My brother just started running his own commercial chicken operation. He didn't realize that the company was going to leave some behind for him to deal with. Since he's new to the area he wasn't prepared to keep, sell or give away all of the extras and they had to be gone before the next load of birds. There were around 150 chickens left over. He was able to process a few himself and give some away but the day before new chicks were to arrive, he still had about 50 left over.
Since I have a little property and like keeping chickens (layers) he asked me to take them. Ugh. I took home about 50 stinky chickens. I have to say it was disturbing to see all the curled toes, splayed legs and raw looking rear ends. I put them in my first coop set up which was nothing more than an old shed and 100 ft of 4' welded wire fence attached to it. This set up was a failed experiment were my first flock of hens met their demise to the local foxes, raccoon and neighborhood dogs. (My current flock are secured in a fully enclosed coop/run.) After 3 days I realized not only could I not afford keep their food dish full all day but they were going to destroy the coop floor no matter how much hay and wood chips I put down. There were just too many of them. Also, the bigger ones were protecting the food from the smaller ones. So they were evicted to the run where their only shelter was under the shed, trees and bushes. I ran a second fence around the perimiter of the pen to help keep predators out but I'm still surprised I didn't lose any that way.
I lost 1 chicken a day until I quit filling the feeder. Instead I took a bucket out with 2 scoops of food (1 pellet, 1 scratch and a little grit) twice a day and would just broadcast it in the pen so they all could eat at the same time with almost no fighting. After that, I only lost one more, making 4 dead total. I kept them this way for around 5 weeks (the time it took for a backordered chicken plucker to arrive.) They smelled a bit better by then and their rears looked quite a bit healthier. I'm happy that they got to scratch and peck like a normal chicken for a while.
Last Saturday, we did the deed. I invited my Mom and a couple of friends over to join the "party." One of my neighbors grew up raising their food and had no problems taking care of the killing part (and I had no problems letting her.) It amused me how sweet she talked to the birds while stringing them upside down and cutting their heads off.
We fumbled through the first dozen but eventually we had a nice little assembly line going with the wrangling, killing, scalding, plucking, eviscerating and dressing the birds and everyone went home with some meat. We did it all outside so no stinkies in the house. I found a nice little folding table with a sink that hooked up to a garden hose. It came in really handy.
I have to say it was an interesting experience. I grew up with ducks, both hunted and raised, but I was never a part of the killing or cleaning. Now I know I can at least stomach the process, and if I have to, I would be able to do the deed myself. I doubt I will ever get chickens in this manner again. We have a nice field that would work fine for tractoring chickens and I really want to try either freedom rangers, rainbow rangers or something similar to raise them from chicks. The deciding factor will be comparing taste as well as cost. I also plan on growing fodder and maybe even a mealworm farm to bring the feed cost down.
Since the chickens were basically forced on me, I didn't start doing any research on meaties until I already had them. I was surprised that I could not find any info or other documented experiences with left over commercial chickens other than "rescues" by people who would never kill them for food. I would like to hear some other people's experience with them. I know few locals around here eat them, but the ones I know that keep other chickens aren't so worried about the bird's quality of life so I have a very hard time talking to them about chickens. Maybe there's a better way to deal with them that is not so disgusting because these chickens will always be available to me and I hate to see food go to waste. Or maybe it's a taboo subject and I just ruffled some feathers...
Since I have a little property and like keeping chickens (layers) he asked me to take them. Ugh. I took home about 50 stinky chickens. I have to say it was disturbing to see all the curled toes, splayed legs and raw looking rear ends. I put them in my first coop set up which was nothing more than an old shed and 100 ft of 4' welded wire fence attached to it. This set up was a failed experiment were my first flock of hens met their demise to the local foxes, raccoon and neighborhood dogs. (My current flock are secured in a fully enclosed coop/run.) After 3 days I realized not only could I not afford keep their food dish full all day but they were going to destroy the coop floor no matter how much hay and wood chips I put down. There were just too many of them. Also, the bigger ones were protecting the food from the smaller ones. So they were evicted to the run where their only shelter was under the shed, trees and bushes. I ran a second fence around the perimiter of the pen to help keep predators out but I'm still surprised I didn't lose any that way.
I lost 1 chicken a day until I quit filling the feeder. Instead I took a bucket out with 2 scoops of food (1 pellet, 1 scratch and a little grit) twice a day and would just broadcast it in the pen so they all could eat at the same time with almost no fighting. After that, I only lost one more, making 4 dead total. I kept them this way for around 5 weeks (the time it took for a backordered chicken plucker to arrive.) They smelled a bit better by then and their rears looked quite a bit healthier. I'm happy that they got to scratch and peck like a normal chicken for a while.
Last Saturday, we did the deed. I invited my Mom and a couple of friends over to join the "party." One of my neighbors grew up raising their food and had no problems taking care of the killing part (and I had no problems letting her.) It amused me how sweet she talked to the birds while stringing them upside down and cutting their heads off.
We fumbled through the first dozen but eventually we had a nice little assembly line going with the wrangling, killing, scalding, plucking, eviscerating and dressing the birds and everyone went home with some meat. We did it all outside so no stinkies in the house. I found a nice little folding table with a sink that hooked up to a garden hose. It came in really handy.
I have to say it was an interesting experience. I grew up with ducks, both hunted and raised, but I was never a part of the killing or cleaning. Now I know I can at least stomach the process, and if I have to, I would be able to do the deed myself. I doubt I will ever get chickens in this manner again. We have a nice field that would work fine for tractoring chickens and I really want to try either freedom rangers, rainbow rangers or something similar to raise them from chicks. The deciding factor will be comparing taste as well as cost. I also plan on growing fodder and maybe even a mealworm farm to bring the feed cost down.
Since the chickens were basically forced on me, I didn't start doing any research on meaties until I already had them. I was surprised that I could not find any info or other documented experiences with left over commercial chickens other than "rescues" by people who would never kill them for food. I would like to hear some other people's experience with them. I know few locals around here eat them, but the ones I know that keep other chickens aren't so worried about the bird's quality of life so I have a very hard time talking to them about chickens. Maybe there's a better way to deal with them that is not so disgusting because these chickens will always be available to me and I hate to see food go to waste. Or maybe it's a taboo subject and I just ruffled some feathers...
