Our First Meat Bird Experience - S & G Poultry

[hipeatall]

We just recently finished our first batch of meat birds and it was a totally positive experience from start to finish.

After some research, we decided that a slow grow bird would be best for our family as we really didn't want the health issues associated with fast growing broilers. So we raised Naked Necks and Rainbows that we purchased from S & G Poultry. We only ordered the Naked Necks... but, S&G sent us 12 Rainbows to try out - they rock (both S&G and their Rainbows that is)!
The birds were delightful happy healthy chickens and were easy to keep from day one. We didn't have a single casualty or issue of any kind with them. They were allowed to free range all day in a big yard, fed a 20% Protein Organic Mash Diet and had full access to just being chickens (dust bathes, lounging in the sun, running around and wing flapping).
We kept all of the Rainbow pullets as they are a dual purpose breed and lay a large brown egg... plus, we really like their spunky and sweet little dispositions. We also kept "Lucky", one of the Naked Neck roos to watch over these girls.
Here are some pictures of our birds.
the NN's look very distinguished in B&W don't you think

... and here are a couple more in color

photo with the Ideal NN Roo (he's pretty easy to spot, he is the small white bird )... here are a couple of pics of the Rainbows

Our Average Dressed Weights -
S&G Hens - 3 1/2 lbs
S&G Roos - 4 3/4 lbs (this is a low estimate because my postal scale tops out at 5lbs and many exceeded that weight)
Ideal NN Roo - 2 1/2 lbs (we got him from a fellow 4H member and raised for comparison, he was a week or so older than the S&G's)
I think we did pretty great on the dressed weights... I used Joyce Foods as a comparison. https://www.joycefoods.com/shop/shop.html?cat=10
As for the taste... they are absolutely delicious and we will be enjoying them for quite awhile as we have over 100lbs out in the deep freeze.

 

[Captain Carrot]

I raise my own meat birds too, and haven't bought a single chicken since. There is absolutely no comparison in the taste.

I've never heard of Rainbows before are they hybrid?

 

[hipeatall]

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Yes, they are a hybrid... like the freedom rangers. You can check out S&G Poultry's website for more information about there birds. Here is the link to their site - http://www.sandgpoultry.com/ .

 

[draye]

Awesome looking Naked Necks (Turkens). NOw those look like the ones I used to raise a few years ago. Seems like the one you get now are kinda scrawney.

 

[Kev]

Did you keep any of the Naked Neck pullets? They're dual purpose too and good layers.. Maybe not as good as hybrid layers but good for a breed.

Did you notice a big difference in processing a naked neck vs not-naked neck? Easier/quicker plucking time, or..?

I'm curious about the live weight of the NN roo (and pullet if you still have some). Plus egg size if you have NN pullets. See below for reason.

draye, so glad you mentioned that. My first NN was from a hatchery.. she was huge, very heavy hen, excellent layer, xxlarge eggs. Could not close egg carton if her eggs were in. Never weighed her.. 2 grand sons of hers weighed 11 and 13 pounds. Didn't order from hatchery again for several years, wanted more like that hen so I ordered from a different hatchery, their stock were on the medium size and laid medium eggs. Disappointing, did not keep any of those and really regret not carrying on the line from the original hen, thought all turkens were like her. Been trying last few years to breed for bigger, heavier NN that lay large size or better eggs like the first one. Have decent size eggers now but still would like for the birds to be taller and heavier..

 

[draye]

Kev wrote: draye, so glad you mentioned that. My first NN was from a hatchery.. she was huge, very heavy hen, excellent layer, xxlarge eggs. Could not close egg carton if her eggs were in. Never weighed her.. 2 grand sons of hers weighed 11 and 13 pounds. Didn't order from hatchery again for several years, wanted more like that hen so I ordered from a different hatchery, their stock were on the medium size and laid medium eggs. Disappointing, did not keep any of those and really regret not carrying on the line from the original hen, thought all turkens were like her. Been trying last few years to breed for bigger, heavier NN that lay large size or better eggs like the first one. Have decent size eggers now but still would like for the birds to be taller and heavier..

Kev, I've been looking and searching a few now for these old time NN's they seem be about gone. I did find some from a guy that lives down the road from me, and got 2 one of them is not quite as big as the other one that I got, I saw that he had a couple more of the big ones, if I can get the money I may go back and get them. I just need to locate a rooster that is humongous like these to go with them.​

 

[Kev]

Good to know someone else is on the hunt with hopes of preserving the old type. Hope you will be successful in your hunt & be able to get those birds mentioned. I would be interested staying in touch in regards to this. Did yours use to lay large-very large eggs also?

Over on the NN thread, it seems some people are working towards larger birds via crosses with Jersey Giants.

 

[draye]

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Not overly large maybe a x-large, but probably not jumbo. Did get a double yolker a time or two though.

 

[hipeatall]

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They really are awesome birds! These guys from S&G were huge... I kept one so it'll be interesting to see just how big he gets. At 16 weeks he is already way bigger than any of my other roosters.

 

[hipeatall]

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We didn't keep any of the NN pullets. Maybe next time we will keep some though... they were considerably smaller and I agree, they would make a nice layer... well, all that and I just like Naked Necks alot!
Didn't notice any difference in processing Rainbows and NN's... of course we used a feather plucker (thank goodness!)... I'm sure if we had plucked them by hand we would have noticed a big difference though.
The postal scale I have only goes to 5lbs... so I can't get a live weight on him because he is HUGE

. He is already way bigger than any of my other full grown roos... I have a Java, Faverolles, Marans... and he towers over them! Maybe I will try weighing him on a regular scale... it would be interesting to know.