Chicken farming is a complex and sometimes brutal affair. Chickens are bred for specific purposes – egg-laying or meat. Backyard chicken keepers may choose to keep either layer chickens, meat, or dual-purpose chickens. Hens are prized for their ability to lay eggs and reproduce baby chicks. Sometimes people are confused about whether roosters can be eaten and if male birds are sold as chicken.
Meat chickens are both male and female. They are slaughtered between 6 to 8 weeks, and there is no differentiation in the meat. Layer chicken roosters and dual-purpose roosters grow slower and maybe slaughtered when older. Therefore, they are not usually sold commercially as meat.
Backyard chicken breeders are often left baffled, uncertain what to do with all the roosters their hens have hatched. They may be unsure whether rooster meat can be eaten or if it is different from the meat of hens.
Are Meat Chickens Male Or Female?
Meat chickens are both male and female. They are raised together and usually slaughtered between six to eight weeks. These chickens grow rapidly, and within a few weeks, they have gained enough weight to be slaughtered at marketable weights.
The chickens have not yet reached sexual maturity at six to eight weeks.
Hormones have therefore had little influence on the chicken’s physical characteristics. Both male and female fowl are sold as chicken.
Are Layer Breed Roosters Sold As Chicken?
On large commercial farms, roosters from layer breed chickens do not live long. Therefore, they may be sexed at a one-day-old and will be discarded immediately as a waste of resources.
There are horrific stories of these rooster chicks being thrown into bins where they die from cold, hunger, thirst, and the pressure of all the other chicks. In more ‘humane’ farms, they break the rooster chicks’ necks before being discarded. Sometimes the chicks are put in the refrigerator, where they die from cold.
Discarded rooster chicks are sold to pet meat industries and for the manufacture of other animal feed.
In farms that employ modern technology, there are ways to determine the sex of the chicken while it is still in the egg. This is done between nine to eleven days. Then, these eggs are removed from the incubation process and used for animal feed.
Can You Eat Dual-Purpose And Layer Breed Roosters?
Roosters that hatch in backyard chicken breeder’s farms fare a little better and have a longer life than those on commercial farms. Dual-purpose and layer breed chickens take longer to grow and gain weight. This applies to both hens and roosters.
By the time the rooster has reached desirable slaughter weight, sex hormones have begun to affect its body.
Chickens become sexually mature at twenty to twenty-two weeks. This differs between breeds and the amount of light that the chickens receive. Some chicken breeds become sexually mature as early as sixteen to eighteen weeks.
Testosterone increases the muscle fibers allowing muscles to increase in mass and strength. In chickens, testosterone results in tougher meat, and in older roosters, the meat may be described as stringy.
This is because the older the rooster, the more testosterone will have affected the meat.
Backyard chicken breeders and hobby farmers routinely eat rooster meat, following the maxim of waste not, want not. In addition, some people use rooster meat to feed their dogs and cats.
What Does Rooster Meat Taste Like?
Rooster meat has a stronger flavor than that of hens or young roosters. Many people say that it is tough, and they do not enjoy it. This is often because they are unused to it.
In some cultures and cuisines, rooster meat is the preferred meat.
Certain French recipes, such as Coq au vin, call for rooster meat. And in Indian, African, and Eastern countries, rooster meat is preferred most of the time.
How Do You Cook Rooster Meat?
Rooster meat should be cooked longer than meat from hens or young meat roosters. Adding meat tenderizers and marinades, and cooking for longer, ensures that the meat is moist and tender while retaining a strong chicken flavor. In addition, older roosters and free-range roosters will have more muscle development, necessitating longer cooking times.
You can utilize common pantry ingredients found in most kitchens as a basis for tenderizers.
- Vinegar is an excellent tenderizer. Balsamic vinegar adds extra taste.
- Pineapple, kiwi fruit, and mango contain enzymes that partially break down the protein molecules, causing the meat to become softer.
- Buttermilk and yogurt are an excellent basis for marinades for chicken. They contain enzymes and acids that affect the chicken protein.
- Alcohol can act as a tenderizer and adds flavor to the chicken.
- Some people use sodas such as Coca-cola, Pepsi, and lemon and lime flavored sodas.
Marinating the chicken overnight will result in more tender meat. This is because the flavor will be fully absorbed right through the bird.
Meat mallets can also be used to tenderize rooster meat. Some people are avid fans of pressure cookers. They pop their bird into the pressure cooker to achieve the desired meat texture.
Should You Slaughter Your Rooster?
It can be challenging for hobby farmers and backyard chicken breeders to think of slaughtering a rooster. However, there are several reasons why it may become necessary to consider this option.
Keeping multiple roosters is difficult. They fight each other, causing horrendous injuries and sometimes killing each other. This leaves the roosters in pain, suffering from bloody wounds predisposed to infection.
Roosters may also become vicious and aggressive toward the human caretakers. They can injure people, especially children, quite severely as they fly at the person, raking them with long spurs. Many chicken keepers have sustained eye injuries in this way.
Roosters are sometimes unkind and bully hens. They can harass them to the point where the hens lose weight as they cannot eat. Some roosters mate so often that the hens develop severe lacerations on their sides and lose their feathers.
It is not always possible to rehome roosters as there are always more roosters than homes. Therefore, the farmer is left with the dilemma of keeping birds that do not add to the farm’s production but must still be fed.
A common-sense solution is to slaughter the rooster and use the meat for human or pet consumption.
Conclusion
Roosters from meat chickens are routinely sold as chicken. Roosters from breeds that take longer to gain weight may also be used for meat.
The meat is slightly tougher and has a stronger flavor which some people may prefer.
Related Articles
- Can Laying Hens and Meat Chickens Live Together?
- Are Ameraucana Chickens Good to Eat?
- Do You Need A License to Have Chickens?
- Are Chickens Female?
Sources
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/2/20/the-short-brutal-life-of-male-chickens.html
https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/what-happens-with-male-chicks-in-the-egg-industry/
