California - Northern

[ronott1]

I wish I could get over my issue with eating my own chickens. Last spring, I gave away 20-50 roosters a month to a man is Sebastopol who grew em out and processed them. I am not a vegetarian so I really don't know what my hang up is with eating my own chickens. Rationally I know eating our own chickens is better than supporting the commercial operations where chickens are inhumanely raised and processed but still I buy my chickens at the grocery store.

I have been contemplating getting some Freedom Rangers, hoping that knowing their fate from the start will help but am afraid I will not be able to go through with the processing.

Im curious, are there any other non-vegitarians on this board that have not eaten their own chickens. Maybe we can start a 12 step program. LOL

There is a poultry processing business in Sacramento that will process them for you. They leave the heads and feet, but after that they look more like what you get from a store.

Maybe start slow? Have the guy that processes your chickens give you a front quarter from one he grew out from yours?

The Freedom Rangers is a good idea.

 

[sewandgrow]

I'm glad you guys got a laugh from that picture!
About those free range eggs.... Is it not illegal to falsely advertise?
My chickens really free range! My entire property is open to wherever they want to go. So IF I choose to sell my eating eggs, I can label my eggs "Free Range eggs" and demand a higher premium for them.
(Honestly, they truly free range! Sometimes they eggs under a bush they like that I have to remember to grab)
Ron. I have a friend in Tennessee who raises chickens. He was telling me about this feed he buys locally called "Rooster Booster". Not the vitamin powder. But a real feed. He said the guys secret was red mill. I guess a multi grain. And lots of other stuff.
Have you EVER heard of anyone selling custom mixes or local mixes for chickens?
I can only get 2 kinds of layer feed up here. The Wal-Mart brand. Family Farm Egg Maker and Farmer Best brand out of Keyes California.
I do also buy that brown bag of omega-3 that you mix in their feed from TSC. 5 bales of alfalfa scattered around the property. AND THEY EATS LOTS OF GREEN STUFF!! We have a pretty big garden full of raised planter boxes. The weeds grow around at the base of the boxes, I fill up 2 5 gallon buckets of that to just toss in the chicken yard about every other day.
I bought a dozen of the organic free range eggs from Wal-Mart and made my daily bacon and egg sandwiches. The eggs were crap compared to mine! My yolks are soo yellow almost orange! I never ate real fresh chicken eggs fresh out of the chicken before my own chickens. So i never paid any attention to the yolks. But I know for sure my chickens lay some very good eggs!

Boy you live way up there.................. I get my feed out of Keyes California too but it is just a couple of miles from my house in Turlock. We are getting a couple of tons next Tues. at The Seed Factory there. They will custom mix for you but require a minimum of a 2 ton order. They have been very pleasant to work with & we have been doing this awhile now.
Karen in Turlock

 

[sewandgrow]

I wish I could get over my issue with eating my own chickens. Last spring, I gave away 20-50 roosters a month to a man is Sebastopol who grew em out and processed them. I am not a vegetarian so I really don't know what my hang up is with eating my own chickens. Rationally I know eating our own chickens is better than supporting the commercial operations where chickens are inhumanely raised and processed but still I buy my chickens at the grocery store.

I have been contemplating getting some Freedom Rangers, hoping that knowing their fate from the start will help but am afraid I will not be able to go through with the processing.

Im curious, are there any other non-vegitarians on this board that have not eaten their own chickens. Maybe we can start a 12 step program. LOL

Maybe you can stike up a deal with the guy you give them too & he can process other chickens he gets & give you some of them in trade after he has them processed...... Getting back some of your own though would be better del for you becuse you would know how they were raised.

 

[zooweemama]

You can buy them from TSC. They had a 6 chick min. last spring.

Make sure you use Rooster Booster!

SWEET! I will look for them! 6 I can handle!

 

[zooweemama]

Maybe you can stike up a deal with the guy you give them too & he can process other chickens he gets & give you some of them in trade after he has them processed...... Getting back some of your own though would be better del for you becuse you would know how they were raised.

This is a fabulous idea! Rather than give- it's a barter of a type. Even if you end up with maybe even 5-10 chickens out of 50 - that's 5-10 more in your freezer!

 

[MonsterClucker]

 I wish I could get over my issue with eating my own chickens.  Last spring, I gave away 20-50 roosters  a month to a man is Sebastopol who grew em out and processed them.  I am not a vegetarian so I really don't know what my hang up is with eating my own chickens.  Rationally I know eating our own chickens is better than supporting the commercial operations where chickens are inhumanely raised  and processed but still I buy my chickens at the grocery store.  

I have been contemplating getting some Freedom Rangers, hoping that knowing  their fate from the start will help but am afraid I will not be able to go through with the processing. 

Im curious, are there any other non-vegitarians on this board that have not eaten their own chickens.  Maybe we can start a 12 step program.  LOL 

When I did eat the first chicken I ever processed, I just kept saying "wow you are soo good!" Just kept appreciating him! I did enjoy the fact that he served his purpose. To do his job and feed us. I'm not really that big on the roosters meat, but it is meat. I roasted it and I should have used the meat for tacos or enchiladas or something like that.

But it was a good first time experience!

I think I might like to try a couple meat birds this Spring. BUT I do not wish to raise 25 of those suckers. Do any of you buy meat birds and would you be willing to sell me a few chicks if so (come spring time)? 

I'm raising my last batch until next year now. I still have my first batch to process. If you want, you are more than welcome to one or two of them no charge to try. I raised them on the organic pride chick starter and are going on 12 weeks.
Next spring I'm going to do a real big batch maybe 100-150 and let them live in 4-5 tractor hoop coops on about 1.5 acres before everything gets brown again.

I think we might be game for this too. If the savings could be significant. We only have 23 or so chickens and we have 6 awaiting the stew pot so we aren't even keeping them all. 

We should start a list on a page and add everyones name who wants to do this co-op feed drop. We'll just have to remember the page number to able to go back and edit the page of names again.

Can we even do that after a certain amount of days? Or would we have to start a whole seperate thread?

If we do get the Cascade from Magill, we can get the grower version, which is like Flock Raiser. It's better for the roosters too.

Definitely give them Free choice Calcium. I use 150 pounds or so a month. 

Another problem we will see this year is an increase in Soy and Corn costs, so feeds based on them will be going up this winter.

Bye the way, I am not getting notifications today..

I'm down!
I'm gonaa be having a lot of chicks around here soon so that would work out perfectly!
have you had the grower before?

 

[ronott1]

Quote: Yes! It is like the layer but with more protein and calcium.

 

[zooweemama]

I swear God is keen on me experiencing everything that can go wrong with chickens. lol I have a chicken with what I think is breast blister. Her chest is HUGE and when she runs it flops around. It is hot to touch. I briefly read up on it (still working on it) but it said poor litter management. DUDE these guys are free ranged they only spend the night in their coop. On a roost. It's far from ill managed. Anyone dealt with this before? It's one of my black orp/black copper marans mixes. :|

 

[zooweemama]

Ok My chicken book says they can also get it from their roost if they do not have breast meat protecting their breast bone. That we should wrap the roost in something soft....like what? Any ideas? Hers is REALLY huge. Her fluffy orp feathering - I just didn't see it until I notice her running today it was flopping all around. It says to drain it. She is a pullet and I wondering if anyone knows if treatment really helps and does the healing take long? My chicken book doesn't really give much in the way of doctoring directions. :|

Drain...any suggestions how? A small incision or...???

 

[ronott1]

I swear God is keen on me experiencing everything that can go wrong with chickens. lol I have a chicken with what I think is breast blister. Her chest is HUGE and when she runs it flops around. It is hot to touch. I briefly read up on it (still working on it) but it said poor litter management. DUDE these guys are free ranged they only spend the night in their coop. On a roost. It's far from ill managed. Anyone dealt with this before? It's one of my black orp/black copper marans mixes. :|

I have never even heard of this

I hope you get it figured out!