Trials And Tribulations Of Suburban Meat Bird Production

[Lookin4GoodLife]

Glad it's going better for you this time. I wish I could get my kids interested in something like this, but the youngest is 14 and she won't have anything to do with it. I've got 4 nephews from 12 down to 2 that stay with us a good bit, though, so I'm hoping I can get them interested. Thanks for the update and I'm looking forward to hearing how the processing goes!

 

[Birdinhand]

Glad it's going better for you this time. I wish I could get my kids interested in something like this, but the youngest is 14 and she won't have anything to do with it. I've got 4 nephews from 12 down to 2 that stay with us a good bit, though, so I'm hoping I can get them interested. Thanks for the update and I'm looking forward to hearing how the processing goes!

we decided a couple of years ago that the time is now, that we have a few more short years to capture their interest and then they are off to their own races, hopefully with some inspiration and wisdom to help carry them through.

 

[Birdinhand]

here's a week 7 update! they are growing fast, I switched them from a 17% to a 20% grower formula a few days ago and noticed their droppings became much more watery and they became more dirty. I'm thinking that some of my success this year with keeping them cleaner and more active and more apparently healthy may be due to going with a lower protein non-soy feed for the bulk of their grow out. I'm wondering what impact staying with a 17% formula till harvest day would have on their weight. any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

they are now getting heavy enough that they are slowing down and sitting around more. I had to separate two of the cockerels because they were really getting into it for prolonged periods, pulling feathers and starting to look beat up... I had already divvied the group out between three pens to give them more room so I just swapped the roos and voila, no more fighting. the composting continues to go well, it's kind of amazing how much more manageable it is with the wood chips the jaraform tumbler composter and the way I'm just removing the clods. last week I thought for a second that what was coming out of the side of the composter was smoke instead of steam, but it turned out to just be a lot of steam.

Harvest day is about a week away! I have not decided on the exact day yet but I've been getting the space ready.

here are the kiddos posing with a comparison of our speckled sussex with the Cobb 500 CX and a shot of the head of steam coming off the composter, which for me just never gets old!

 

[twigcrafter]

 

[Lookin4GoodLife]

Harvest day is about a week away! I have not decided on the exact day yet but I've been getting the space ready.

So? Have you butchered yet? Inquiring minds want to know!

 

[Birdinhand]

So? Have you butchered yet? Inquiring minds want to know!

yes, report forthcoming and hopefully it is popcorn worthy, LOL! overall, it went quite well and I have honed down some of my skills and processes to the point where the work to reward ratio is decent.

 

[Birdinhand]

Well now that the dust has settled and I got through this crazy week of work, children wrangling with the wife away and chicken harvesting I thought I'd do a little update on how things went.

all 37 of my Cobb 500 made it to slaughter. a few developed leg issues toward the last few days and all were becoming lead balloons, it was time. they had about 60 pretty good days frolicking around and eating some of the finest food money can buy and in the end only had a brief difficult but humane final moment. I am always struck by how putting on a hard heart does not have to mean being oblivious to the living conditions and emotions of a living organism that you are harvesting for your own sustenance. efficiency and grace are often at odds in this world and while I will always be striving for a better balance I do believe that this time around I achieved something I can be reasonably proud of. I harvested in three groupings over a five day period to pace myself. I had two friends who were willing to help, which made the process more enjoyable.

below are the harvesting bucket cones I made based on a youtube demo I ran across. I almost bought stainless ones but when the cashier rung them up at the Monroe coop my eyes got big and I just couldn't justify paying well over $100 for something I could make for under $20 with tools I already own. I found this cute video to be quite helpful and endearing,

. you can use a jig saw, a table saw or do it the quick and dirty way, so as not to cut off any of your own limbs, by using a hand held circular saw. the buckets were about $3 a piece. the result is a durable, easy to disinfect cone that works just as well if not better than the stainless steel version at a fraction of the cost. In the final version I slid the plastic handle to one side and bent the wire at the mid point to help stabiles the cones.



my brother in law took a look at the photos and watched a video or two and suggested securing the head of the chicken somehow, which has been something I have been thinking about so I messed around and came up with this method. I used a board below the cones with screws measured correctly for the size of the chicken's head. in the final version I angled the screws down. they worked very well, particularly for directing the blood into the buckets with less mess all around. I severed the arteries on both sides of the neck and then placed the head between the screws, having the screws at the appropriate distance from the bucket for the desired tension.



From the cones the chickens went to the scalding station. I went with 145 degree water but that seemed a little cool, requiring that they spend a bit too much time in the plucker which caused a broken wing and leg in the first couple till I raised the temp up to more in the 155 to 160 degree range (actual mileage may very depending on the calibration of one's thermometer).



and below is my brand new yard bird chicken plucker. I will never resort to a hand held drill bit plucker again. the yard bird is really remarkably well built for the money. I got it for $399 through tractor supply on spring sale, far less than the parts alone for the whizbangplucker.com. the yard bird comes with a strong farm duty motor, works best if plucking two chickens at a time and does a decent job of washing the feathers out and cleaning the birds. I built a slab with a drain tied in to my cistern overflow that feeds my rain garden, it all worked remarkably well, much better than having "fowl" water mucking up the place. the switch and motor are sealed and come with a GFI plug which is then recommended for a GFI circuit, since water and electricity have a certain ravenous "on and off again" love affair, with long nails and a sharp bite. the drum of the yard bird is held on firmly by several clips that are easy enough to release for thorough cleaning/disinfecting. I made a clorox spray solution to spray everything down in between days of use as microbes and chickens are like magnets and metal shavings. I have no illusions that my organic approach to raising my chickens somehow results in any less of a microbial hazard than a factory set up. I assume the hazard is there, every step of the way, from day one, through handling and processing to the freezer and then on to the oven. in fact studies show that organic chickens have higher microbial levels than one's given antibiotics, which makes sense if you think about it. it's nothing to be shy about, but it is something to factor in. I take seven steps to protect me and my family: 1) wash hands after contact throughout grow out. 2) careful evisceration so as to avoid fecal contamination of the meat. 3) disinfection of processing tools and surfaces with a bleach spray solution. 4) quickly chilling the meat after harvest in an ice bath. 5) slow freezing all the meat eaten which kills much of the bacteria compared to flash freezing. 6) I am careful not to contaminate kitchen surfaces when unpacking and preparing the bird for cooking. 7) I thoroughly cook the bird at 350 f for two hours. while beef is good rare, chicken just plain isn't and fortunately it gets softer when backed thoroughly in a covered backing dish. I periodically review my practices and adjust accordingly based on the new things I learn.



below is a photo of one of the batches after being vacuum sealed and getting placed in our fridge for chilling before freezing. every available space is taken up in our freezers and fridge!




As for the waste, I will pass on a few lessons. I will never again try and compost entrails. I know it seems like a bad idea in the first place but I have been so impressed with my insulated composter that I wondered if it could safely be done. In the end I do believe it was safely done but the stench reached a rather fevered pitch and I'm just fortunate enough to have some tolerant neighbors. Images of the health department coming in with hazmat suits and reporters swarming kept coming to mind... never again! after experimenting with a small batch and failing, I simply dug an 18" deep hole and buried the rest, no smell, no fuss, no flies and eventually the fruit trees will get to the nutrients so, no waste! I removed the organ meats and legs, kept the livers and sent off the legs, gizzards and hearts to a friend with a happy dog. the feathers make great compost, so those are in line for the composter. my father taught me at an early age that we must revere life that we take for sustenance and honor it by using every part we can. so in my own way, I have achieved this and am doing my best to pass on some sort of legacy of values to my children with the hopes that some of it gets through.

 

[Birdinhand]

I thought I'd add a post about the economics:

I went through 9.5, 50 lb bags of grain, or 475 lbs/$380 of grain to produce 170 lbs dressed. I spent about an additional $50 to purchase and ship the chicks and another $10 in electricity to run the heat lamp bringing to the total cost to $420, which works out to 2.79 lbs of grain per lb of meat dressed or $2.47/lb. the cheapest price I can buy organic chicken meat is over $3 a lb and that is not soy free or ethically raised. this grain was soy free which would have raised the cost per lb at the market. I am very pleased with the conversion rate, it still seems mind boggling that the cobb 500 CX can come in under a 3 to 1 grain to meat ratio, it's got to be one of the most efficient meat producers on the planet. it's also worthy of note that the cobb 500 are not the what people think of when they describe CX typically, these were lively birds with lots of energy and pluck. as for the cost per lb, without taking into account depreciating assets like the money spent on the coop and tools of the trade or the value of my time or on the other hand, the value of the byproduct of excellent fertilizer/compost, I am able to come in at roughly half what it would cost me to buy this product in the market, it would be considered a craft specialty meat and go for a pretty penny. all around, I feel pretty good about the rate of return for something more akin to a hobby and I take pride in growing some of my own food for my family.

the one thing I will be working to hone in future grow outs is to figure out the ideal food for the various stages of development, keeping a thoughtful eye on what keeps the birds the healthiest. switching to a high protein grain towards the end appeared to have a marked negative effect on their overall health and vitality though it did cause them to take on weight more rapidly. I do wonder, what is the ideal balance?

 

[twigcrafter]

Thanks for starting this thread and sharing your experience.
Today I purchased the yardbird chicken plucker. You should get commission lol. I went to TSC and ordered it from there to be shipped to my house. after taxes it came to $424.00 plus some odd change. I was worried I wouldn't get it at the same online price, but they worked it out for me.

Free shipping! right to my door. I like the idea of ordering through the store incase it's defective or something.

This is my first time with meat birds and I was dreading the idea of plucking a chicken. Now I'm dreading gutting one, but if I watch enough videos I'll be ready. Or not, but there's no turning back now.
Also I just wanted to commend you on teaching your children where food comes from.

 

[Birdinhand]

Thanks for starting this thread and sharing your experience.
Today I purchased the yardbird chicken plucker. You should get commission lol. I went to TSC and ordered it from there to be shipped to my house. after taxes it came to $424.00 plus some odd change. I was worried I wouldn't get it at the same online price, but they worked it out for me.

Free shipping! right to my door. I like the idea of ordering through the store incase it's defective or something.

This is my first time with meat birds and I was dreading the idea of plucking a chicken. Now I'm dreading gutting one, but if I watch enough videos I'll be ready. Or not, but there's no turning back now.
Also I just wanted to commend you on teaching your children where food comes from.

oh that's awesome, I think you will like it, it will make life soo much better. plucking is a chore. as for butchering, drop me a note if you want any pointers I'm happy to share what I know. I grew up on a farm and we butchered pigs and chickens and learned a thing or two. the most difficult thing to manage is cutting around the vent without piercing the intestines. I hang the birds by one foot. I use a washer with string through it so that I can easily synch down and have the leg held firmly. I will show a picture. with the birds hanging, the insides are pulled by gravity downward, away from the vent. I make a cut straight back toward the tail to either side of the vent. from there I locate the intestine and work around it. you need a razor sharp knife. hope that helps! I'd show graphic pictures but I'm not sure if it would offend anyone.