Ok, I know this is one of those loaded questions. Someone dumped a truly obnoxious rooster on us a month or so ago. It was pure black and mixed with some silkie somewhere as it had some silkie feathering and the extra toes. It's earlobes were bright blue and it's high stand up comb was redish black, the tail stood up like a regular rooster, not a silkie. Well anyway, it crowed more than any chicken we have ever heard and jumped everything that moved including the ducks, squirrels and the cat. (now, I know why it ended up here.)
Well, no body's been sleeping very well around here anyway and husband got fed up with the 4:30 alarm with no snooze button. We decided that the rooster was soup. The meat was entirely dark when fresh and when cooked the breast lightened a bit, but the other meat was almost black. The bones WERE BLACK. I've never seen this, has anyone else?
Thankfully, he tasted much better than he acted and made some lovely chicken and dumplings. The yard is quiet, my silkie hen has come out of hiding and the cat is happy. I'd love to know what he was crossed with though. Are there any chickens known to have black bones?
Black Chicken Question
The dark flesh and black bones are typical Silkie traits--one of the reasons they are considered medicinal in some cultures. My Silkie roo, Biff, was the horniest rooster I've ever had--I had to keep him in the house because he crowed constantly and when I carried him out in the morning his legs would be running before he was even on the ground--when they hit the ground he was off after every pullet in the yard. He reminded me of Harpo Marx.
My neighbors roos start at 4:30 am, mine start at 4:31 am, the neighbor 1/2 mile away.. the roos start at 4:35 am.. the neighbors 1/2 mile the other way start at 4:40am. No snooze button.. try having nearly 50 Roos within a 1/2 mile that wants to be an alarm clock. :) Some mornings its great.. other mornings it sucks.
:) i am so glad you put this on here bc if I'd dressed out one of my silkie roos & found black bones & very dark meat i would have freaked out & not cooked it. I learned something tonight! thank you!
LOL. Concise and to the point and awful...
Hmmm! With Catscan there is never a dull moment, and I must say with Jyl and Greykyttyn there are some close runner-up's. Hay
Okay, so how did you prepare an obviously very active adult rooster so he was edible? Not to hijack your thread, but that's a constant struggle here. I had read that letting the chicken cool 12 to 48 hours before freezing makes them more tender, and I also dry brine mine in the freezer package, but they're still chewy....
On the other hand a friend who lived in Ethiopia said that she often ate chicken that had just been caught and plucked and it was fine. Of course, it was cooked in a clay pot over a fire but only for about an hour or so.
We always chill or chicken at least 24 hours after butchering, the roasters chill in a brine before freezing. This little bugger chilled for 24, then simmered slowly for 1 1/2 hours. As sacreligious as it is to eat any type of silkie in my book, it was better thasn wasting the meat.
Any moist heat for a home grown chicken helps. The clay pot or tagine is absolutely perfect. I made one in a clay pot cooker with nothing but salt, pepper, rosemary and whole greek olives. It was amazing. A home grown chicken will always have a slightly diffrent texture than factory raised, but I prefer it any day.
Does anybody have an idea where the blue earlobes came from?
Those are also a Silkie trait--some have really stunningly blue ones. Ideally they should have purple (mulberry) combs and wattles, and blue earlobes.
jylgaskin, did you use a Romertopf for your chicken? I have one in the basement, somewhere, and I also have a tagine that I use. Your recipe sounds scrumptious! Thanks for the feedback.
What do you brine your roasters in before freezing? Do you use large plastic freezer bags? I have trouble finding a receptacle large enough that won't use tons of liquid and salt!
interesting.. my grandma & mom never use to do anything other than dress out the chickens & freeze them straight away. I was always told the difference btwn a stringy chicken & not one was the breed. Ours were never that way until we had RIR's. Those weren't fit to eat. I'll have to keep this in mind for when i kill off a few roo's next spring.
I use the giant ziplock bags for brining. I put ice in the cooler, the chickens and brine in the baggie, seal it and stick it in the cooler. I can fit a lot of chickens in one and the more chickens the less brine needed.
I don't know what the clay cooker was called, I got it at a yard sale, it was oblong and shaped kind of like a chicken.
Catscan, all my other silkies have had the head pouf and pea combs with the round butts instead of tail feathers.None had visable ear lobes. This one had no pouf, no beard and a huge comb and attitude like I've never seen. I wonder if he could have been crossed with a game cock or something.
ZZ hatched some Silkies with regular combs--I think it was the result of a breeder trying to introduce a new colour. I have two Silkie cross pullets--both have normal feathers and combs but feathered legs, black skin and extra toes. I think the "silkie feather" trait is recessive--so you probably have a 3/4 cross, with only one gene for silkie and without the genes necessary for the comb--but everything else Silkie.
The blue ear is important in Silkies--all of mine have had them, though the shade varies. Maybe you just couldn't see the ear lobes for all the feathers?
Probably. If I still get to have chickens next year, I'll probably end up ordering some true silkies again. I'd love white ones. I just wish you didn't have to order so many, I'll have to give away most of them.
Try "Myers". I think they are the one from which you can order as few as 6 or 7--it costs a little more, but my chicks were wonderful and healthy. I think there are a couple more hatcheries that will make special "small orders" and they all carry Silkies.
Try talking to a local feed store or such that sells chicks, if there's one near you. I was able to order what I wanted, as few as a single chick, to be delivered with their order. Of course, if they (Cackle) didn't carry the breed, I was out of luck. I found that there were breeds available that the feed store didn't know about, because they only ordered the "normal" chickens. They offered RIR, Brahma, Australorps, Leghorns (white) and various sex-links. Off course, some of those fell into my box as I picked up my special orders....
That's the way our feed stores are, verry limited selections and bantam-silkie types only come as a mixed group. I believe the rooster and the silkie I have now both came from Tractor Supply and neither are pure bred. In fact we all giggle because the hen is the ugliest chicken I have ever seen next to a Nakked neck.
SOmeone is trying to give me a pair of nakked necks right now and they are the silliest birds ever. The rooster extends his nect to crow and it's gross in my opinion. Nope, I'll stick to fully feathered chickens here.