Corn for a week before slaughter?

[bills]

Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay :

Corn does NOT "heat up" an animal. This is an OLD WIVES TALE..
Jim

Is it the whole grains in scratch then, that warms birds up internally? I was understanding that it was recommended to feed scratch to chickens in the colder months.​

 

[greyfields]

I grass feed/finish my beef and lamb, too. No corn!

 

[L&Schickens]

So I guess no last meals for table birds? I think that is a good idea actually, now that I just did my frist two birds ever and there was a lot of poop and food in them.
I love this forum. So informative!!

 

[Mrs MIA]

Exactly... you want to withhold food after, oh, about noon the day before "the day" so that their crops (and other body parts) are empty... makes the dressing out so much nicer!

 

[HillCountryMomma]

I haven't found an empty crop to make much of a difference. As a matter of fact, if you've never butchered before having a full crop makes it a heck of a lot easier to find!

I had to use food to lure my birds to the tractor door this morning to be selected for duty. Some got grabbed before they gorged, others got a good crop full of food (not a waste, I threw the crops to my layer hens and they ate it all! Ha! Wee canibalistic beasties).

If you are careful in how you butcher you won't squeaze out anything in the digestive tract.

I like to loosen and pull the crop out from the neck end full or empty. If you get it loose and give it a good pull the whole thing just pops loose. I then take off the neck and then move to the back end.

I tell ya, the gutting is the easy part! I don't like to kill them (that's my husband's job) and I don't like to pluck them (we all share that job, even the kids) but gutting is fun.

Liz

 

[greyfields]

I don't think it's the crop that's the problem, it's busting the intestines potentially contaminating the meat.

 

[Davaroo]

If anybody is interested, Ill post some fattening diets and recommendations from back in the day.
Jull and Kains both include this in their texts.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Sure, I'd be interested at least.

Since the boys that were the original subject of this thread have passed on, it's too late for them...

But there are sure to be more. And these boys lived with the hens, so they are super scrawny. Now that we have the facilities, I'll put them on a higher protein diet next time.

 

[Mrs MIA]

I'd love to see those "recipes" too... I have 20 newbies in the brooder now, and 16 on their last week...

 

[HobbyChickener]

and why no corn grey? You are probably the only one I have ever seen that doesn't finish cows with corn.