Trials And Tribulations Of Suburban Meat Bird Production

[ackie]

I dont raise meat birds, just barnyard mixes with a little game fowl and a little layer breed, but someone has been buying my roosters to eat. It's fantastic because I dont have any better way to get rid of them and apparently birds hatch 50/50, who knew. Anyway, they have clearly dealt with backyard breeders who arent comfortable selling their birds off to slaughter, so they claimed they were buying 20 roosters and 0 hens as pets.

We told them it was totally okay to eat them and they insisted they were pets - I suspect they had someone bait and switch them saying it was okay and then sending them away once they admitted it. (I searched roosters for sale on CL in my area and saw lots of 'free to a good home but not a stewpot!')

Anyway, we told them wed have more 'pets' for them in a couple months if they wanted, so they contacted me a couple weeks ago and I told them I'd just treated with Wazine and it had a 14 day withdrawal period - did they want to wait 14 days to pick up their pets? Yes.

I came on this thread because pulling my boys out of the trees tonight made me kinda sad to know where they were going - but its the best option for everyone. I figured yall would appreciate the story, that's tangentially related to suburban meat breeders lol.

 

[Kusanar]

I dont raise meat birds, just barnyard mixes with a little game fowl and a little layer breed, but someone has been buying my roosters to eat. It's fantastic because I dont have any better way to get rid of them and apparently birds hatch 50/50, who knew. Anyway, they have clearly dealt with backyard breeders who arent comfortable selling their birds off to slaughter, so they claimed they were buying 20 roosters and 0 hens as pets.

We told them it was totally okay to eat them and they insisted they were pets - I suspect they had someone bait and switch them saying it was okay and then sending them away once they admitted it. (I searched roosters for sale on CL in my area and saw lots of 'free to a good home but not a stewpot!')

Anyway, we told them wed have more 'pets' for them in a couple months if they wanted, so they contacted me a couple weeks ago and I told them I'd just treated with Wazine and it had a 14 day withdrawal period - did they want to wait 14 days to pick up their pets? Yes.

I came on this thread because pulling my boys out of the trees tonight made me kinda sad to know where they were going - but its the best option for everyone. I figured yall would appreciate the story, that's tangentially related to suburban meat breeders lol.

That is pretty funny. Glad you have found a good "pet" home for your excess roosters.

 

[ackie]

That is pretty funny. Glad you have found a good "pet" home for your excess roosters.

Me too!

I aided in slaughtering a chicken once (held him while someone else did the deed), and no matter how many times you've been told they still move with their heads off - man, that was a surprise. My instinct was that the bird was escaping and to grip harder.

 

[Birdinhand]

Hello all, I’m still at it, after all these years! Harvested 18 CX yesterday. I wanted to give an update on a big mistake I made that lead to a low survival rate, so that others can avoid this situation. I have continued getting my organic feed from Conway feeds near Mount Vernon. This time I called ahead as usual to make sure they had the organic broiler and they did not, they said to call back in a week, so I got my batch of 25 Cobb 500 CX started on scratch and peck. I called back in a week and they said they had the organic broiler in stock. So I made the trip but when I got there they were embarrassed to admit that they did in fact not have any organic broiler feed in stock, “someone” looked up the wrong feed… pretty sure it was the gal I was staring at. Ugh, I drove 45 miles each way, what a waste. The clerk said “but the egg layer formula is pretty close in protein and should work”, so I bought that instead and went on my way, not realizing that she had no idea what she was talking about and probably just felt bad for making me drive all that way for nothing. The birds ate it just fine, their droppings were firm and healthy, I figured all was good… until about week 5, I’m in the coop getting eggs and I heard a thud and a convulsive flutter, and I look over and one of the CX had flipped over onto its back and was apparently having a heart attack and went blue and lifeless right before my eyes :-(). I didn’t think much of it and chalked it up to crazy timing, since I had not lost a single bird from this batch and figured it was just par for the course. Then the next day, another one died, and then on a daily basis I walked in to the coop to find birds on their back, kind of paralyzed, able to look around and even eat but not stay upright. At that point I started looking up symptoms for Mareks and the symptoms seemed to match, which got me pretty flipped out, scratching my head being pretty sure they had been vaccinated. After a few more days and some more losses, I decided to check in with my supplier, Jenks, the hatchery in Oregon. They referred me to the owner, gave me his email, and said to send details and pictures to him. He got back to me pretty quick, and we started going over the photos and details. He confirmed that all their chicks are vaccinated for Marecks, that the vaccine is reliable and that definitely was not what was going on. He was certain it was a nourishment issue… gulp, head down, I mention how I was talked into buying layer formula instead. He said that’s it!

“When Cornish are fed an inadequate ration, they can essentially starve on the ration which will cause runting, stunting, poor growth and performance, as well as losses. layer feed is too low in protein for Cornish Cross, and does not contain the proper amino acid profile which Cornish need to grow properly. Cornish need 32 amino acids in order to thrive, and layer feed only has about 25, since layers don’t need a high protein diet, but do need extra calcium and sodium.”

So, that day I stopped feeding the layer and switched to scratch and peck broiler and bam, no more loses, even one of the stragglers bounced back. It was an overnight difference, plain as day. This was a hard lesson and now I had way, way more layer formula that my layers will consume in a year and now I was stuck paying crazy high prices for organic broiler feed… from mud bay, the boutique pet store, lol. I had read years ago on a thread about slowing CX growth down by free ranging, that peopl were experimenting with lower protein diets, so I thought I’d give it a try… welp, never again. CX are so drastically different from any other strain of chicken that they practically deserve their own designation, beyond just chicken. I will be having some words with the folks at Conway, asking if they can be more careful when checking inventory when I call so I don’t waste a trip and I will be passing on this nutrition information to stress that their reps don’t send anyone else down this rabbit hole. The good news is that most of the birds recovered, but ended up at week 9 having the weights of a 7 week old. I have concluded there is just no hay to be made messing with their diet, they are high performance and require an exacting feed. Using nipple waterers and a radiant heat pad instead of a heat lamp is the only variation in care that I have found makes a significant difference for them, as well as very deep litter, like 8” of broken down wood chips and compost. They are metabolic machines, an absolute wonder, providing a low carbon footprint meat source at a very low cost. I continue to marvel with renewed respect at how lucky the world is that someone stumbled across this cross. I hope this info is helpful!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Linking by request (and invitation) - on the math regarding differences in Crude Protein and Amino Acid profiles between "Layer" formulations and "Meatbird" formulations.

 

[Birdinhand]

It’s that time of year yet again, going on almost 8 years now! Got the call at 6:30 AM, latest batch

of Cornish cross had arrived, so off to the post office I went. This shipment included extras for friends, including some egg layers. They will all be raised together for the first couple of weeks.

 

[Birdinhand]

I used an especially deep litter to prep the grow out area, the tailings my layers have made from a year of grinding up kitchen waste and discarded greens from the garden. Lots of fiber, a good base to soak up all the moisture from the CX, which forms into clods that I huck into the tumbler compost. It will make excellent compost!

 

[Birdinhand]

Ok, so the first night was rough, they were outside, it was below freezing when I woke, but amazingly, they all stayed tucked in under the towels under the mother heating pad. But then morning came and they ventured out, attracted to the morning light, they huddled at one end, and two got cold, passed out, and got trampled. I work from home and know to check on them frequently the first day. I found the two completely limp, lifeles, no sign of breathing but my instincts said that if they weren’t stiff, there might still be hope, so I took them and brought them inside and put them under a radiant heat source, using the lazer temp gun to adjust the distance and heat level on the heater to nail the temp in the high 90’s, close to their normal body temp. Within 30 minutes they started coming to and within an hour were up, drinking water and eating… stunning! Moral of the story, a chick can look dead and just be hypothermic. Here is a before and after pick, one hour apart.

 

[Molpet]

Ok, so the first night was rough, they were outside, it was below freezing when I woke, but amazingly, they all stayed tucked in under the towels under the mother heating pad. But then morning came and they ventured out, attracted to the morning light, they huddled at one end, and two got cold, passed out, and got trampled. I work from home and know to check on them frequently the first day. I found the two completely limp, lifeles, no sign of breathing but my instincts said that if they weren’t stiff, there might still be hope, so I took them and brought them inside and put them under a radiant heat source, using the lazer temp gun to adjust the distance and heat level on the heater to nail the temp in the high 90’s, close to their normal body temp. Within 30 minutes they started coming to and within an hour were up, drinking water and eating… stunning! Moral of the story, a chick can look dead and just be hypothermic. Here is a before and after pick, one hour apart.

Yes I have found "dead" chicks and poults that got lost from broodies. After realizing the first one blinked, I started stuffing them in my shirt. By the time I get into the house and setup they are recovering.

 

[Birdinhand]

Yes I have found "dead" chicks and poults that got lost from broodies. After realizing the first one blinked, I started stuffing them in my shirt. By the time I get into the house and setup they are recovering.

Ha, right?! They go right into my pocket, or even sometimes under my shirt, for direct skin contact… probably horrifying to some people but to me their life is precious, even if short, even when I’m eating them at the end of the process… their life is valuable to me, emotionally as well as $$ wise.