Finished totally ...

[Sami]

Well I finished processing my first ever batch of meaties today. I ordered 16 figuring that I would lose a few but they all survived. Yeah for me! . I have weighted them and have a final total of 100.18lbs of meat. That works out to $6.26 per bird. My birds all were in the 6 lb range except two at 5.9lbs and three at 7lbs. I bought a chicken in the wintertime at the grocery store and kept the sticker... It cost $13.73 for a 4.59lb bird so I am really happy with my numbers. I went through 450 lbs of feed and they went well beyond the 9 week mark as our weather was wonky here in the spring and my feed was a low protein %. Since I figure I will have chicken for a year now, next year my goal is to get better pricing on feed.

Thank goodness for this forum. The knowledge on it is tremendous and I wouldn't have been able to accomplish my meaties without it. Best advice I read.... Keep your mouth shut while doing the culling.... Yes. I experienced the dreaded poop flying upward on a few birds.... Yuck! I think it was their way if getting a bit of pay back on me. Also good advice was the relaxing for three days in the fridge.

Had a bit of a startle on my last bird... Head was off and I was plucking when I thought the bird jerked back from me.... I jumped back. Felt like a dolt for thinking that it might still be alive....there was no head.. Went back at it and when I put the bird on the table to remove the legs one wing started flapping and the breast was twitching. Kinda creepy. Like the bird was waving at me. Anyhow. They are all resting in the fridge or in the freezer. Hope everyone is having positive experiences. Happy Canada day to my fellow Canadians! Cheers... Sam from Ontario

 

[Tabasco Jack]

Congratulations Sam.
When you start feasting on those birds, it will be all worth it.

 

[Life is Good!]

Wohoo! Job well done!
When you're enjoying your chicken in the middle of winter - knowing that you've got supplies on hand despite the weather - that is absolutely priceless!

Now, find yourself a good beef farmer who'll sell you 1/2 a cow and a pig or two...and your meat requirements will be met entirely! For a YEAR! That's a wonderful feeling.

 

[Sami]

Funny that you mentioned that. I do have a friend farmer that is raising a pig for me. My husband and I also hunt so we are fully stocked on venison. I make my own sausages, half venison half pork and thought it would be smart to raise a piggy so I wouldn't have to buy grocery store meat which is quite pricey. Now I just have to figure how to stock up on fish....lol

 

[Sami]

Lol. Just reread my post.,. Must have been tired as my math doesn't work lol. It works out that the average weight is 6.26 per bird not the cost. Works out to $1.95lb which isn't as low as I wanted but its home grown so I am happy.

 

[Arielle]

Well worth the extra cost.

I'm working toward growtng the food they eat-- more grasses, etc. Probably a slower growing chicken needed.

I butchered Cornish X for the first time this week. Very different than working with my dual purpose , lot of broken wings.

have a few more to do from this batch. ANd I bought another 15 chicks 2 weeks ago. Now I wish I had not bought them. I did it as a learning experiment.

THey taste good though!!

 

[NikonD2xer]

Well worth the extra cost. I'm working toward growtng the food they eat-- more grasses, etc. Probably a slower growing chicken needed. I butchered Cornish X for the first time this week. Very different than working with my dual purpose , lot of broken wings.

have a few more to do from this batch. ANd I bought another 15 chicks 2 weeks ago. Now I wish I had not bought them. I did it as a learning experiment. THey taste good though!!

I had several broken wings with mine too. I don't know what method you used to dispatch them, but Ii can see why people using a killing cone would stop the wings from flapping. I chopped the heads off with a couple and learned to lay them on their back to bleed out. Fewer broken wings that way. No problems with the cone method. Good luck with the next batch !!

 

[Arielle]

Quote: THanks! Live and learn. THe heat killed off the 3 largest of what I had left. I moved the 3 remaining ( pullets) to another location with more breeze. GOod to know on the killing cone-- I use a technique where I stand ont he wing feathers of both wings and place the other foot gently on the legs to keep the bird still. THis method clearly results in broken wings on the cornish X. NEver had a problem with any of the dual purpose types, like I said. Just a more fragile bird I think.

 

[bigredfeather]

Great Job Sami!

One thing though.........isn't it illegal for you to process your own birds in Canada? I read that somewhere one time. After reading it, I remember telling my wife there is no way I would ever consider moving to Canada if we couldn't process our own birds, LOL.

 

[QuirkySue]

I hope not, because I'm planning on doing a couple next weekend!

We do have a long list of rules thanks to the quota system. Even in rural agricultural zones we are limited on number of layers or starts per year, we can't sell eggs anywhere but right "off the farm" and can't sell meat at all without permits. As far as I know we are allowed to process whatever meat we want on our property for our own family use as long as the waste is disposed of properly.