Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[jajeanpierre]

The pics and vids I saw they just removed the testicles but not the spermatic cord or adjacent tissues. If these are left behind, what are the results? Was watching some Asians doing this and they did 4-5 birds~held between their feet~in under a minute. Looked like they had an assembly line where one person would cut the bird and put in a thread, hand it to the next guy to remove the beans and knot the thread...looked to be one stitch. Pretty slick but the vid wasn't close enough to even see the close up action.

I hate to add anything to support what I think is a barbaric practice, however you can just glue the wound closed. My avian vet glued after doing surgical sexing, which of course was done under a general anesthetic. It is basically crazy glue, but surgical. Crazy glue will work. Before surgery, he plucked the feathers so the surgical site would be clean. I imagine gluing is less painful than stitching, but at that point, I don't know that the chicken would notice the difference from all the trauma that has been done to him.

 

[Kassaundra]

Most don't suture or close in any way. I was suturing them until this last batch when I tried the more traditional method of not closing the wound at all, it worked better, healed quickly w/o as much wind puffs.

 

[beverly evans]

Tractor Supply.

You need these. They can't "scratch" from these feeders. hang it 5 or 6 inches off the floor and NOT under a perch, where they can crap in it/them.


Harris Farms Hanging Feeder, 10 lb.
216003499
(5)

$14.99

Tractor Supply.

You need these. They can't "scratch" from these feeders. hang it 5 or 6 inches off the floor and NOT under a perch, where they can crap in it/them.


Harris Farms Hanging Feeder, 10 lb.
216003499
(5)

$14.99

I bought one of those, haven't started using it yet. Bee, what you said about your like was really kinda beautiful. I am retired and live totally stress free and am happy with my situation, but there are those who aren't happy with me. Namely my sons because I am a bit of a hoarder. It hurts no one but me. I know that they are terrified I will drop dead and they will have to deal with my collections. I will get it gone before then but they don't think I will. The way I imagine it is that one day I'll have an estate sale after I've moved everything that really matters out to the tiny "old lady home" room somewhere. What doesn't sell Goodwill gets. Simple. : )

 

[beverly evans]

Tractor Supply.

You need these. They can't "scratch" from these feeders. hang it 5 or 6 inches off the floor and NOT under a perch, where they can crap in it/them.


Harris Farms Hanging Feeder, 10 lb.
216003499
(5)

$14.99

How do those feeders work with ff mash? Have you tried it? I just use big dog food bowls for my ff. They don't climb in and try to scratch with ff. Another plus! : )

 

[beverly evans]

Yes, I love Marans. I have American Bresse as well. I just started with layers and then the chicken math kicked in when hubby and I decided to raise our own meaties. We raised CX to start, then Red Rangers, while accumulating Marans(just started with layers about 15 months ago) because my DH loves their eggs. THEN I decided to learn to caponize to get bigger DP birds, so I ended up with mixed birds from my layers and my flock protector Lavender Orpington(I got him because he was pretty.....turned out to be a good choice) when my Marans went broody and I learned to incubate. This year I will actually be raising pure bred Marans and Bresse for the first time, and perhaps a cross between the two. I just want to be able to raise my own meat from eggs to table, so I don't have to buy chicks unless I just want to.

As far as disposition goes, all of my Marans are docile, and aren't aggressive other than the typical pecking order behavior. I did call one of my broody hens "devil bird" when she was sitting on eggs and with chicks, but the other one was as sweet as she could be.

As far as feed, Marans don't have the best feed conversion in terms of eggs because they are such good meat birds. What I have seen with the Marans is that the folks who breed for egg color have bred the meat off of the birds. If you have a big meaty bird, she may not give you the dark chocolate eggs, and she will eat more than your other layers. Don't be surprised if she goes broody on you frequently either.....one of mine raised two sets of chicks this past summer.....she raised one brood, I kicked her out when they were 8 weeks old, she laid 3 or 4 eggs in the nesting boxes, then quit. Two weeks later she disappeared, and we finally found her 10-11 days into her second brood, and she showed up at the barn with 4 new chicks about 10 days later.

Marans are great foragers, and you will absolutely LOVE their rich, orange yolked free range eggs.....apparently author Ian Fleming did as well because that was James Bond's favorite egg...lol.

I would take her in a heartbeat if I was close to you.

I wish you were close to me. I can't see where you are from the "reply" mode. I might just keep her to see if she will turn broody. It would be nice not to have to incubate. As I said she has been laying one a day since she started a month ago but smallish. She matured real fast and weighs twice what my others weigh. When I offer treats she eats so fast with such force she almost takes my fingers off and leaves none for any body else. I had a friend incubate 9 of my eggs. 6 were viable and of those only my Maran's little eggs hatched into little but hardy black chicks. I bought 3 more to keep them company and the Maran's tried to peck their eyes out, (black eyes against yellow feathers). I had to watch them for a few hours until they accepted them. Two days old yet! : )

 

[beverly evans]

What age will you process for a capon? Right now he'd probably dress out at 3.5-4 lbs....are you shooting for a larger dress weight? He's very pretty!

He's gorgeous, but he has no comb to speak of. My Copper Maran has a huge comb. So he got the Black Maran coat and the Orpington's comb? I have an EE lavendar rooster. I wonder if the chicks from him will be all dark or will some actually have lavendar feathers. It's hard to believe that 8 pounds dresses down to only 3 1/2 pounds. I'm ignorant, I know, but what is a capon? Do you really castrate a rooster to make him a capon? Bee was talking about the size of Bud's testis. I wouldn't know where to find them. I took comparative anatomy about 50 years ago so I don't remember any more. I saved a chicken that died to take apart and ck out the guts, but it's still in the freezer. I've always cut up whole birds, but those had been cleaned out already. I did my own turkeys in Mexico but that also was a long time ago. : )

 

[beverly evans]

I bought one of those, haven't started using it yet. Bee, what you said about your like was really kinda beautiful. I am retired and live totally stress free and am happy with my situation, but there are those who aren't happy with me. Namely my sons because I am a bit of a hoarder. It hurts no one but me. I know that they are terrified I will drop dead and they will have to deal with my collections. I will get it gone before then but they don't think I will. The way I imagine it is that one day I'll have an estate sale after I've moved everything that really matters out to the tiny "old lady home" room somewhere. What doesn't sell Goodwill gets. Simple. : )

Bee, Geezzz I hate it when I forget to "proof" my blatherings! It's "Life" not "like". Of course you knew that!

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote:

Harris Farms Hanging Feeder, 10 lb.

216003499
(5)

$14.99

How do those feeders work with ff mash? Have you tried it? I just use big dog food bowls for my ff. They don't climb in and try to scratch with ff. Another plus! : )
They are for dry food not FF

 

[BCMaraniac]

So the marans make a large meat bird? I didn't see where you said the egg color or did you? Just wondering what color egg?

Marans can be a good sized meat bird. Some are, some aren't. With some breeders, their goal in breeding is for the very dark chocolate eggs, and in doing so,they have bred the meat off of them. The strange thing about the coloring is that it really is just a paint job, as the coloring does not occur through the full thickness of the shell. It scratches off, so it is really cosmetic.

My goal is to breed a good meat bird that lays enough eggs to satisfy my DH.....LOL.

The capon in my photo is a cross, but I am pleased with his size. I will breed pure bred Marans next year with meat quality in mind, but won't hesitate to cross with something else is that gives me a better carcass for the table......

 

[BCMaraniac]

What age will you process for a capon? Right now he'd probably dress out at 3.5-4 lbs....are you shooting for a larger dress weight? He's very pretty!

Capons are generally processed at 9-12 months, with most around 10 months. The beauty of the capon is that they CAN be grown and processed as desired without compromise of the meat. I processed a capon slip recently that was smaller than him, and he dressed out at 4lb4oz. I am anticipating that he will really fill out over the next 3-4 months

Some capons will dress out the size of a small turkey. I probably won't butcher until Feb/March......maybe for Easter. This is a new experience for me, but I am pleased with how he and some of the others are growing so far.

Before the CX and other hybrids were developed, the capon was the plump table bird that more affluent people desired. From what I understand, if a farmer lived close to a bigger city, capons were a good cash crop, bringing roughly three times the price per pound of a regular chicken. There was a sweet spot in terms of profit, which was in the 9-10 month range. So what the farmer would do is get chicks in early spring and then butcher and sell around the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays.