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

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Hi All, looks like a lot has happened since I last posted here! I posted earlier on my DD’s summer meatbird project. We wanted to breed the birds we have, so hatched 14 black copper marans and BCM x Ameraucana olive eggers and have kept in a fenced pasture area.The olive egger boys are a bit bigger than than the BCM. The plan was to butcher both pullets and cockerels. Today we butchered two pullets and two cockerels at 4 mo old, or 18 weeks.. Things went OK, except for the PINFEATHERS!!! So so many, all black feathers with white skin, worse on the boys. We were preparing these for a friend who wanted skin on, so we spent forever getting all the pin feathers we could. The rest of the feathers were hand plucked after scalding, and that went fast and easy.

I thought that the hens were close to laying due to red combs and recent breeding, but their ovaries were small so I guess not. Dressed smallest hen was 2 lb 12 oz and biggest cockerel 4 lb 7 oz, no feet or head. I wish I’d gotten a pic before bagging, but they’re muscle and fat seemed pretty good. Not a lot of breast but beefy legs. The pullets were maybe smaller than ideal, but I’m pretty sure once one starts laying I’ll have a hard time butchering it...

So, if we wait another month (22 weeks) for the rest any thoughts on whether there will be fewer pinfeathers? That would give the pullets time to bulk up a little too, though we might just be running up against the layer part of their background... Any tips on removing tons of pinfeathers? I’ve been reading about textured gloves and thinking about buying a few pairs.

 

[aart]

Any tips on removing tons of pinfeathers?

Skinning.
Not sure rubbing them with anything would get them out without damaging the skin,
they are in there pretty tight.
Timing is tough to avoid pins.

 

[Ridgerunner]

They go through juvenile molts as they grow. They outgrow their feathers and need to replace them. Sounds like you hit a juvenile molt. I've seen people on here post ages for those juvenile molts but different people post different ages. I don't think there is a specific age, each flock seems to be a bit different. I skin mine so it's not an issue with me but when your client wants the skin on it can be a pain.

Waiting a few weeks will probably help you out with those pin feathers. Another unknown is how long it takes for them to finish once they start. Some are fast molters, some slow. That's more about how fast the feathers fall out than how fast they grow. That fall-out rate is genetic.

Some people burn the small fluffy ones off though you can discolor the skin if you're not careful. That only gets the small fluffy ones, the liquid blobs under the skin are still a pain. My wife prefers them skinless too so it's an easy decision for me. That's why "Meat birds" are typically white or buff. The pin feathers are still there but they are not as visible as dark feathers. You get a prettier carcass when you pluck.

If you wait a month to butcher more cockerels you should see some difference in size. With mine I think they grow reasonably well until 22 to 23 weeks but then the rate of growth really drops. They'll continue to get bigger but that gain is slow compared to what it was.

I'm not sure how much benefit you'll get in waiting a month to butcher those pullets. If you can't bring yourself to butcher one that is laying then don't wait or you won't get anything except eggs. I typically butcher my pullets around 8 months after I've evaluated their laying a bit. They are still not real big, not a lot of meat.

 

[jolenesdad]

i think with the specific mix you’re at a guessing game on best ages. Each line of birds is going to be a bit different.

when I’ve been growing out breeds and evaluating my APA judge friend has always INSISTED that you cannot begin to evaluate a cockerel until after 16 weeks. Some lines 24+. The juvenile moot should start by about 12 weeks but can take up to 12 weeks to complete. He won’t even entertain a discussion on color until 24 weeks on a bird I have. I’d assume that’s where the pin feather issue is.

interesting the OE have smaller genetics in them than the BCM but they’re larger with hybrid vigor? !

there is a really great BCM thread here with a couple people who work on utility for their birds and have plenty of history plucking black birds. Id pop in over there and ask Chooksman if he has any tips.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...er-marans-thread-breeding-to-the-sop.1122465/

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Skinning.
Not sure rubbing them with anything would get them out without damaging the skin,
they are in there pretty tight.
Timing is tough to avoid pins.

Yes, I’m thinking of trying more in a month and then skinning any that are full of pinfeathers. Is there a way to tell pre-pluck or is it more a matter of recognizing during plucking that there will be too many pin feathers and converting then to skinning? I also need to process some older roosters. I’m guessing now that we will be in the fall molt for them and it won’t work to keep their skin either...

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

They go through juvenile molts as they grow. They outgrow their feathers and need to replace them. Sounds like you hit a juvenile molt. I've seen people on here post ages for those juvenile molts but different people post different ages. I don't think there is a specific age, each flock seems to be a bit different. I skin mine so it's not an issue with me but when your client wants the skin on it can be a pain.

Waiting a few weeks will probably help you out with those pin feathers. Another unknown is how long it takes for them to finish once they start. Some are fast molters, some slow. That's more about how fast the feathers fall out than how fast they grow. That fall-out rate is genetic.

Some people burn the small fluffy ones off though you can discolor the skin if you're not careful. That only gets the small fluffy ones, the liquid blobs under the skin are still a pain. My wife prefers them skinless too so it's an easy decision for me. That's why "Meat birds" are typically white or buff. The pin feathers are still there but they are not as visible as dark feathers. You get a prettier carcass when you pluck.

If you wait a month to butcher more cockerels you should see some difference in size. With mine I think they grow reasonably well until 22 to 23 weeks but then the rate of growth really drops. They'll continue to get bigger but that gain is slow compared to what it was.

I'm not sure how much benefit you'll get in waiting a month to butcher those pullets. If you can't bring yourself to butcher one that is laying then don't wait or you won't get anything except eggs. I typically butcher my pullets around 8 months after I've evaluated their laying a bit. They are still not real big, not a lot of meat.

We processed some of these last year too so I did know that black feathers are a pain, but my DD loves black birds and we have BCM that look like dual purpose birds, so went with them anyway! The sire BCM is a wide, meaty looking bird, so I was hoping he’d pass that to these chicks. For the BCM, mom is also a sturdy, wide bird. Their daughters are still much slighter than either of them so I think I may need to give them a little time, if I can resist adding them to the layer flock! The Ameraucana hens are pretty slight, so I shouldn’t be surprised that their daughters are on the smaller size. Since their ovaries were so quiet, I think I’ve talked myself into another month before processing more.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

i think with the specific mix you’re at a guessing game on best ages. Each line of birds is going to be a bit different.

when I’ve been growing out breeds and evaluating my APA judge friend has always INSISTED that you cannot begin to evaluate a cockerel until after 16 weeks. Some lines 24+. The juvenile moot should start by about 12 weeks but can take up to 12 weeks to complete. He won’t even entertain a discussion on color until 24 weeks on a bird I have. I’d assume that’s where the pin feather issue is.

interesting the OE have smaller genetics in them than the BCM but they’re larger with hybrid vigor? !

there is a really great BCM thread here with a couple people who work on utility for their birds and have plenty of history plucking black birds. Id pop in over there and ask Chooksman if he has any tips.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...er-marans-thread-breeding-to-the-sop.1122465/

Yes, I’ve been a lurker on that thread for awhile.. ;-) I haven’t posted before since I’m not really breeding to the SOP, but I just posted there. Our biggest cockerels we’ve bread have been from Ameraucana and BCM backgrounds. We bred barnyard mix layers last year and butchered most of the cockerels at 3 mo and had fairly small dressed weights. We kept one cockerel that was an Ameraucana based Easter egger sire over a BCM hen, and he grew surprisingly large over the next two months. He’s so big I’d be hesitant to put him in with our layer hens... This year’s OE cockerels are BCM over Ameraucana, and they’ve been such vigorous chicks and fast growing cockerels. We are keeping some of the OE hens and will see how they develop as their mothers are rather small.

 

[aart]

Is there a way to tell pre-pluck or is it more a matter of recognizing during plucking that there will be too many pin feathers and converting then to skinning?

I guess you could examine birds before even killing them to look for pin feathers.
Tho I did not do this and it was only after trying to get the pins out that I skinned during parting out.

 

[wolfwalker]

Jolenesdad, how goes selling your house? but more important, have you found a new place yet?

 

[jolenesdad]

Jolenesdad, how goes selling your house? but more important, have you found a new place yet?

We put it on hold at the last minute. :-/ my area has gone absolutely crazy during COVID. It is a nice time to sell a house here but an awful time to buy. It’s incredibly overpriced and the inventory all but evaporated. Every one of our places we were interested in sold early this summer.

it’s rough, I feel like with a toddler and all of our animals I do not want to be transient extendedly and I really really don’t want to build again from the ground up.

so we stay another season! We used to have a magazine we have been thinking of turning that brand into a product company so Ive been working on getting that going to launch after the holidays and then we will regroup once that is going.

I’m thinking of doing another round of meat birds over the winter. Anyone raising any more or is everyone done?