Meaties 101

[AlbionWood]

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Thanks S_F, sounds like your spring is even worse than ours, so I won't be afraid to get some CX in winter. I'm not worried about harm to the pasture, just that there's nothing green in it for them after it goes dry, which is usually early June. Then we don't get rain until November, sometimes October if we're lucky! So typically the pasture is only green from December through May. I think we'll try some meaties this summer just to get some experience with them (we have cool summers, typically in the 60s) and then get some in the fall whenever it starts raining. By the time they are ready to go out on pasture it should be greening up with tender, delicious young shoots.

 

[AlbionWood]

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Not good at math, is he?

120/25 = just under 5 lbs/chick. If they can turn that into 6 to 8 lbs of meat they are truly a marvel!

Conversion ratios I've seen quoted around here are more like 3:1 or even 4:1, i.e. you feed 18 to 24 lbs to get a 6 to 8-lb chicken. At the price we have to pay for feed here:
$16/50# bag = $0.32/lb x 20 lb = $6.40/bird so we could be close to $1/lb for meat. I can live with that.

 

[fishman65]

$1.00 per pound for a whole bird??? What does it cost for a whole bird in the grocery store???

 

[bigredfeather]

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To the best of my knowledge, you can't buy pastured raised chicken at the store, so it's not really a fair comparision if that's where you're headed.

 

[AlbionWood]

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Today's flyer, Foster Farms fresh [says so right here] whole chicken, $0.99/lb. If you think a pastured bird is equivalent to a FF bird, then don't bother raising them yourself. Since I know better, I will be quite happy getting a better bird for the same money, and I won't worry about arsenic or the appalling conditions at a FF operation. Ever been to one? I have.

 

[bigredfeather]

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http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...chicken-safety/overview/chicken-safety-ov.htm
That's all I gotta say 'bout that.

 

[calgal98]

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Dry pasture here in California is any pasture that doesn't get supplemented with water during the hot or growing season. Our irrigation systems are usually based on canals and dams. The hills would have to be sprinkler irrigated which isn't easy to do in many areas. No amount of fertilizer helps unless water is available to keep it green...

 

[AlbionWood]

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http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...chicken-safety/overview/chicken-safety-ov.htm
That's all I gotta say 'bout that.

"Most contaminated were Tyson and Foster Farms chickens. More than 80 percent tested positive for one or both pathogens."

Not surprising, but still appalling. Anybody think $1/lb, or even twice that, is too expensive for safe, uncontaminated meat?

 

[RareBreedFancier]

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http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...chicken-safety/overview/chicken-safety-ov.htm
That's all I gotta say 'bout that.

Thanks for that link!

Suddenly my slender 10wo barnyard x cockerels in my grow out pen are looking a whole lot better than the plump store chicken in my fridge.

 

[stormylady]

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If you average the total amount over the entire 8 weeks, that is correct.

This may sound alittle silly, but say you have one chicken and you have decided that one chicken eats 20lbs of feed in 8 weeks right, so do they get just 5oz everyday for 8 weeks or is it portioned differently as they grow?