New batch arrived, old batch leaves tomorrow! *now with pictures!*

[PotterWatch]

Our new batch of chicks arrived this morning. 25 broilers from Welp. So far, I really like ordering from Welp, they have great prices and the chicks arrived looking very healthy and active.

Tomorrow is processing day for the meaties we have been growing out from McMurray. We lost one to ascites but the rest are looking good. We didn't do much feed restriction with this batch and I think it was a mistake. They have gotten much bigger than we expected much faster. We will definitely be doing feed restriction for this new batch.

 

[Matrix Escapee]

I agree on Welp. We got 100 CX from them today. 2 days in transit, and not 1 was DOA. PLus they ate and drank right out of the box and were active. Great 1st experience...so far.
Are you gonna use the chart and restrict feed after day 5 like their site suggests? Or, do you haev a different plan?

 

[ChickyLaura]

Potterwatch, that is a beautiful picture! You really bring justice to the broilers! Wow!

 

[PotterWatch]

He did pose nicely for that picture didn't he Laura?

Matrix, I am planning to follow Welp's feed restriction plan though some days we may be a little late in taking the feed away due to our schedules. We'll see how it goes. We also bought the vitamin mix they recommend and will be using that for the first time with this batch.

 

[PotterWatch]

We processed eight birds today. Everything went very smoothly. The scalder and plucker both worked great. Our new processing table was nice though it isn't hooked up to water yet so my kids had to keep turning a hose on and off for us. Our finished birds weighed between 4lbs and almost 7lbs! It was definitely the easiest processing I have done, I think mainly because I didn't have to keep checking the temp on the scalder (we built a whizbang), and we didn't have to pluck by hand (bought an EZ Plucker). Looking towards the next batch now!

 

[mrsteiner]

How old were the batch you just processed?

 

[PotterWatch]

They were just under 8 weeks. We are planning to process the next batch between six and seven weeks.

 

[joanc]

Since 2007, we have processed 3 batches of meaties each year and we've been very happy with Welp's broilers. We got our first batch last week (57 chicks arrived on March 24) all are healthy and perky. After 10 days, they're all still lookin' good!

We usually process them at about 7.5-8 weeks and they range from 3.5 to 7 lbs. We seem to always have a few runts in each batch. We follow Welp's recommendation to take the food away starting the 5th night, at about 7pm and give it back to them about 7am the next day. This has worked well for us and minimizes "flip" and leg problems. We also use Welp's Broiler Booster in the water.

We already have our 2nd and 3rd batches on order, planning on a total of 150 meat birds this year.

We plan our processing dates with our neighbors, as they have broilers as well. This works out quite well, as they are not only experienced at processing, but they're as motivated as we are to get the job done. First we process our birds, then we go get theirs (back of the pickup works great, though gets a bit dirty!). We have the Featherman plucker and scalder, so those steps of the processing go very fast. The parts that take the longest are the gutting/cutting and vaccum packaging. Clean-up takes a while too, though my sister, who is a vegetarian, volunteers to help with that. She comes later on processing day so she doesn't have to see the butchering part. It's great to have the help with clean-up, as we get pretty tired after 8-10 hrs of processing.

I'm looking forward to mid- May, when hopefully the weather will be warmer and we get our first batch processed. We already have most of them sold.

 

[PotterWatch]

How many do you usually process in a day and how many people are helping?

I agree that having a proper scalder and plucker makes the work go MUCH faster. It was still work, but much easier and more pleasant work without having to pluck by hand.

 

[andalusn]

With a large number of broiler to process, how are you handling/disposing of the feathers and guts? I have held off processing my roosters because I don't want to figure out what to do with the messy stuff.