1 Step Closer.....

[kbarrett]

I've been reading all the posts here and would love to grow out a small amount of broilers to have fresh chicken and won't worry when I see the next meat contamination warnings/ recalls in the news. I'm thinking a small tractor that I can move daily and try to do 10-15 this fall. DH is almost on board

I'm sure when my layers start producing breakfast (hopefully next month) he'll be more apt to join my efforts on this next project

I'm so excited to have found someone who processes chickens! Believe it or not the farm is only 1mi from my house and they just returned my call to let me know they do still butcher & charge $1.40 per bird. That's WAY cheaper than I was expecting and will greatly reduce the numbers I will put in front of DH. I think he is still a bit shocked from the grocery store report I gave him from the weekend....whole chickens, store brand, unstuffed, average size priced over $9.00, I couldn't even find a scrawny pidgeon sized one for under 9 bucks and we're very rural, I can't imagine what city folks are paying! Needless to say I didn't put any poultry in the freezer this weekend....hopefully I'll need the room for later this fall

 

[HFC]

$1.40 to butcher is a steal. I would never pick up a knife if somebody around here would do it for that!

Good luck!

 

[arlee453]

I'm one step closer myself. Making plans to split an meat bird order with another BYCr when it gets a but cooler!

 

[willheveland]

Quote:
That's why I don't process.When you do 40-50 birds in a batch,you can't heat up the water for $1.40 each.If a guy is willing to do that for you,give him all the business you can and tell your friends.Because if he leaves you'll really miss him.These processors don't just pop up all over like used car lots.
Will

 

[jjparke]

I don't know where you are but I would wait for it to start to cool off. I am almost finished with my first batch and I can tell you they don't like the heat. Definitely a good investment though.

 

[kbarrett]

I'm in Eastern PA, it's been very hot & humid here the last few days for sure! If I manage to get this done this fall I think I'll shoot for chicks arriving at the end of Aug. or 1st week of Sept. I have an idea of the type of tractor I want to do, most importantly it has to be be light enough that I can move it myself. I think I have most to all of the materials I'll need out of the dumpster diving I did for coop materials.....the coop has been done for like 2mo & I'm still eyeballing dumpsters for salvagable material....DH is worried about me

 

[kbarrett]

So I have another question....

Are you all ordering st. run chicks? If you're ordering a specific gender which is it and why do you prefer them.

Thanks!

 

[willheveland]

With some Hatcherys you don't get a choice,but with the ones that do,I would prefer males because from what I have raised I do notice the males growing bigger.Some will say this is not so.But I have seen it,males on the average get bigger faster.I think with MMM they only charge $.10 more for males(yes that"s 10 cents) so for me t is worth it.I'm surprized that they sex them for only 10 cents more. Will

 

[Omniskies]

Females don't grow as quickly as males (they're a week or so behind) and are worthless egg layers since it's so hard to keep them alive after a certain point. Because of that most hatcheries will sell the roosters for a little more than the hens. Typically the prices go: roosters most expensive, straight run, pullets least expensive.

I always do straight run. The hens growing a little slower isn't a big deal to me. Especially since I've been experimenting and holding back some of the hens to gather eggs from. I don't know whether it's true or not, but the pullets seem to do a little better than the roosters since they don't grow quite as fast.

McMurray only charges ten cents more per rooster, but they also charge nearly a dollar more than most hatcheries

Meyer Hatchery sells their Cornish Rocks for under a dollar when you order 11+. At 50 they're $0.85 each - and that's for a straight run. I haven't noticed McMurray's birds being any better than Meyer's, or any of the other hatcheries we've tried out.

 

[kbarrett]

Thanks Will & Omniskies!