How to feed young cockeral's for the table

[senna]

Hi. I have some young cockerals approx 10 weeks old, I would like to fatten them up a bit for the table and was looking for some advice on how and what to feed them for the rest of their live's. Also what age would be the best time to despatch them. I know it's a bit of a morbid topic but I would rather eat them than just dispose of them as I doubt I will be able to find homes for them, any advice, much appreciatted. Thanks

 

[chrismahon]

Rearers pellets and little treat mixed corn, nothing else. Important they don't fight amongst themselves as they loose weight and get tough so an older rooster goes in with them to keep the peace. At 6 months is best. After that the fighting starts, they get injured to varying degrees and they are too tough for roasting. Commercial birds for the table get to 20 weeks.
We ate most of ours (found homes for two of 20) and found out where we went wrong afterwards. We've got a Rooster now who will do the job in future -Frankie started as the cockerel who was terrified of the others and went in with the hens for his safety. He came out a completely different bird and will now tackle anything.

 

[foxy]

We do a similar method, only we add wheat to their diet, mixed corn (minus barley) and we keep them on growers pellets also called rearers. They do also have any kitchen scraps going, specially pasta and potato which they enjoy.

Our birds are traditional french meat birds, very slow growing compared to commercial strains and can take up to 8 months to get to eating weight. We keep the boys separate from the hens though, this reduces friction and the stress that fighting will cause.

We have eaten them up to a year old, still lovely and quality meat that you just can't buy in a supermarket.

 

[senna]

Thanks for the info, very much appreciatted. Makes interesting reading, especially the bit about trying to keep the piece. I will just have to decide which one of my boys is going to play father

 

[darkbrowneggs]

We do a similar method, only we add wheat to their diet, mixed corn (minus barley) and we keep them on growers pellets also called rearers. They do also have any kitchen scraps going, specially pasta and potato which they enjoy.

Our birds are traditional french meat birds, very slow growing compared to commercial strains and can take up to 8 months to get to eating weight. We keep the boys separate from the hens though, this reduces friction and the stress that fighting will cause.

We have eaten them up to a year old, still lovely and quality meat that you just can't buy in a supermarket.

Hi there - thanks for the interesting info - Out of interest what is the name of the French meat birds you use?