100 Broilers and Fermented Feed Project

[Arielle]

Just for experiment purposes and in case anyone else is wondering.....my question is.........why is hot water necessary to dip them in? What happens if they are not dipped in hot water?

Quote: I've never had an easy plucking job like this-- I wish!! lol

The heat releases the feathers for easy plucking. I have tried dry plicking. While it can be done for the msot part, Ihave never had a completely clean bird and had to work harder for a less pleaseing result.

I hand pluck so I use boiling water and as it cools can get 3 birds done. Sometimes I can get the skinn peeled off the legs to prep for the freezer for later brothe. BUt if using a plucker machine, the boiling temps are too much and I hear over and over the skin will tear.

How does everyone handle the hairs??

 

[foreverlearning]

I've never had an easy plucking job like this-- I wish!! lol

The heat releases the feathers for easy plucking. I have tried dry plicking. While it can be done for the msot part, Ihave never had a completely clean bird and had to work harder for a less pleaseing result.

I hand pluck so I use boiling water and as it cools can get 3 birds done. Sometimes I can get the skinn peeled off the legs to prep for the freezer for later brothe. BUt if using a plucker machine, the boiling temps are too much and I hear over and over the skin will tear.

How does everyone handle the hairs??

I would rather skin then dry pluck, just too much work for me. I run a long bic lighter (like the ones for lighting a gas stove) to get rid of the hairs. All the youtube videos on processing that I have seen have those little torches that you use for the top of some baked items. Not sure what they are called.

 

[Beekissed]

So they don't step in it.

It won't hurt to let them step in it as the deep litter and their running back and forth should take it right off...but you can give them side bars on the rain guttering feed troughs that will help keep some of them out of the feed. If not, you can always cover the trough with some fencing so that they can only get their heads into the feed but not walk in it. Here's a pic of a trough/gutter with side steps...

I'll remove the shavings and see if that works. I can't see how those little chicks can inhale that stuff cause I am having a hard time smelling it.

They are closer to the floor than you, so it will affect them more. From what you describe it sounds like it really could be the new shavings that caused the congestion....I had similar symptoms in some chicks when I added a bit of fresh cedar shavings to a flock lounge area. The lung irritation might take a little time to go away even after you remove the shavings, so you may hear that wheezing for a couple of weeks after they are no longer on the shavings.

I found that I Like and DO not like the shavings.

I like the shavings because it helps with keeping the poop under control and helps with the smell.

I DO NOT like the shavings because it gets in the food and the water and they are trying to eat the shavings. I had to physically pick up a broiler and take the shaving out of it's mouth.

I guess I can't have THE PERFECT bedding can I?

Nipple waterers are great for keeping the water clean....wonderful for meaties! The nipples are easy to obtain and install and you can use just about any kind of container to make a nipple bucket...

My local TSC has two types of pine shavings - fine and flake. They are in 5.5 cu ft bags. Both are the same price. I like to use the fine in the brooder.

I always use the flake because the pieces are too big for them to get into their mouths properly when they are little chicks and when they are older they know the difference between shavings and food.

I wanted to mention the cons (for me) as far as using the shavings.

This may sound picky but for me every second and every minute that I waste doing something else (that can be avoided), has an impact on the chores with my animals because those seconds and minutes add up. I say that to say that now I am having to take the waterers out of the brooders and get the shavings out of there. There are so many shavings in there and I don't want the shavings to be in the way of them drinking, that I have to clean it out twice a day. In a normal situation, I would simply walk outside the garage door and empty the water out. BUT since there are shavings in the water, I can't dump the water filled with shavings in the yard because shavings (littered yard) will be everywhere. So, I a bucket that I carry back and forth to both brooders and I tilt the waterer over so that I can pour the water in the base part out or swipe my fingers around the base, multiple times, to remove the shavings. This takes time because I have 4 gallon waterers total in all of the brooders. Same thing for the FF. Before I was using the shavings, I was scraping out any uneaten FF and giving to the animals in the chicken yard. Now, I can't do that. There are shavings in the FF and I'm afraid to feed this to my other animals because I know they will eat the shavings. Not sure what eaten shavings would do to them but I don't want to find out.

So, that's another thing that I will add to the PRO/CON list of raising my broilers at the end of this project.

Learning process.

Mentioned about this above. The shavings are great...just got to know how to work around them. Elevating feed and water out of the litter makes things easy...using nipple buckets make it the easiest of all.

When using the big flake shavings I didn't notice any of my meaties eating the shavings, even those with food on them. I just let them eat around the shavings that happen to get into the feed and would even knock out old feed right into the litter for them to clean up. No worries!

Temps for this week.


I wanted to put them out in the yard this Saturday but I had too many errands to run and I got back too late. And Sunday was too cool for them.

Like Aoxa, mine were done with a heat lamp at 3 wks and out on range at 2.5 wks at temps cooler than those shown here. I'd start weaning them off that heat lamp by only using it at night and raising it higher and higher each night until they harden off and grow out feathers.

 

[foreverlearning]

Advice from Beekissed! Hers is the best overall I have seen on the entire site.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I've never had an easy plucking job like this-- I wish!! lol

The heat releases the feathers for easy plucking. I have tried dry plicking. While it can be done for the msot part, Ihave never had a completely clean bird and had to work harder for a less pleaseing result.

I hand pluck so I use boiling water and as it cools can get 3 birds done. Sometimes I can get the skinn peeled off the legs to prep for the freezer for later brothe. BUt if using a plucker machine, the boiling temps are too much and I hear over and over the skin will tear.

How does everyone handle the hairs??

I use a meat thermometer and find 145-150 is the sweet spot for scalding. I dip and swirl, dip and swirl, dip and swirl. After a few of those dips, I tug on a flight feather. It should slide right out. If it requires any force, the bird isn't ready. Any additional scalding after the flight feathers give up will start cooking the fat.

I would rather skin then dry pluck, just too much work for me. I run a long bic lighter (like the ones for lighting a gas stove) to get rid of the hairs. All the youtube videos on processing that I have seen have those little torches that you use for the top of some baked items. Not sure what they are called.

Skinning is much faster (except for getting started on the legs and wings), Unless I want the whole carcass, I just skin and part out the breasts, wings, legs, reach in to extract liver and heart and I'm done.

...

They are closer to the floor than you, so it will affect them more. From what you describe it sounds like it really could be the new shavings that caused the congestion....I had similar symptoms in some chicks when I added a bit of fresh cedar shavings to a flock lounge area. The lung irritation might take a little time to go away even after you remove the shavings, so you may hear that wheezing for a couple of weeks after they are no longer on the shavings.

I recommend people getting down on their hands and knees to determine air quality - where the chicken lives.

Nipple waterers are great for keeping the water clean....wonderful for meaties! The nipples are easy to obtain and install and you can use just about any kind of container to make a nipple bucket...

The commercial industry uses nipples from the get go. It's the way to go. I like drinker cups for older birds.
I hate winter with chickens cause I have to shut down my nipple/drinker system.
Next year I'll have a circulating warm water system for the nipples. I'll love winter again.
...

Mentioned about this above. The shavings are great...just got to know how to work around them. Elevating feed and water out of the litter makes things easy...using nipple buckets make it the easiest of all.

I put feeders and waterers on bricks and keep raising them to keep the brims at birds back height.

When using the big flake shavings I didn't notice any of my meaties eating the shavings, even those with food on them. I just let them eat around the shavings that happen to get into the feed and would even knock out old feed right into the litter for them to clean up. No worries!

The feed store by me sells inexpensive large bales of horse stall pine shavings and that's what I use. Probably what you're using.

Like Aoxa, mine were done with a heat lamp at 3 wks and out on range at 2.5 wks at temps cooler than those shown here. I'd start weaning them off that heat lamp by only using it at night and raising it higher and higher each night until they harden off and grow out feathers.

I have one or two warm spots and lots of cool space for brooding. The chicks tend to wean themselves.

good points

 

[kuntrygirl]

Good morning everyone. The little buggars are doing good. No losses so far. They are going through feed like crazy. When I get home, the FF is just about gone and I have to fill the feeders up again. Then in the morning, the FF is all gone. I forgot to raise the wateres as suggested. Will get that done today. Looks like I need to change the bedding. There are areas where there are clumps of poop. I will have to remove that and put down more bedding.

I still don't like the shavings in the FF but I will have to live with it. To confirm my suspicions about the animals eating the FF that had shavings in it, I through some out in the yard yesterday sure enough the ducks were eating the shavings. I had to run them away from the shavings and pick up the mess.

I have been looking for my 3 test subjects whose toes I painted and I can't find them. I guess the polish came off. :/ So, now I'll have to find something else to mark them. I guess I could spray a little Blue Kote on their toes. I know that's not coming off. It takes days for it to come off of my fingers when I have used it in the past. Nonetheless, I was able to get a weight on a few.

Large Frame Broiler - 8.9 oz

Medium Frame Broiler - 7.6 oz

Small Fram Broiler - 5.4 oz

Now it's time to think about the next brooder to put them in. I have several areas (dog kennel pen) outside that I can put them in and I hope the weather cooperates. I checked the temps in the brooder this morning and it was 77. They were huddled up in groups this morning, so that tells me that they are cold. The heat lamp was on but they were still huddled up.

Crossing my fingers that my chicken plucker is built this weekend.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Beekissed, thank you very much for you comments and suggests. I really appreciate that.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: OH yes I know the ones youare talking about. THanks-- I'll look into getting one. THen no more hairs.

When characteristics of brids v mammals are named, I find it interesting that "birds have feathers" is given as well as"eggs" but the assumption was that they had no hair. GUess THAT is not correct. Mammals have hair but so do chickens!

Here's a pic of a trough/gutter with side steps...





Nipple waterers are great for keeping the water clean....wonderful for meaties! The nipples are easy to obtain and install and you can use just about any kind of container to make a nipple bucket...

THe nippples I use drip so I put a cake pan under neath with a block of wood to fit. CHicks don't stand in the dripped water rather they stand on the block of wood to reach the nipples. Otherwise the area becomes soggy very fast. I have tried 2 different makers, and one with a ruber ring, other with not. Sometimes the seal is good and other times need a silicone beading around the base. IDK a perect system yet.

"Medium Frame Broiler - 7.6 oz" Photo by kuntrygirl c. 2014

For some reason this strikes me as a peice of modern art!!

 

[aoxa]

OH yes I know the ones youare talking about. THanks-- I'll look into getting one. THen no more hairs.

When characteristics of brids v mammals are named, I find it interesting that "birds have feathers" is given as well as"eggs" but the assumption was that they had no hair. GUess THAT is not correct. Mammals have hair but so do chickens!


THe nippples I use drip so I put a cake pan under neath with a block of wood to fit. CHicks don't stand in the dripped water rather they stand on the block of wood to reach the nipples. Otherwise the area becomes soggy very fast. I have tried 2 different makers, and one with a ruber ring, other with not. Sometimes the seal is good and other times need a silicone beading around the base. IDK a perect system yet.


For some reason this strikes me as a peice of modern art!!

There are these nipple cups for buckets.

 

[Arielle]

Will the chicks operate this disign ok? Or is it smaller than it looks??lol