Slaughter half of a meat bird flock at game hen weight?

[oaklandmama]

I've done a search on this, but I'm still unsure. Can you seasoned chicken owners help me?

We live in a really urban area, but are thinking about trying to raise meat birds. Would it work to order 25 Cornish X, raise some to game hen size and slaughter at 3-4 weeks, then let the rest grow out and slaughter at 8-10?

They'd be in a tractor, but wouldn't get a ton of "pasture", since we don't live on a lot of land. How much feed might I go through for this kind of setup? How much space would you give them?

Want to raise our own meat birds, and we were thinking that this way would help us cut down the intensity of the poop mess I keep reading about as they get bigger. Thoughts?

 

[Bossroo]

I raised my Cornish X that way for quite a while due to a heavy predator population.

Therefore I have to raise them inside our horse barn.

... now I send them all to freezer camp between 32-35 days for game hens. Cuts down on tons of labor, poop, and feed costs.

Each one gives us a fabulous dinner for two,

and weeks of TIME OFF to spend with the grandkids ( travel to 2 states) before a need to order 25 more.

 

[oaklandmama]

Ah, this is what I wanted to hear.

Seemed like a reasonable plan to me, but I just needed to hear from someone else.

How much feed would you go through for 25 birds? How big did they end up getting? Any recommendations for how much space I should plan on giving them?

 

[DanIndiana]

How about the same goal with DP roosters? I've been trying to get an idea of what the carcass will be like with White Rocks, Buff Orps, etc. after maybe 8-11 weeks? I've got a batch of 25 that I would like to take sooner rather than later. Has anyone tried this?

 

[Oregon Blues]

The little game hen size is great on the barbecue. Half little individual servings and half big roasters would work well for me.

Take a look at prices. Many of the hatcheries drop the price per bird when you go over 25 birds, so you get cheaper birds if you order 26 of them instead of 25.

 

[PotterWatch]

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We don't raise DP for meat so someone may correct me on this but, I think DP birds at 8-11wks will be mostly bone, not much meat. I think most people take DP roosters to at least 16wks for a decent carcass.

 

[KenK]

This is a ten week old American Game rooster. We enjoyed it immensely, very few people would have been dissatisfied with half of the bird and it could have fed four easily with a bounty of side dishes.

My Sussex and Dominique chicks looked much meatier at ten weeks than this one did on the hoof.
I will kill the first of them next week at 16 weeks of age, more because I needed to work my way through the games first than not thinking they were ready to eat.

I prefer to kill one chicken, before first light on Saturday morning, for my Sunday dinner than kill a whole bunch and put them in the freezer.

More than one way to make a tasty chicken dinner. : )

 

[oaklandmama]

Thanks for all the expertise!

 

[redsoxs]

Great! Now I'm hungry!

 

[Noymira]

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