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

Butchering is done. The two largest weighed in at 4.5 and 4.25 lbs. I debated putting the next two back in the pen, but decided the chaos of two more cockerels in there with a heat wave coming on wasn't worth it. They weighed in at 3.75 and 3.5 lbs. Another week or two on those would have been nice, but overall, I'm reasonable pleased with the weights, and am hopeful that they will be good eating.

One lesson I learned is that I have to space out my hatching better. I just had too much going on in the breeding pen at once (1 rooster, 4 hens, 6 cockerels, 2 pullets and 7, 7 week old chicks). If I didn't have the 7 chicks in there, I could have subdivided the coop, to isolate the cockerels on one side to let them grow out a bit more.
 
Ok, I have a weird idea... Our dual purpose meatbird chicks are 4 weeks old and still in the garage with a brooder plate. I’d love to get them outside ASAP, with the electric netting our major predator protection, but I’m concerned about aerial predators: crows and hawks. We have several roosters loafing in a bachelor pad. Has anyone ever tried putting a lone roo in with older chicks as a guardian? He could (theoretically) keep crows away and alert to hawks. I was thinking of putting the chicken tractor in the pasture with the electric fence and the roo in the fence, chicks locked in the tractor to see how he reacts. Maybe if I did this enough he would be willing to protect the chicks instead of attacking them in a few weeks?
 
One lesson I learned is that I have to space out my hatching better.

Or build a lager coop.

Or even better, build a second shelter. It doesn't have to be a true coop with nests, just predator proof and good for your weather. You could use that to help integrate chicks or as a grow-out coop for cockerels. Or if you put a nest maybe for a broody hen. A second coop/shelter come sin handy for many reasons. A big one is that it gives you flexibility in dealing with issues that show up.
 
More space is always better, isn't it? Last year's Christmas gift from DH was to turn my meat bird grow out space into a true, second coop, so I could start a meat bird breeding project. Which I have done. So now I have two coops, each with a spacious yard.. If I suggest to DH that now maybe I need another coop -- well, I think I'm going to have to be sleeping with the chickens.

The practical solution would have been to move the rooster and breeding hens into my laying coop space and run, and use the breeding coop and pen as my summer grow out area. But . . . the alpha hen in the laying flock had a fence line fight with the rooster to the point where both were bloodied. I'm not willing to risk putting them together. The laying flock also contains my husband's pet chicken who is older and he doesn't want her to deal with the affections of a rooster.

If my lot wasn't so sloped and rocky, I would do a chicken tractor with electric netting.

I'm still figuring things out.
 
Butchering is done. The two largest weighed in at 4.5 and 4.25 lbs. I debated putting the next two back in the pen, but decided the chaos of two more cockerels in there with a heat wave coming on wasn't worth it. They weighed in at 3.75 and 3.5 lbs. Another week or two on those would have been nice, but overall, I'm reasonable pleased with the weights, and am hopeful that they will be good eating.

One lesson I learned is that I have to space out my hatching better. I just had too much going on in the breeding pen at once (1 rooster, 4 hens, 6 cockerels, 2 pullets and 7, 7 week old chicks). If I didn't have the 7 chicks in there, I could have subdivided the coop, to isolate the cockerels on one side to let them grow out a bit more.
Those weights are great for 14 weeks, in my book. I had 6 month old Orpingtons that were that size. 14 weeks is a good age, still tender enough for a fryer, or marinate and/or par-boil for the BBQ grill.
 
Here is what the two largest ones (the ones pictured live above) looked like dressed out. The one on the left was the RR cross (4.5 lbs) and the one on the right was a SWB cross (4.25 lbs). I will let you know how they eat.
IMG_2823.JPG

Same two birds but in profile. Drumsticks are looking good.

IMG_2824.JPG
 
Here is what the two largest ones (the ones pictured live above) looked like dressed out. The one on the left was the RR cross (4.5 lbs) and the one on the right was a SWB cross (4.25 lbs). I will let you know how they eat.
View attachment 2173313
Same two birds but in profile. Drumsticks are looking good.

View attachment 2173314
Looks like they were eatin' good, nice fat over the breastbone. :drool Were they easier to pluck, with less feathers due to the NN cross? Easier plucking alone would make a NN cross worth while.
 
Looks like they were eatin' good, nice fat over the breastbone. :drool Were they easier to pluck, with less feathers due to the NN cross? Easier plucking alone would make a NN cross worth while.
They were easier to pluck -- everywhere except the wings at least. The wings are always challenging. My husband said the naked necks make it easier to hit cleanly with the hatchet as well. And, they are heat tolerant. As long as I can keep one or two large broiler type hens around to make the mix, I think it's a pretty good solution. Next year, I will probably replace the NN rooster with one of his NN/RR sons. The NN gene gets diluted out, but I will gain some size. I thought about doing it this year, but didn't want to deal with a cockerel again, now that my rooster's finally matured.
 
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I just realized that my DH also cuts off the skin at th

They were easier to pluck -- everywhere except the wings at least. The wings are always challenging. My husband said the naked necks make it easier to hit cleanly with the hatchet as well. And, they are heat tolerant. As long as I can keep one or two large broiler type hens around to make the mix, I think it's a pretty good solution. Next year, I will probably replace the NN rooster with one of his NN/RR sons. The NN gene gets diluted out, but I will gain some size. I thought about doing it this year, but didn't want to deal with a cockerel again, now that my rooster's finally matured.
NN are very popular in the AZ desert.
 

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