First time with meat chickens. Processed all 12 at 7.5 weeks of age and got very meaty birds!! They processed pretty quickly, we plucked several but skinned the rest. They plucked pretty easily even without scalding.
We purchased 6 White Mountain Broiler, and 6 Super Roaster from Eagles Nest Poultry in OH. Straight run. We did not keep track of which birds were which as they grew, but we ended up with 4 females and 8 males. All males were large (two notably so), and two females were on the larger size, but two females seemed petite compared to the rest, but did have plenty of meat.
We kept them in a large enclosure in the garage most of the time, with time on the dirt and grass when weather allowed and for many hours at a time. The last 2 weeks, they spent the majority of time outdoors. They had access to food 24/7, but lights were off/garage dark for about 8+ hours a day. They always had access to very fresh water.
Overall, a success for us. We have made broth with off parts (necks etc), which tastes delicious, but will be cooking up our first bird tonight.
We purchased 6 White Mountain Broiler, and 6 Super Roaster from Eagles Nest Poultry in OH. Straight run. We did not keep track of which birds were which as they grew, but we ended up with 4 females and 8 males. All males were large (two notably so), and two females were on the larger size, but two females seemed petite compared to the rest, but did have plenty of meat.
We kept them in a large enclosure in the garage most of the time, with time on the dirt and grass when weather allowed and for many hours at a time. The last 2 weeks, they spent the majority of time outdoors. They had access to food 24/7, but lights were off/garage dark for about 8+ hours a day. They always had access to very fresh water.
Overall, a success for us. We have made broth with off parts (necks etc), which tastes delicious, but will be cooking up our first bird tonight.
