I cut the meat off the bone because I was trying to save freezer space for the small amount of meat. These birds are rated poor for meat but we're given to me, didn't mix with my hens, and the crowing was waking my kids up at 4 am so something needed to be done. Didn't want to just throw the animals and waste them so I used them for practice for when I butcher the Cornish chickens I'm raising for meat and as small the amount of meat I got it will still be food for us to eat.