Our latest bunch of roasties have now had the chop. We bought them on 1st October, a bit younger than we had originally planned as they were only a couple of weeks old. However, they stuffed themselves silly and when I dispatched them this week (when they were 10 weeks old) they had mushroomed in size to between 3 and 4 kgs (the largest was almost 9lbs in old money, the same size as a turkey!).

No photos of the actual dispatching but here I am plucking one in the ‘death zone’.

In order to make them even more tender and delicious, they need to be hung in a cool place for a few days.

We had the first one roasted last night – with garden fresh swedes, turnips, spuds and French beans. I say we had one, actually we only managed the best part of one breast. I guess it’s chicken sandwiches, cold chicken, chicken curry, chicken soup, chicken stir fry…. for the next week. Of the other four, they’ll be frozen and will no doubt keep us in meat for quite some time.

One group is happy to see the back of the roasties – the layers. We’ve moved them into the roastie quarters so they have some fresh grass to eat. No complaints there.