Butchered some birds: cost and thoughts.

[WhiteWyan]

Wow the red ranger carcass looks much meatier than the BR.

 

[pintail_drake2004]

They were for sure! I'm hoping I can cross some BR or BO with our remaining RR rooster and get a bigger DP bird that grows out quicker. The RR were 12 weeks old the day of butcher and the BR were just about 16 weeks. This is my first time with meat chickens, and I'm impressed how well the RR will actually forage in the pen. I wonder if the Cornish cross would forage as much? I did notice that the older the RR got, the more they would venture outside into the pen and eat the bugs and greens.

 

[member 373180]

Sorry to hijack a little but what did you use to package them? They're so neat and tightly packed!

 

[pintail_drake2004]

I used some heat shrink bags off of amazon. Insert your bird into the bag, breast down push out the excess air and twist tight. Apply zip tie, and then put a small slit in the bag just over the breast. dip into hot water (not boiling) and it forces the air out of the slit. I wipe off the bags with a paper towel, and apply the generic label over the slit.

 

[AudieWarren]

They were for sure! I'm hoping I can cross some BR or BO with our remaining RR rooster and get a bigger DP bird that grows out quicker. The RR were 12 weeks old the day of butcher and the BR were just about 16 weeks. This is my first time with meat chickens, and I'm impressed how well the RR will actually forage in the pen. I wonder if the Cornish cross would forage as much? I did notice that the older the RR got, the more they would venture outside into the pen and eat the bugs and greens.

We plan on getting RR in the spring. Can't wait to show this to my husband. We also hunt hunt, fish, or raise about 90% of our protein. Hoping to make it a full 100% in the near future. RR make good foragers. White Oak Pastures is a zero waste farm in GA. The farmer uses RR and is very transparent with his operation on his website and YouTube. It's quite amazing. We planning on renting one of their cabins for a weekend to see it so first hand and take notes.

Sorry to hijack a little but what did you use to package them? They're so neat and tightly packed!

I was wondering the same thing.

 

[member 373180]

I used some heat shrink bags off of amazon. Insert your bird into the bag, breast down push out the excess air and twist tight. Apply zip tie, and then put a small slit in the bag just over the breast. dip into hot water (not boiling) and it forces the air out of the slit. I wipe off the bags with a paper towel, and apply the generic label over the slit.

Thank you, I will have to try that. I have been getting extremely frustrated with my vacuum sealer.