Chronicles of Raising Meat Birds - Modern Broilers, Heritage and Hybrids

[jolenesdad]

Welp. I got up at 3am to get my birds to the processor today, and, I’m here on the wrong day.

2+ hour drive to get to the usda processor.

Luckily, I brought donuts for the workers, so nobody minds. They’re only doing gigantic batches today, so they said they will try and do mY 30 first, so the moral of the story is DONUTS MAKE EVERYTHING BETTER.

On another note, Now that I am here I can officially say I raised 67 meat birds with only ONE loss at two days old.

 

[aart]

OhMan!!

 

[jolenesdad]

Average breast package is .8 pounds and as big as my hand. Some are near a pound. They also slice off the “tender” and package them, so all together, I have almost 25 pounds of breast meat!

And look at the size of these legs! I had them do leg and thigh together, breast, wings and back for each bird so I have gifts for people because Texas folks love their barbecue, and I’m not the biggest wing fan.

I ran by the feed store this afternoon and looked at how much food I have fed and I need to look at the numbers Moyer sent me for their birds, and it’s far from scientific but I believe with access to pasture and free ranging, these birds actually BEAT their feed conversion rates, eating less “feed” over MORE time and gaining MORE weight while doing it.

Wrap up post for this batch soon!

 

[Parront]

Average breast package is .8 pounds and as big as my hand. Some are near a pound. They also slice off the “tender” and package them, so all together, I have almost 25 pounds of breast meat!

And look at the size of these legs! I had them do leg and thigh together, breast, wings and back for each bird so I have gifts for people because Texas folks love their barbecue, and I’m not the biggest wing fan.

I ran by the feed store this afternoon and looked at how much food I have fed and I need to look at the numbers Moyer sent me for their birds, and it’s far from scientific but I believe with access to pasture and free ranging, these birds actually BEAT their feed conversion rates, eating less “feed” over MORE time and gaining MORE weight while doing it.

Wrap up post for this batch soon!

View attachment 1872114

View attachment 1872115

More time but less feed would work tor me!

 

[Morrigan]

Those are great weights. I'm going to buy some hatching eggs from Moyer next spring. I'm already excited about it!

 

[RUNuts]

Someone posted pictures of TSC selling CX chicks for $0.50 each. I'm gonna hafta go to my local TSC. Y'all are getting to me.

The 1.5# cockerel processed last week tasting great. Bone broth after pulling the meat on the counter cooling. Strain and making chicken soup. Although the chicken sandwich last night was pretty good...

Bottom line. These guys aren't enough meat for the coming winter. Weather cools off in October, so a December harvest is looking like a plan. Wonder if TSC will have discounted chicks in 2 months?

 

[Parront]

Someone posted pictures of TSC selling CX chicks for $0.50 each. I'm gonna hafta go to my local TSC. Y'all are getting to me.

The 1.5# cockerel processed last week tasting great. Bone broth after pulling the meat on the counter cooling. Strain and making chicken soup. Although the chicken sandwich last night was pretty good...

Bottom line. These guys aren't enough meat for the coming winter. Weather cools off in October, so a December harvest is looking like a plan. Wonder if TSC will have discounted chicks in 2 months?

None of the standards compare with the commercial meat crosses for size or feed efficiency. I get straight run, mostly because I am a softie and can't contribute the the death of the male chicks. So I eat the males young and small like you did. Sex-link males are not bad. They have the advantage of early detection and you can raise them separately from the layers. They are low-cost chicks if you are ordering the layers anyway.

 

[aart]

The 1.5# cockerel processed last week tasting great. Bone broth after pulling the meat on the counter cooling. Strain and making chicken soup. Although the chicken sandwich last night was pretty good...

Ha!
I just had a chicken sammich from a hen slaughtered last fall...bone broth has another couple hours to go in the pressure cooker.
One thing I learned about harvesting layer breeds, is I had to get used to having more broth than meat, but the bone broth is so rich that it satiates my body's want for meat.

 

[Parront]

Ha!
I just had a chicken sammich from a hen slaughtered last fall...bone broth has another couple hours to go in the pressure cooker.
One thing I learned about harvesting layer breeds, is I had to get used to having more broth than meat, but the bone broth is so rich that it satiates my body's want for meat.

They are not called "stewing hens" for nothin'!

 

[Morrigan]

Ha!
I just had a chicken sammich from a hen slaughtered last fall...bone broth has another couple hours to go in the pressure cooker.
One thing I learned about harvesting layer breeds, is I had to get used to having more broth than meat, but the bone broth is so rich that it satiates my body's want for meat.

And the schmaltz you can make! Those old layers are a gold mine for awesome fat.