100 Broilers and Fermented Feed Project

[Pine Roost]

There's a lot of good stuff on this thread... I have another question to throw in here. The pen that my broilers will be in has 4' high walls. Do yall think that they will be flying out all the time? Yall's advice will help me decide to make that walls higher or leave them as is.
Thanks.

 

[aoxa]

There's a lot of good stuff on this thread... I have another question to throw in here. The pen that my broilers will be in has 4' high walls. Do yall think that they will be flying out all the time? Yall's advice will help me decide to make that walls higher or leave them as is.
Thanks.

Nope. By the time they have enough wing span to fly that high, they are too heavy usually.. unless you have something they can jump up on first before flying over.

 

[Beekissed]

There's a lot of good stuff on this thread... I have another question to throw in here. The pen that my broilers will be in has 4' high walls. Do yall think that they will be flying out all the time? Yall's advice will help me decide to make that walls higher or leave them as is.
Thanks.

That depends...my last bunch could have cleared that easily, even up to 7-8 wks old, but they were free ranged all over 3 acres from 2 wks old and were quite nimble and agile. One even made it to the top of my coop, which is about 5'10". They had restricted feed and a lot of exercise and they were motivated to fly, hop, climb and run....but not many meaties are, especially those raised in a pen, so I'm thinking you will be fine unless you have birds like I had.

 

[Pine Roost]

Ok, that's what I was hoping for. They will not be free ranging much, if any. Will just be fed in the 30'x30' pen. hopefully I can fatten em up so they don't want to fly.

 

[Arielle]

Bee, do you ever use the cone on a tree emthod with an ax??? I imagine you don't as it would injur the tree.

My DH is very good with an ax; I have held an injured bird while he provides a speeedy end with dealy accruacy. Meaning I"m holding the birds neck out and know I won't get the ax!! BUT he will not dispatch a bird for dinner or the freezer. NO no no.

THinking an ax method would be better than a knife. A little less personal.

 

[foreverlearning]

The ax is harder for one person, those suckers are quick to move their heads! Two people is best.

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, do you ever use the cone on a tree emthod with an ax??? I imagine you don't as it would injur the tree.

My DH is very good with an ax; I have held an injured bird while he provides a speeedy end with dealy accruacy. Meaning I"m holding the birds neck out and know I won't get the ax!! BUT he will not dispatch a bird for dinner or the freezer. NO no no.

THinking an ax method would be better than a knife. A little less personal.

My boys wanted me to let them use a machete while the birds were in the cone, but I value the tree and there's too much room for error when one is swinging from way back.

Boys! It's easier to just grab the head and slice it off in one fluid motion than to hack at it and hope your swing and aim are good, so I said NO. I'm sure if a person practiced it they could do it with pretty good accuracy most of the time but the poor tree would get nicked quite a bit.

 

[Arielle]

Kuntrygirl-- I know you are still working on the first processing step. HOnestly the first time I worked on butchering a pig I had an emotional breakdown. I've not raised a pig since. With the lambs, I loaded them on a truck with my emotions on hold, pushed them off the truck to a holding pen, and pick up the white packages a week later. ANd the same with the turkeys the first time: drop off turkeys and pick up meat..

It has been a 30 year process . . . . . you however don't have 30 years to get up to speed. Sorry to say ,you have about 6 weeks . . . . maybe.

If you are like me, I have an emergency mode where my emotions get shoved into a corner and I deal with the process at hand. I have somehow survived seeing my sons knee smashed open having fallen on a rock, and limiting myself to closing my eyes for a moment and declaring firmy we need to go the emergency room for stitches. THat is the same mode I go into during the killing. ANd I thank each one, and say a prayer. IT is how I cope with . . . this. Perhaps you can focus on the process, create a quota to meet to help focus on the goal of getting thisjob done before dark THey were made to be eaten. You know they are GOod quality food. VERY good quality food.

 

[Angelicisi]

We just got 2 with the plucker...the cones. They run 25 bucks but looks like just a piece of riveted flashing. You could easily make one.

traffic cones can be cut to size too.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Kuntrygirl-- I know you are still working on the first processing step. HOnestly the first time I worked on butchering a pig I  had an emotional breakdown.  I've not raised a pig since.  With the lambs, I loaded them on a truck with  my emotions on hold, pushed them off the truck to a holding pen, and pick up the white packages a week later. ANd the same with the turkeys the first time: drop off turkeys and pick up meat.. 

It has been a 30 year process . . . . . you however don't have 30 years to get up to  speed. Sorry to say ,you have about 6 weeks . . . .  maybe.

If you are like me, I have an emergency mode where my emotions get shoved into a corner and I deal with the process at hand. I have somehow survived seeing my sons knee smashed open having fallen on a rock, and  limiting myself to closing my eyes for a moment and declaring firmy we need to go the emergency room for stitches. THat is the same mode I go into during the killing. ANd I thank each one, and say a prayer. IT is how I cope with  . . . this. Perhaps you can focus on the process, create  a quota to meet to help focus on the goal of getting thisjob  done before dark THey were made to be eaten. You know they are GOod quality food. VERY good quality food. 

That's a good way of putting it.

Yes, I do let my emotions get in the way when it comes to my animals. I remember years ago when we took my first ram to the butcher. I cried like a baby IN the butcher shop when it was time for them to cut the meat. My family told me to go and sit in the truck until I got myself together. It was very emotional for me. I went back in and then I saw them carrying the carcass out and put it on the table . I lose it AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

Since then I've gotten better but not to the point I need to be. :/

And yes, I do know it's good quality food.