100 Broilers and Fermented Feed Project

[ChickenCanoe]

perchie, others can answer your questions about bleeding and keeping clean better than I, but I wanted to respond about doing it all on your own.

I am married and have a capable other person to help out. Who doesn't, at all (chicken-stuff at least...he can hold his own in the household in other places). The chicken stuff is all up to me. I will say that I think it will be very, very demanding to raise CX and make a profit, doing all the work yourself. I raise batches of 10 CX at a time, and 10 alone is a bit taxing on me! The butchering...the set up, the process, the cleanup...for 3 birds took 1.5 hours this weekend. Okay, that's not much time, and most of it was set up and clean up, but 6 birds is the most I can handle butchering at one time. I'm youngish and fit, and still find it tiring! I think it would be very hard work to actually try to process enough birds to make a profit, if it is you and you alone doing everything. Dang near impossible if you are otherwise working fulltime and/or have kids to take care of. If your job is the chickens, then it might be more realistic.

If you raised quail, that might be much easier to process in quantities all alone--no gutting, no plucking, no rib scraping for the dang lungs....basically just ripping the breast bone up and away.

I just re-read--yes, you can easily raise and process the chickens for your own table, no problem. I think the problem would lie in trying to process enough chickens to make money, totally by yourself. Even with one other person to help out, the difficulties are much less.

X2

I'm the lone ranger here when it comes to anything outdoors.

@ $11.99 lb. That is outrageous! Doesn't it make you want to get more meat birds?

I've had several friends tell me they'd pay whatever I asked for just one of my chickens processed.
I just didn't have the heart to ask 30 even though I had at least that in them in the bird, food, electricity, labor, etc..

AMEN!

I know exactly what you mean. I'm a 1 woman team and it's about to kill me and my remaining number is below 100 (maybe 90 left) being as though some have already been processed.

I would kill myself if I had to do this again with this many. Next time will be no more than 20. It's too much for 1 person to handle.

Although I do have enough people who will buy all of them, the problem there lies filing the orders in a timely manner. I can only take 1 maybe 2 orders at a time.

I do one or two at a time now. I had 50 Freedom Rangers at this time last year. I wondered how in the world I had the time to get them all done.
Then I had a brainstorm. I posted on our local chicken meetup that I would be conducting 2 classes on chicken processing. Enrollment filled up fast. I timed the classes so we could process half as Cornish game hens and the rest as big birds at 8 weeks.
I gave away a randomly selected attendance prize of one bird at each event.

Strictly for crafting and artwork AND for people who Tie Flys for Fly fishing. You know youcan ask anything you want for something Wether or not you get it is another thing.

I want to give Guinea pelts a try if I do some processing of my own. Their feathers are SOOOO pretty even the ones you pick up in the yard can be used for making earrings and artsy stuff.

deb

I've been wanting to do pelts and capes every time I process but it is such a painstaking process. You have to carefully skin the whole head. They want those tiny feathers around the eyes and comb.

 

[kuntrygirl]

 

 
Fly Tiers.....  Here is a page that shows what whole pelts go for.....  Just about anything.....

http://www.featheremporium.com/full-skins.html

FWIW a Peacock pelt goes for .....   drum roll......  1500.00

This site shows them prepared by people who do this sort of thing.  I have seen the stretched dried pelts on Ebay.

deb

I think we are in the wrong line of work! Can you eat them or use them for anything else? It would be a shame to skin them and not have a use for the rest. Where do people come up with these ideas?

Strictly for crafting and artwork AND for people who Tie Flys for Fly fishing.   You know youcan ask anything you want for something  Wether or not you get it is another thing.

I want to give Guinea pelts a try if I do some processing of my own.  Their feathers are SOOOO pretty even the ones you pick up in the yard can be used for making earrings and artsy stuff.

deb

Let us know how the pelts turn out. That is a great idea. Good luck.

 

[kuntrygirl]

ChickenCanoe, that's the bad thing about the meat birds. We know how much money it takes to feed them but other people don't realize that. I don't think I would have the heart to ask for a lot of money for the meat birds.

The orders that I'm taking, I"m letting them know that as soon as I process their birds, I will bring them to them after I am done. And then I will go to the next person on the list. I'll take my time with them. I have a few orders that I have to get out this weekend. 1 lady wants a whole broiler and 3 leg quarters. And someone else wants 3 broilers and backs and legs. I have a mixture of orders, parts, pieces, etc. It's interesting.

 

[Arielle]

How long do you all let your meat birds rest in the fridge? Or do you let them rest? Is it ok to pack and freeze immediately after processing?

Your thoughts............

I usually try to get one bird in the oven quick-quick to miss the rigor issues; and when they come out of the freezer-- I roast until tender. We have a big frig, but not always room, so I found work arounds. THis is what has worked best for me.

CC has far more experience than I do.

 

[Arielle]

ChickenCanoe, that's the bad thing about the meat birds. We know how much money it takes to feed them but other people don't realize that. I don't think I would have the heart to ask for a lot of money for the meat birds.

The orders that I'm taking, I"m letting them know that as soon as I process their birds, I will bring them to them after I am done. And then I will go to the next person on the list. I'll take my time with them. I have a few orders that I have to get out this weekend. 1 lady wants a whole broiler and 3 leg quarters. And someone else wants 3 broilers and backs and legs. I have a mixture of orders, parts, pieces, etc. It's interesting.

KG-- you are too kind. YOur time and money IS worth $$$$$. THere are people that will pay for that, you just need to find them. I have reached a point where I only process for my self. IF I have to bring to a licensed butcher I cannot make any money. THe butcher kindly tried to sell one of my 35# BBW for $120 and that person said no. Was very distressful to not make the sale. BUt I have found customers that pay $75 for a 15 lb heritage. They ate the same food! Maybe it was the price point IDk, or a difference in food philosophy, again IDK. I don't sell my cull roosters for $7 any more either. Used to think that was good money, now I put them in my own freezer. I looked at the cost of organic chicken priced at almost $5 a pound dressed and vacuum packed. Figured I could beat that price easily because my time is free for my own family.

I still buy grocery chicken when it is on sale. THough I do wonder for how much longer. I am mentally and physically in transition.

I asked a friend how many chickens she eats a year-- 300. Not sure if that includes feeding the dogs, though probably. Usually just 1-2 adults for meals, as DH is often away. I like chicken, like turkey better, and duck is ooolala.

Better go put a pot on. Need to do in the bronze colored turkey to get him out of that pen. He is gorgeous . . . . but then they all are.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Well yesterday was an unplanned but productive day. We processed 10 broilers on yesterday. I was lucky enough to have some surprised unplanned help. It only took us a couple hours but my help got tired. His back and feet were hurting. I was ready to process more but he wanted to take a break and we never got back to doing it again. Oh well, I"m happy with 10.

Here are a few weights that I was able to take.


Live weight Processed Weight
5.10 lbs --- 4.20 lbs
4.77 lbs ---- 3.88 lbs
4.24 lbs ---- 3.40 lbs
4.12 lbs ---- 3.21 lbs


Other processed weights.
3 lbs 6 ounces
3 lbs 2.5 ounces
3 lbs 2.5 ounces
2 lbs 15.7 ounces
2 lbs 14.2 ounces
2 lbs 12.7 ounces

The livers, hearts and gizzards for all 10 birds weighed 2.56 Pounds. They will be used to make our famous Southern Dirty Rice (rice dressing).

The weather will be 76 degrees tomorrow, so I will try to get out there and do more. It will be a 1 woman job tomorrow, so I'll have my music and my muscadine wine and try to get more done. Since, I will be alone, I will be able to get both live and dressed weights with pics. Sometimes, other people don't understand how we chicken people have to have these details, pics, etc. My help was worried about me dirtying up (that's not a word) my phone with blood, water, etc and really wasn't excited about me taking pics. I'll be able to get this on tomorrow and will have pics to post.

I must say that the broiler meat was beautiful. We skinned all of them and the skin just fell off once we started pulling back. I already see a difference in the broiler pen with less and less birds. There are still several birds that are still small. It's really sad because feeding those birds was a WASTE!!!!!! I have no meat to show for those birds. Really sad. I will not be buying those broilers again next year.

 

[Angelicisi]

Great job!

 

[Coralietg]

Those are some excellent weights! I hope you notice a small amount of difference in caring for a couple less. It seems like you've had these birds forever!

 

[kuntrygirl]

Great job!

Thank you.

How are yours coming along? Have you processed any yet? If not, what are you plans? I'm so ready for this to be OVER with.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Those are some excellent weights! I hope you notice a small amount of difference in caring for a couple less. It seems like you've had these birds forever!

You bet I noticed a difference. When I was feeding last night, there was not a lot of pushing and shoving and a lot of feed let over. I loved it. I hope to see more of a difference this weekend. I will have to count to see how many are left.

How are yours coming along?