Best practices for ethical meat birds raising

[CDee]

Talk to me about ethical meat birds practices.

This is my first year processing. I'm learning a lot as I go. We got 5 cornish× because that's what there seemed to be the most information about and they were most accessible to me. But I'm not going to lie, they're kinda making me depressed.

The whole reason I wanted to process our own meat (aside from knowing where it comes from) was to do it in a more ethical and eco conscious way. I'm doing my best to give my meaties a good life - or as good a life as I can. They have toys and enrichment in their brooder, they get fresh water multiple times a day, they have access to a dust bath and perch. They have a good size run waiting for them outside when it warms up. But the fact that they are designed to grow faster than their bones or bodies can support seems so cruel.

I've been reading The Small Scale Poultry Flock by Harvey Ussery and he touches on using excess roosters from his own breeding practices for meat. I don't want to do Cornish again. My husband wants to do the free rangers, I'm open to either that or breeding dual purpose birds.

What are the best practices for this? It would also be a plus for me if my meaties and layers could live together.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Talk to me about ethical meat birds practices.

This is my first year processing. I'm learning a lot as I go. We got 5 cornish× because that's what there seemed to be the most information about and they were most accessible to me. But I'm not going to lie, they're kinda making me depressed.

The whole reason I wanted to process our own meat (aside from knowing where it comes from) was to do it in a more ethical and eco conscious way. I'm doing my best to give my meaties a good life - or as good a life as I can. They have toys and enrichment in their brooder, they get fresh water multiple times a day, they have access to a dust bath and perch. They have a good size run waiting for them outside when it warms up. But the fact that they are designed to grow faster than their bones or bodies can support seems so cruel.

I've been reading The Small Scale Poultry Flock by Harvey Ussery and he touches on using excess roosters from his own breeding practices for meat. I don't want to do Cornish again. My husband wants to do the free rangers, I'm open to either that or breeding dual purpose birds.

What are the best practices for this? It would also be a plus for me if my meaties and layers could live together.

I breed my own out of specific cross breeds for meat.
Just hatch out however many I want to butcher, & butcher all, or keep a few back for breeding. I try to cycle it, to about 1-2 times a year.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What do you want from a meat bird? Some people are all about quantity. Some are really interested in cost per pound of meat. Some like to be able to delay butchering. Some want to breed and hatch their own. If you pluck feather color may be important, if you skin it's not. How important to you is how you cook them? The age you butcher them might be important to that.

The Cornish X were designed to be butchered at 6 to 8 weeks of age and fed a certain way. They are very efficient in a feed to meat conversion so the least expensive to grow. They are butchered so young that they can be cooked any way you want. Because they eat so much they poop a lot so you will probably spend time on poop management. You butcher both males and females.

Rangers are designed to grow a little slower than the CX and are better suited to being pasture raised. If raised the way they are designed they should be butchered around 12 weeks of age but can usually be delayed a bit. They are still young enough that you can cook them anyway you wish but if you delay much they may not be that good for frying or grilling. You butcher both males and females.

Dual purpose are a lot harder to talk about because there is so much variety in them. I'm not sure where to start, especially considering ethics. I hatch my own from my dual purpose laying flock. I raise my own replacement layers and eat the excess girls and the boys. I feed them all the same thing (a low calcium feed with oyster shell on the side for the ones laying eggs). If you have any specific questions I'll try to answer them.

If you manage them the way they are designed to be managed I don't see ethics playing into it. If you don't stay within those bounds, yes, I can see some issues.

 

[LinkinChicks]

One other thing to keep in mind if you do go the dual purpose route, unless you find a breeder who is willing to sell you some chicks and has been working on making them grow as dual purpose birds, you will get egg laying birds, meaning that they will likely not be very wide or very big and likely be a little tough. You can definitely improve on the breed, but it will require eating through a lot of birds that aren’t ideal.

 

[Molpet]

In My signature is a link to bramblewoodhill farms about breeding for meat.

 

[CDee]

What do you want from a meat bird? Some people are all about quantity. Some are really interested in cost per pound of meat. Some like to be able to delay butchering. Some want to breed and hatch their own. If you pluck feather color may be important, if you skin it's not. How important to you is how you cook them? The age you butcher them might be important to that.

The Cornish X were designed to be butchered at 6 to 8 weeks of age and fed a certain way. They are very efficient in a feed to meat conversion so the least expensive to grow. They are butchered so young that they can be cooked any way you want. Because they eat so much they poop a lot so you will probably spend time on poop management. You butcher both males and females.

Rangers are designed to grow a little slower than the CX and are better suited to being pasture raised. If raised the way they are designed they should be butchered around 12 weeks of age but can usually be delayed a bit. They are still young enough that you can cook them anyway you wish but if you delay much they may not be that good for frying or grilling. You butcher both males and females.

Dual purpose are a lot harder to talk about because there is so much variety in them. I'm not sure where to start, especially considering ethics. I hatch my own from my dual purpose laying flock. I raise my own replacement layers and eat the excess girls and the boys. I feed them all the same thing (a low calcium feed with oyster shell on the side for the ones laying eggs). If you have any specific questions I'll try to answer them.

If you manage them the way they are designed to be managed I don't see ethics playing into it. If you don't stay within those bounds, yes, I can see some issues.

Thanks for the info! It's all great stuff to consider. I guess the main thing I want is quality. Quality meat and quality of life for the chicken. But I'm also interested in closing the circle and being more self sustaining. I'm only trying to feed my family so large quantities aren't my top priority.

 

[Mountain Roost]

We feed our family only home raised meat. I am able to produce one years worth of meat with 100 cornish that I run for 14-16 weeks until they reach 10 lbs live weight. I raise them all organically and out on pasture in movable tractors. We feed them twice a day (they get an amount that they can finish in 15-20 mins and then I check the crop sizes and determine if that was enough or too much) and move them onto green grass for each feeding. Using a nipple waterer keeps the birds dry and helps them stay clean. Instead of a bunch of pics I made a collage, hopefully you can get the gist from it. My birds live a great life and are clean with no skin issue even at 14 weeks. I also don't have any die on pasture in these conditions.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quality, another nebulous term that means different things to different people. What you consider quality of meat is going to be determined by your personal preferences and heavily influenced by what age you butcher them and how you cook them. Quality of life can vary too. Some people keep them as pets and do a lot for them. I provide them with a lot of room where they can forage for a good part of what they eat, chase bugs, and hatch and raise chicks.
Mountain Roost has shown how nebulous a term like ethics can be. Quality can be just as nebulous. Those CX are not being raised the way they were designed to be raised but I consider the way they are being managed very ethical. They are living longer than they were designed to be raised and are given more room without suffering the way many held that long would. I'd call that a good quality of life.

But I'm also interested in closing the circle and being more self sustaining.

That basically means you want dual purpose. Some people make that work with Rangers but that might be challenging. They can get so big it can be hard for them to mate. One way might be to mate a dual purpose rooster to ranger hens and then use the offspring for your self-sustaining flock.

I'm only trying to feed my family so large quantities aren't my top priority.

That's refreshing. Many people on the meat bird forum are only interested in huge quantities of meat. I'm more in your camp. There are only two of us, I can easily get two meals out of a small pullet. I like the larger cockerels but that just means I get enough extra meat for sandwiches for my lunch.

Mom was an expert on stretching a little meat to feed five kids and the parents. In addition to drumstick, thighs, wishbone, and breasts, she served neck, back, liver, and gizzard as separate pieces. If frying, she breaded it heavily. Chicken and dumplings is not only comfort food but really stretches the meat. That may be why Chicken and dumplings is a traditional way to serve a small but old hen. Soups and stews can stretch it.

Good luck and enjoy the adventure.

 

[CDee]

Quality, another nebulous term that means different things to different people. What you consider quality of meat is going to be determined by your personal preferences and heavily influenced by what age you butcher them and how you cook them. Quality of life can vary too. Some people keep them as pets and do a lot for them. I provide them with a lot of room where they can forage for a good part of what they eat, chase bugs, and hatch and raise chicks.
Mountain Roost has shown how nebulous a term like ethics can be. Quality can be just as nebulous. Those CX are not being raised the way they were designed to be raised but I consider the way they are being managed very ethical. They are living longer than they were designed to be raised and are given more room without suffering the way many held that long would. I'd call that a good quality of life.


That basically means you want dual purpose. Some people make that work with Rangers but that might be challenging. They can get so big it can be hard for them to mate. One way might be to mate a dual purpose rooster to ranger hens and then use the offspring for your self-sustaining flock.


That's refreshing. Many people on the meat bird forum are only interested in huge quantities of meat. I'm more in your camp. There are only two of us, I can easily get two meals out of a small pullet. I like the larger cockerels but that just means I get enough extra meat for sandwiches for my lunch.

Mom was an expert on stretching a little meat to feed five kids and the parents. In addition to drumstick, thighs, wishbone, and breasts, she served neck, back, liver, and gizzard as separate pieces. If frying, she breaded it heavily. Chicken and dumplings is not only comfort food but really stretches the meat. That may be why Chicken and dumplings is a traditional way to serve a small but old hen. Soups and stews can stretch it.

Good luck and enjoy the adventure.

After doing more research, per your mention of age, I do think maybe it isn't the right fit for us, currently, to breed our own. I didn't know how age played into cooking methods, so thank you for bringing that to my attention! I've only got 2 littles and my husband and myself and he hunts so we really just wanted some chicken to switch it up so we aren't always eating venison. But we're new to raising meat and the information online is always so varried. Thanks for taking the time to answer some of my questions, I truly appreciate it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I understand. One year my father butchered and froze a baby beef. My sister got tired of eating steak.

You might research raising rabbit for meat. I don't do that but it works for some people.