months.
I hasten to add I only eat cockerels, not hens.

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