BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[Arielle]

Regarding the home-made whizbang plucker. We've process 75 birds over the last 4 days and we've finally got everything down to a T for our plucking process. I realize time and temp can be adjusted for anyone's process, but this works really really well for us.

Scalding Water temp 155F. Under 145F leaves waaaay too many pin feathers and dramatically increases butchering time. Very much over 155F starts to cook the skin and makes it tear too easily when plucking and butchering.

Scalding Time: Dunk and swish for 4 seconds, pull out 2 seconds. Repeat for a total of 5 dunks.

Drop 1 or 2 (no more) into plucker and run plucker while spraying with water until they appear to be plucked. Then go an extra 3-5 seconds for good measure and less hand plucking.

The last 2 days of processing have resulted in only a few pins remaining and the 8-10 tail feathers are still in each carcass, but easily removed.

colburg

THank you for posting the details-- very ehlpful to many.

What age were the birds, and what breed/type??

 

[colburg]

These were all Cornish Cross, but I've used it with several extra hatchery birds with pretty good results. We've just getting started with some good large White Rocks but haven't butchered any yet.

Our dressed out weight range of CX over the last few days has been 3lbs up to 6.5.

 

[Arielle]

ANd they will all taste delish.

 

[gjensen]

A basic stupid question . . . how early can you see the muscle development in a meaty type bird?? As in maximizing meat production? I happened to pick up a buckeye , the oldest at 3 months, and felt for thickness of muscling in the breast area. I was thrilled. Next to cornish and 1/2 cornish, this was the thickest musclig ever.

My confusion is due to past post talking about the age in which a particular line is filled out, as in ready for the freezer. I"m rather excited to see where this bird will be in 4 weeks and then in 4 more weeks. ( will be kept for breeding if he/she continues to grow well. as it is the only one from that breeder.) I'm expecting this bird to pack on the weight and fill out more-- or am I expecting too much??

From early on. A good dual purpose bird feels like they are something when you pick them up. Even early. They should feel heavier than they look. On the other hand, a bird that is lighter than they look, and all feather (even early) is putting too much protein into all of that fluff.

 

[Turk Raphael]

From early on. A good dual purpose bird feels like they are something when you pick them up. Even early. They should feel heavier than they look. On the other hand, a bird that is lighter than they look, and all feather (even early) is putting too much protein into all of that fluff.

So, when my Dark Cornish arrive, I should soon feel that they have a bit of heft to them. They are supposed to weigh much more than they appear. I don't know if that will apply to chicks but we will see. They well be Thursday or Friday, next week. Getting anxious.

 

[gjensen]

So, when my Dark Cornish arrive, I should soon feel that they have a bit of heft to them. They are supposed to weigh much more than they appear. I don't know if that will apply to chicks but we will see. They well be Thursday or Friday, next week. Getting anxious.

You can't tell much when they are chicks. Other than who a runt might be.

The heavier than they appear is especially so with the hard feathered breeds, like the Cornish. It is "what you see is what you get".

 

[thedragonlady]

Hi folks. Patrick J. L. here. Dad is well on his way to his destination, leaving me alone to deal with what he calls my folly. I guess he deserves a vacation after all these years. I just hope he don't make good on his threat to stay gone all summer.

Don't look for the video on this thread because the bosses told dad that it would have to be posted on a meat chicken thread. I havent looked for it and I wont waste my time since I'm pretty busy but I do know it was sent in. I still have to send it to a private party in it's entirety as promised by dad. If the bosses won't post it on the site, the classes will be posted on youtube fairly soon. I will check back in to see if they post it or not and leave the youtube link.

Dad said he thinks he might have made a mistake by putting his political views on the bottom of his posts and I think he might be right. He and I share many views so I'm not sure if I would be any more welcome than he was by some people. I will wait for a while before I sign up at least to see if this post is deleted. Dad did take my good computer so he can watch the site, even it he keeps his word about not posting. I am just not sure if he can not chime in so far but I dont see anything yet.

Have a good one.

Jason

Welcome Jason.

There is a method to your dad's "madness".He's been successfully holding down the fort for a long time, and obviously developed his own system for doing so. He's a wise old fox, who knows you'll have to work it out too, and he's giving you the time to do just that.

Do keep us posted on how it's all going. The sheer size of your operation boggles my mind, but I love hearing how it can be managed. I'm sure everyone else does too !

Vickie



Slightly to the right of Attila the Hun..........

 

[southernmomma]

A basic stupid question . . . how early can you see the muscle development in a meaty type bird?? As in maximizing meat production? I happened to pick up a buckeye , the oldest at 3 months, and felt for thickness of muscling in the breast area. I was thrilled. Next to cornish and 1/2 cornish, this was the thickest musclig ever.

My confusion is due to past post talking about the age in which a particular line is filled out, as in ready for the freezer. I"m rather excited to see where this bird will be in 4 weeks and then in 4 more weeks. ( will be kept for breeding if he/she continues to grow well. as it is the only one from that breeder.) I'm expecting this bird to pack on the weight and fill out more-- or am I expecting too much??

What did you decide as a protein %? I'm curious about feed protocol when it's something other than a Cornish X but the priority is still meat but balanced with health/longevity for breeding purposes. I'm sure there's a sweet spot with foraging, environment, age, etc playing a part.
Do you have weights?

M

 

[Joybelles]

I'm fairly new to chickens and would like to get a breed that will lay well as well as process well for the table. I've been looking into the different breeds, though I am still undecided on what to get, I am leaning towards Buckeyes at the moment. I am looking for a friendly breed preferably, as I have a small child that likes to "help" us take care of the animals.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: For the first 2 wks only 20% was available as crumbles. THen found the 27%. We opened bag #3 last weekend. CHicks are 6 weeks and big and need to be moved. DH and I to make new house for them this weekend. I did have one 1/2 bred cornish X hatch at the same time, and that one is noticably larger.

My 22% feed is about 15$ and the 27% is about 21$.


My head is spinning with possibilities. DIets historically, were mostly based on a heavy insect diet for the chicks and poults which is high protien, and what that means for growth. Strong growth also promotes a big appetite. THeoretically grams protein and grams energy per day has already been studied and the commerical facilities make the greatest use of fine tuing such recipes. HOwever while trying to promote more natural food stuffs on the farm I am struggling with this.

I watch the wild turkeys and think about their fods. THey roam all day from place to place in a designated route. I can only sumise that the food in one area is different than another area and they move on after about one day in an area ( this is a guess based on the regualrlity that they shouwed up here ever 3-4 days on clockwork) I'm guessing that when the food is available, they stuf themselves, then the next area might be lower in protein, with each area probably being not exactly the same in protein availabliyt and energy. Makes me wonder if the poults are ok with surges in food and can make use of when much food is available as well as subsist on poor levels until the boon is available again.

WE tend to see growth as a clean curve when we the people can pour food in front of them.

I have raised BBW on the 22% the entire 5 month grow out. ANd that worked fine. I would try an experiment using the 27% for the first 2 months and then decrease the % protein to 22. OF course adding the grasses may bring the % lower but a better mix for the fat on the carcass.

I ear on NPR this morning more about the 8 problems with our food. One is the bad type of fats that develope when chicken and beefers are fed a high corn diet vs grassfed. I can see models developing in which the initall growth is pushed wiht corn based grains, and then finished on grass. Only the problem is that grass eating is a slow method to add fat on the carcass compared to corn.

Left thinking . . . and planting more white clover . . . and thinking more.