Done With Meat Birds

[Keara]

In My Never To Be Humble Opinion......

DP birds are not for the big chicken eater, or for the person wanting to save money. DP birds are for people who like to first and foremost raise their own birds, secondly get eggs, and occasionally are willing to process and eat an unwanted rooster or hen.

-Keara

I think DP are healthier animals who are self-sufficient and can do a lot of foraging. They are happy, can raise thier own young.... and do not need as much care and protection.

 

[booker81]

Quote:
This. Also, they are for the person who does not wish for chicken that is tender to the point of softness, and who looks for a stronger flavor of "chicken" when cooking.

(Posting as I'm making up some chicken soup out of some older banties I picked up from CL).

 

[Salt and Light]

Quote:
Following up on TimG's comment, what is the AVERAGE expected loss for birds? Out of every batch of meat birds, how many normally die?

 

[CARS]

I guess my opinion is Give It A Try!!! You're doing the Cornish now, next time try some DP's and see how YOU like them.

I will say that you are paying way too much for Cornish Chicks. You are getting a great price on feed though. The other equipment will last for years, so while the initial expense may seem high, you wont be buying that stuff again.

Losses... I don't have my records near me but out the 50 I order at a time, I have had batches that I lost as many as 10 through their life to a couple batches of zero losses. Some years the stock just seems better than others. Some springs are colder than others. Some summers are hotter than others. I just do my best and hope for a great flock to process.

Edited to add. My opinion on your great feed price is based on the assumption that you are buying it in 50lb bags.

 

[TimG]

Quote:
Following up on TimG's comment, what is the AVERAGE expected loss for birds? Out of every batch of meat birds, how many normally die?

You will get people who tell you that they've never lost a chick and others that have had bad experiences and lost a big percentage. I'm not sure average is really the number you want because it will be inflated by a few bad experiences. Perhaps it is better to say that typical losses might be 5-10%. That's more of a guess at the mode rather than the mean.

Before I purchased my first chicks, I read up a bit. One thing that I read said that you could expect to lose 25% in the beginning and 25% after that. Or, at least that is what I remembered. I think the author was talking about 25% of eggs might not hatch and 25% of those that do might be lost early. This was probably for eggs that a hen hatched in the barn rather than went through an incubator. Or maybe the author was just plain wrong. Anyway, these number stuck in my head. I wanted about a dozen layers, so I ordered two dozen chicks figuring that normal losses would leave me with about a dozen. I lost one chick the first day, the other 23 survived to laying age.

 

[TimG]

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His price is $10.75 per 50#, that's about normal in my experience, unless you're talking about organic feed.

 

[marquisella]

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His price is $10.75 per 50#, that's about normal in my experience, unless you're talking about organic feed.

I wish that was the price here in central,NY. I buy Agway 26%gamebird starte at $14.75 for 50 lbs. But I will be switching them to whole oats by 4 weeks of age, so that will decrease my feed costs.

Sue

 

[Lorije1]

I only used 320lbs of feed for my 21 Cornishx ?? And I lost 4 - 1 to drowning (my fault), 1 to smothering (just an accident) and 2 to mystery deaths.
I fed them a lot of greens and leftover veggies, scrambled eggs from my layers and let them out on grass. They had leftover Halloween pumpkins from my house and neighbors (but only if the pumpkins weren't fit for cooking

).

but yeah... you have to grow out what you are comfortable with and what works for you personally.

ETA - did the final processing yesterday at 8 wks. We had almost all of them at 5-6lbs dressed.

 

[Dunkopf]

Quote:
What does the Caponizing do to make them grow meatier. I'm also curious about the size of the breast on the Freedom Rangers. The meaties have such nice breasts. I have noticed a much more flavorful taste on the meaties than what you can buy at the store. That's the only reason we raise them besides the antibiotics and whatever they inject to make them juicier. You will never beat the cost at the store, unless you are buying alleged organic meat. I say alleged because I don't know what they are doing to them and I know that there is very little actual inspecting going on. Legs and thighs are quite often on sale for 99 cents a lb. Breast halves are quite often on for 1.29 lb.

When you put in all the up front cost of fencing and shelter for any birds it will take a very long time to break even. We figured that out quick enough.

 

[marquisella]

Quote:
What does the Caponizing do to make them grow meatier. I'm also curious about the size of the breast on the Freedom Rangers. The meaties have such nice breasts. I have noticed a much more flavorful taste on the meaties than what you can buy at the store. That's the only reason we raise them besides the antibiotics and whatever they inject to make them juicier. You will never beat the cost at the store, unless you are buying alleged organic meat. I say alleged because I don't know what they are doing to them and I know that there is very little actual inspecting going on. Legs and thighs are quite often on sale for 99 cents a lb. Breast halves are quite often on for 1.29 lb.

When you put in all the up front cost of fencing and shelter for any birds it will take a very long time to break even. We figured that out quick enough.

I already had all the equipment so there is only the cost of the birds & feed. And the processing, which I don't do yet...

Sue