- Feb 13, 2009
- 7
- 0
- 7
We are relative newbies to poultry.Have raised about 100 layers over tha last year and processed 8 turkeys last year and 10 roos after they became troublesome. We finally decided on colored rangers after following several meatie 'diaries'. I thought I'd share a quick summary of our 'experiment'.
We received our chicks back in July.We split the 100 with a friend and just processed nearly 100 this past cold/rainy Sat. on our farm at 11 weeks. It took us only one hour to process each flock. Six people with rented equipment. We were amazed and thrilled. IT took more time to clean up than to process! Final stats aren't in from my friend, but here's what ours amounted to. Our 48 weighed between 4 and 7 3/4 pounds. (avg a little more than 5 3/4 pounds). 22 bags of feed 21%(first couple weeks 28%);Total of 1100 # feed. I think that's an FCR of 3.9.
I used a moveable coop with free choice feed and water. THe coop was moved 2 times/day the last 2 weeks. THey were very alert and definitely were a bit more 'lazy' than my egg layers. Laying down alot and picking at the grass and such. They really suck down the water! Filled their 5 gal waterer 3x/day! A 'pretty' breed to look at though! That's just a bonus. I have not cooked one yet, but got feedback on Sunday after a customer cooked it and couldn't believe the wonderful flavor and moisture.THey even commented on the white color of the bones and meat and were thoroughly pleased with being able to get two meals for their family of 8(6 are young children)out of one bird! All in all a great experience! The plan is to do 100 2x/year and keep 1/2 each time for us and sell the other half. Our biggest challenge is the processing equipment to rent is 2 hours away so we're looking into getting some kind of local 'co-op' together for equipment. The local USDA processor wants $3+/bird and is an hour away. We are in NC and are able to do on-farm processing within certain guidelines. hope that is helpful . Terri
We received our chicks back in July.We split the 100 with a friend and just processed nearly 100 this past cold/rainy Sat. on our farm at 11 weeks. It took us only one hour to process each flock. Six people with rented equipment. We were amazed and thrilled. IT took more time to clean up than to process! Final stats aren't in from my friend, but here's what ours amounted to. Our 48 weighed between 4 and 7 3/4 pounds. (avg a little more than 5 3/4 pounds). 22 bags of feed 21%(first couple weeks 28%);Total of 1100 # feed. I think that's an FCR of 3.9.
I used a moveable coop with free choice feed and water. THe coop was moved 2 times/day the last 2 weeks. THey were very alert and definitely were a bit more 'lazy' than my egg layers. Laying down alot and picking at the grass and such. They really suck down the water! Filled their 5 gal waterer 3x/day! A 'pretty' breed to look at though! That's just a bonus. I have not cooked one yet, but got feedback on Sunday after a customer cooked it and couldn't believe the wonderful flavor and moisture.THey even commented on the white color of the bones and meat and were thoroughly pleased with being able to get two meals for their family of 8(6 are young children)out of one bird! All in all a great experience! The plan is to do 100 2x/year and keep 1/2 each time for us and sell the other half. Our biggest challenge is the processing equipment to rent is 2 hours away so we're looking into getting some kind of local 'co-op' together for equipment. The local USDA processor wants $3+/bird and is an hour away. We are in NC and are able to do on-farm processing within certain guidelines. hope that is helpful . Terri
