Chronicles of Raising Meat Birds - Modern Broilers, Heritage and Hybrids

[SnapdragonQ]

I had 53 of them in our shed in the brooder and I didn’t find them to be any different than the other chicks.

I now have eight of them with four meat turkeys and I still don’t notice any type of smell.

We are moving them to the 30 x 40‘ dog kennel this weekend so that I have room in our brooder for the chicks that I am hatching.
The cornish rocks are bigger than my turkeys and the turkeys are a week or so older.

First few weeks when they are smaller and normally active are fine, once the eating machine gene really kicks in things change.

 

[Morrigan]

Exactly my plan.

I've done many CX and while I like the mild flavor of them and the ability to introduce many other flavors into them through cooking, I don't like the mess and frankenbirdness of them. Nor that they are unsustainable in these more turbulent times.

That's pretty much where I'm at. There are definitely pros and cons. Although the flavor is milder, I've found that letting them go to 9+ weeks and allowing them access to a large yard/free range, makes a difference in terms of the firmness and taste of the meat. I have to say that we grilled the leg and thigh of one of the two CX we butchered a few days ago and it was delicious. Much better than supermarket CXs.

They are messy. Raising them side-by-side with my NN/RR chicks, by 5 weeks, they pooped as much as 2 or 3 "normal" chicks. Unless you have a movable tractor, be prepared to shovel a lot of poop. But, then again, you don't have to raise them as long, so the mess is compressed into a short time period.

Seeing them laboring to keep up with their hatch mates as they moved around the yard, was a bit hard. It made me wonder about the quality of their short lives, even with me doing everything I could to give them the best life possible.

On balance, I enjoy breeding the raising the heritage birds far more then raising a batch of meaties. So that's the primary direction I'm going now. But, I miss the ease of butchering a few large birds to fill my freezer.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I had 53 of them in our shed in the brooder and I didn’t find them to be any different than the other chicks.

I now have eight of them with four meat turkeys and I still don’t notice any type of smell.

We are moving them to the 30 x 40‘ dog kennel this weekend so that I have room in our brooder for the chicks that I am hatching.
The cornish rocks are bigger than my turkeys and the turkeys are a week or so older.

This is good to know!! Thanks!!! A relief lol

Actually I doubt they are vaccinated. They are on an "all in, all out" program where all of the birds go into the building at once on clean bedding and 6-8 weeks later they all leave together. If any get sick, they destroy the entire building of them. They are completely inside with NO exposure to anything outside including super strict bio-security to the point that people that work there cannot have their own personal chickens. Change into uniforms once at work and boot dips when you enter or exit a room.

With that extreme of a system to keep them healthy and the super short lifespan I doubt they bother with the extra cost of vaccinations.

Wow! I had no idea it was so strict!!! That’s really interesting!!!

 

[Compost King]

you know what could really throw us off with producing our own meat... if their is a chicken feed shortage too. I have been searching and looking for any indication that may happen and so far I have found nothing but that doesn't mean it won't happen.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Do you guys get the vaccines with the broilers or not because they’re going to be eaten so soon??? Is it even safe to eat vaccinated birds??

Which vaccines? There are different vaccines out there. Two common ones are Coccidiosis and Marek's.

I agree with Kusinar, with the Cornish Cross especially. Symptoms are not going to show up until butcher time or later. With Rangers, maybe but not that much. Dual purpose may be more at risk, depending on what age you butcher.

Cocci is a little different. Because of the way they poop and the life cycle of the Cocci bug Cocci is a real risk. You can handle that with vaccines, medicated feeds, or solid poop management. If you can keep their environment dry the risk goes way down.

Neither vaccine makes the meat harmful to humans. If the only medicine in medicated feed is Amprolium that doesn't either. But read the label on medicated feed, some medicated feed meant for meat birds can contain things other than Amprolium.

 

[RUNuts]

The meat packing plants are the weak link. Spring is planting time, so the crops should be in storage.

If anything, I would guess a price drop since the farm businesses are reducing production.

Alternatively, if the ranchers keep feeding the animals, price increases with demand.

Can’t really keep feeding with CX & pigs.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Which vaccines? There are different vaccines out there. Two common ones are Coccidiosis and Marek's.

I agree with Kusinar, with the Cornish Cross especially. Symptoms are not going to show up until butcher time or later. With Rangers, maybe but not that much. Dual purpose may be more at risk, depending on what age you butcher.

Cocci is a little different. Because of the way they poop and the life cycle of the Cocci bug Cocci is a real risk. You can handle that with vaccines, medicated feeds, or solid poop management. If you can keep their environment dry the risk goes way down.

Neither vaccine makes the meat harmful to humans. If the only medicine in medicated feed is Amprolium that doesn't either. But read the label on medicated feed, some medicated feed meant for meat birds can contain things other than Amprolium.

Thank you!!! This is very helpful!!! I guess either one. I think I was thinking mostly Mareks because my other birds are vaccinated but I did notice one hatchery offered a Coccidiosis spray too. I wonder if that would be a good idea or not?

 

[Compost King]

The meat packing plants are the weak link. Spring is planting time, so the crops should be in storage.

If anything, I would guess a price drop since the farm businesses are reducing production.

Alternatively, if the ranchers keep feeding the animals, price increases with demand.

Can’t really keep feeding with CX & pigs.

I assume you are talking about a price drop in chicken Feed. Yes I can see that initially like we did with meat at first as Farmers rushed to get all their available livestock to slaughter before the packing plants started going down. Then the shortage. I can see feed dropping to clear the storage areas then production going down to make up for the lack of demand for industrial feedings of chickens (and other livestock) and then we could possibly have a shortage of feed. This isn't a prediction because I am often wrong its just a possible scenario to be aware of. Should we make space in the sheds, barns and even spare bedrooms to store feed if or when it drops in price in anticipation of a shortage? If you have savings and you are eventually going to use that feed anyways it might not be too much of a risk to store feed. Beware of rats and mice or other critters that will get into feed if you choose to store up. And figure out how much dry space you are willing to sacrifice for such a thing.

I might visit my local feed mill and ask the opinion of the manager/owner on where the feed mill industry is going on production. Anyways those are my thoughts, possible ignorance possible paranoia, and possibly respectable reasoning for preparation.

 

[Ridgerunner]

With some grain crops it is planting time. No harvest without planting. And with grains (along with many other things) it is a global market. Harvests in the Ukraine or Australia will affect global grain markets. I'm not seeing much on supply chain management in the news but to me that is really important these days. The supply chain was tweaked to be extremely efficient, that's how you make a profit. But that means a hick-up in any part can throw the whole supply chain out.

It's not just CX or pigs either. The supply chain has been set up to keep a certain amount of product flowing through the system efficiently. Equipment is sized to handle a certain size animal. If they get too big the processing plants aren't set up for them. The growers have a system where they raise animals to a certain size/age, ship them off for processing and bring in new babies to grow. Those new babies are being hatched or born as we speak. You can't keep the old ones. Growers are not going to have huge stocks of feed. It needs to be fresh plus you tie up a lot of money in inventory. Plus you need adequate facilities to store it, that costs money which doesn't help profits. Some parts of the supply chain are set up to provide restaurants, not supermarkets. That demand is down right now.

I hate to be so gloom and doom but I think it is going to be really disruptive. Not today, not tomorrow, but down the road. It's not going to be an overnight fix. If a farmer that provides baby animals can't sell those babies how long can they afford to keep feeding the breeding animals? If they get rid of them it will take a while to get more if they stay in the same business. That's just one part of the supply chain.

 

[Compost King]

I hate to be so gloom and doom but I think it is going to be really disruptive.

Its needed, we need a heads up of multiple possibilities and to be prepared for them. I can draw up a theory as to what is going to happen and it may not happen but something else happens in a totally different domino effect. I am concerned with storing feed right now, And others may be concerned with keeping the ability to mass produce hatching eggs of utility birds because the for profit people (nothing against them) aren't going to keep the parent birds (or other live stock) alive without a profit motive. There are factors I haven't even thought of yet. So what if its Doom and Gloom, if we think out these scenarios maybe some of us can be prepared enough to help out others in our communities.