The Poultry Keeper

tammy68 · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 6:27 pm Post subject: Growing male chicks for pot?

My plan was to give away any male chicks to a lady who grows hers on for her own freezer, but I am now thinking how much healthier for my own family it would be to eat my own birds. However I know I wouldn't be able to kill them myself and neither would my husband, also, it would be far easier (to my mind) to eat something I haven't been watching grow up so I wondered if there was any fair swap scheme going whereby other people grew their male chicks and we could swap them over once they are ready for the pot?

I have gone off the idea of eating supermarket birds as I don't know what they've been reared on food wise Confused

Any ideas?

JC · Joined: 24 Mar 2008 Posts: 1088 Location: Sussex

Kill them yourself, you shouldn't feel bad doing it... if anything its more of a reason to, you know they have had a gd life.. you are responsible for them, and they would taste alot better that any supermarkets Smile

If i ever had a cockrel i would definetley rear the boys for meat Smile

Kitsune · Joined: 13 Mar 2008 Posts: 1402 Location: Manchester

Well you're not far from me and I'm raising my light sussex for meat.

Are you talking about swapping a live male for a freezer/oven ready male?

tammy68 · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 7:36 am Post subject:

I really would have to get someone else in to kill them for me as apart from anything else I have never done it before and wouldn't know what to do, plus I have never killed anything in my life and am just not able to. I would be too squeamish. When I was 5 I went with my granny plucking chickens at my aunt's poultry farm. I remember that the chicken I had almost finished plucking jumped off my knee and ran around the shed with its head swinging. I didn't think it was dead although I can remember them saying it was the nerves that had made it happen. I wouldn't have it back until it had been "killed" again so Pa went to pull its neck again and its head came off. They then tied a piece of brown paper sacking round its neck and tried to get me to have it back again to finish off but I wouldn't! This kind of put me off for life and I have been bird phobic for years until I got hens and pushed myself to first hold them wearing gloves when passed to me, then the next stage was picking them up when wearing gloves and now I am able to pick them up without gloves and even if the flap provided I am behind them.So, you see, I really couldn't kill one.

I would be interested in doing a swap once they've grown and paying the difference if they've been prepared. I just think it's a shame not to take advantage of healthy home reared chicken for my family. There is no way either that my children will eat chickens they have seen growing up so I either give them away for someone else to rear and eat or come to some sort of arrangement with another like minded person.

Kitsune, which part of Manchester are you from? I am pretty much south west Staffordshire.

vanessa · Joined: 24 Sep 2005 Posts: 1267 Location: Correze

I can understand how that experience has put you off, Tammy68. Not everyone can do the kill; I know folk here in France that take their chooks to the abbatoir as they cannot do them themselves. No shame in that at all!

I wasn't sure I could do it, so I went and watched our neighbour "doing" 5 of our young coqs. I found, to my surprise, that I didn't feel at all squeamish or repulsed by the process. I can now do my own birds, which is great. I can still appreciate how difficult it is for some folk, though, and certainly don't "enjoy" doing it myself (although I do feel a strange sense of satisfaction once the bird is "freezer-ready")

Kitsune · Joined: 13 Mar 2008 Posts: 1402 Location: Manchester

I'm in South East Manchester. Would be happy to meet half way if we can work out an agreement.

Or we could alternate making the trip if it's something you're likely to want more than once.

We can sort it out by PM if you like.

Chris Kurzfeld · Joined: 29 Oct 2007 Posts: 1598 Location: Carmarthenshire

We've got chicks popping up all over the place at the moment and had started thinking along the same lines of eating the males. Not sure I can do the "deed" either but have just ordered a dispatcher that you put on the wall. I has a "U" shapes that you put the neck in and a lever you pull down hard - anyone use one of these, and how effective are they? The big question for me is how old do you let them get to? Mine will all be Welsummer (cockerel) X's (Light Sussex, Bluebelle, warren and Cream Legbar).

CP · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 8:59 am Post subject:

We have one of those wall mounted dispatchers Chris. So has debcat.

We tend to do it as a 2-person job. 1 holds the bird & the other works the contraption. We're not that easy about dispatching either, but we do it quick & 9 times out of 10 the birds head comes off as we pull hard to make sure it's dead. Pretty gross! puke_l

mojo · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 1:06 pm Post subject:

dont raise chicks from eggs if you cant cull coqs...........it is unfair to ecpect others to cull for you( unless you use an abbatoir)

Kitsune · Joined: 13 Mar 2008 Posts: 1402 Location: Manchester

If I get something in return for it I'm not too bothered - of course if money were to change hands I'd be getting paid for taking the rooster and *not* for the prepared chicken as that'd be illegal since I'm not a registered slaughterer. Wink

le gallois · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 3:58 pm Post subject:

with to many males,i dispatch mine 10/12 wks old for the oven.(very tender)but i like to keep till they are at least 6 months old for coq au vin Exclamation

Chris Kurzfeld · Joined: 29 Oct 2007 Posts: 1598 Location: Carmarthenshire

I know I have to be strong re cockerels, I'm just too soft. OH did the last lot with a bit of help from a friend who showed him how to wring necks. He did it but didn't like neck wringing but has said he will be happy to do it with this new dispatcher and I promose i will have a go - once I've done it once I know I will be ok. Didn't think I would be able to eat last years lambs but I'm enjoying them very much - although I didn't kill them. Now le gallois - young and tender or coq au vin ???? Both sound good Very Happy

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greentree · Joined: 08 Jun 2007 Posts: 171 Location: Wicklow - Ireland

tammy68 · Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 3:17 pm Post subject:

My chicks have started to hatch and I would be interested in coming to some sort of arrangement with anybody who is interested in doing some sort of swap when the time comes.

I disagree though with you mojo in that not everyone is cut out to do the same things as everybody else in this world. I do disagree with indiscriminate breeding as such but I am planning ahead and have done so before putting my eggs in my incubator. I have a lady who is perfectly happy to have any cockerels I produce and grown for her to kill and put in her own freezer. However, I was looking more to the idea of growing them on to get good healthy chicken meals for my own family and am looking for a way that is acceptable to my family and that I am comfortable with doing. I would be quite willing to pay an abbatoir to kill and prepare chickens for our own table, but personally, at this stage I don't feel comfortable eating chickens I have got to know. I have nothing against anyone else eating them and thought that maybe someone else here felt similarly and would fancy doing a swap of some sorts. If not, then I will give them a good life whilst with me and then send them to this lady when the time has come for them to be dispatched so to speak.

Chris Kurzfeld · Joined: 29 Oct 2007 Posts: 1598 Location: Carmarthenshire

We went to our first local smallholder meeting last night and have had a few offers off people to come and show us how to work the dispatcher - when it arrives! I think I have worked out how I feel about this - it's not the dispatching per say but the dread of not getting it right first time and the poor bird suffering.