Well I finished processing my first ever batch of meaties today. I ordered 16 figuring that I would lose a few but they all survived. Yeah for me! . I have weighted them and have a final total of 100.18lbs of meat. That works out to $6.26 per bird. My birds all were in the 6 lb range except two at 5.9lbs and three at 7lbs. I bought a chicken in the wintertime at the grocery store and kept the sticker... It cost $13.73 for a 4.59lb bird so I am really happy with my numbers. I went through 450 lbs of feed and they went well beyond the 9 week mark as our weather was wonky here in the spring and my feed was a low protein %. Since I figure I will have chicken for a year now, next year my goal is to get better pricing on feed.
Thank goodness for this forum. The knowledge on it is tremendous and I wouldn't have been able to accomplish my meaties without it. Best advice I read.... Keep your mouth shut while doing the culling.... Yes. I experienced the dreaded poop flying upward on a few birds.... Yuck! I think it was their way if getting a bit of pay back on me. Also good advice was the relaxing for three days in the fridge.
Had a bit of a startle on my last bird... Head was off and I was plucking when I thought the bird jerked back from me.... I jumped back. Felt like a dolt for thinking that it might still be alive....there was no head.. Went back at it and when I put the bird on the table to remove the legs one wing started flapping and the breast was twitching. Kinda creepy. Like the bird was waving at me. Anyhow. They are all resting in the fridge or in the freezer. Hope everyone is having positive experiences. Happy Canada day to my fellow Canadians! Cheers... Sam from Ontario
Thank goodness for this forum. The knowledge on it is tremendous and I wouldn't have been able to accomplish my meaties without it. Best advice I read.... Keep your mouth shut while doing the culling.... Yes. I experienced the dreaded poop flying upward on a few birds.... Yuck! I think it was their way if getting a bit of pay back on me. Also good advice was the relaxing for three days in the fridge.
Had a bit of a startle on my last bird... Head was off and I was plucking when I thought the bird jerked back from me.... I jumped back. Felt like a dolt for thinking that it might still be alive....there was no head.. Went back at it and when I put the bird on the table to remove the legs one wing started flapping and the breast was twitching. Kinda creepy. Like the bird was waving at me. Anyhow. They are all resting in the fridge or in the freezer. Hope everyone is having positive experiences. Happy Canada day to my fellow Canadians! Cheers... Sam from Ontario