300 broilers- UPDATE

[bigredfeather]

One positive thing to keep in mind is that if these are going to be halved/grilled, they don't have to be huge birds. My customers that buy them for grilling usually want them around 3 pounds dressed. If you push them a little, they could easily reach that size in 6 weeks. I also think I would go with all cockerals instead of str8 run to shorten the growing time. If you have only done a batch(es) of 50, 300 is a big jump. You will be surprised how many more feeders/waterers you will need to keep them eating/drinking.

This may be difficult, but it's very doable.

 

[Flyboy718]

I wouldn't worry about food laws or anything of the sort...how is anyone purchasing a plate going to know where they came from? What is some government official going to show up and ask to see your receipt from walmart where you purchased the chicken...NO!

 

[PotterWatch]

Has the church done this before? If so, there may be someone who can give you some tips. I agree about ordering all cockerals. That will help keep your weights closer to the same across the whole batch. Have a plan in place for all the poop that will build up around the feeders and waterers. No matter how much space they have, they will tend to congregate around the food and water. I recommend using heat boxes for brooding rather than just hanging heat lamps. We have found that they work much better for large batches and you end up needing less lamps and using less electricity. If you are going to do the processing over a few different weeks, you may want to separate it into a few smaller batches.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Yikes. I hope hubby realizes that the work is going to be his and he didn't volunteer you to do all the work. That's a wonderful donation. Your hubs is generous.

You can do it. Lots if people raise that many birds at one time.

I think the shed will be adequate, especially if you can attach a large run to it so the birds can get outside. Some sunshine and fresh air makes for a better tasting bird. Then the shed for rain and for security at night so the predators don't get them.

As for butchering, if you get straight run, you can do the males one week end and the females the next and end up with birds close to the same size. I say go for the big 5 pound birds. Buyers love to get a great big meal and their eyes will pop when they see those huge pieces of grilled chicken.

I sure hope you really can get volunteers to butcher. That's a big job, but not too awful if there are lots of hands working at it.

As for health laws, churches and clubs are allowed to sell uninspected baked goods as fund raisers. A church here sells home made sausage, grilled at their fundraiser, and nobody has blinked about it. It wouldn't hurt to check into it, though.

 

[Beekissed]

To tell you the truth, I couldn't tell the hens from the roos on my CX as they were all the same size. Some of their combs were larger and I assumed they were roos but I'd open them to find no testes but a small ovary. Same with the opposite..small comb only to find it had small testes inside and an absence of ovary.

Straight run is cheaper and all the birds finish out within a pound of each other anyway, so I'd just get straight run. Central Hatchery is the cheapest place to get them...with shipping, I paid $60 for 50 CX chicks. Can't beat that price!

 

[BBUTTER]

I haven't looked into your state, but many states have laws that exempt you from a lot of the processing rules if you're doing under a certain number of birds. I'm sure 300 is well below the limit. Plus, you're not selling them. You're donating them, and the church is doing the selling of a cooked product. That's the same as a bake sale.

The expense is definitely going to be in equipment (besides feed). I volunteered for something similar a while back and got a local feed store to give me a discount on feed and chicks. It never hurts to ask!

 

[harleyjo]

I didn't want to start a fire storm here about the processing laws. I just know every state is different and there isn't a problem until there is a problem.

In that rare event that something happens if it were me I would want a little bit of peace of mind that I wasn't going to get into trouble for something.

I also think this is a great thing if they can do it. I also agree the equiptment and feed will be a big expense for 300 broilers. Hoovers hatchery right here in IA has great prices. They might be close enough to you that you could drive to pick them up.

 

[Beekissed]

Here's a tip for extra feeders at a cheap price~use rain guttering. Very cheap and you can hang it easily from the ceiling and it's just the perfect size for feeding large numbers of birds on both sides of the feeder. Just hang it from the ceiling with wires and you can raise it as the birds grow bigger. Water can be supplied with nipples on PVC pipes...makes for long rows of easy watering. You can get the nipples 5 in a pack at $3.97:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-Chicken-D...121?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a1a4a72e1

Who knows? This might be a yearly thing for you all, so investing in these adaptations for your chicken shed may pay off for a long time!

 

[the_great_snag]

If you have the full Featherman kit you are really going to be in great shape to do a large batch of birds. I have butchered with a whizbang and a gas grill for a scalder and did 50 in 2 hours. You should be able to approach 100 in that time if you have enough helpers eviscerating. I find the biggest time drag for me, if I have a tub plucker, is doing gizzards. I have never found a fast way to clean them out.

 

[OldGuy43]

My DH came home from a meeting at church yesterday and informed me he volunteered to raise 300 broilers for a church fundraiser. Oh my. He did get an earful about not asking me first!!! Last year was our first experience with meat birds, we raised 50 CRX in tractors in the backyard and LOVED it. Planned on doing 75 this year for ourselves. But we don't have experience raising that many!

Fortunately I think we have a good set-up for raising that many. We have a 500 sq ft shed that used to house several hundred leghorn layers & a good amount of yard we can fence off for them to free range during the day.

I'm more worried about the amount of work this will be! We've ordered the Featherman kit (scalder & the plucker & the cones) so that will help, and should have plenty of help processing- lots of people around here have raised chickens. We're planning on spreading out the work over several weekends & asking other church members to donate deep freezer storage room for the birds.

Any other advice from those with experience raising many broilers at a time? I'm really nervous that we'll do something wrong!

Two words:

IN SANE!