Freedom Ranger Nerd Out Thread

[SolidRockFarmTX]

Just a mid week update.....

A few notes...the straight run I ordered looks to be about 75% pullets, kind of a bummer, but I kind of expected it from a hatchery that sexes males. Not a huge deal, I'm curious to see how the pullets dress out.

Additionally, in the first 24 hours they consumed 11 ounces total, the second 24 hours they consumed 13 ounces.

Water consumption is pretty high, I've got two 1 quart waterers in the brooder and I've been refilling them morning and night, not totally empty but almost, I'm amazed at how much they drink.

Behavior wise they are super active, doing laps around the brooder like crazy chickens. Looking forward to their 1 week weigh in!



As far as processing goes, what do you folks do? I've been finding people to process at 4-5 bucks a bird, which seems a little expensive, but is also far less than just a plucker alone not to mention a few other little odds and ends.

For those of you that outsource your processing, what are the pros and cons from your experiences in having someone else do it?

For those that do your own processing, same question, pros and cons? After investing in equipment and spending a day processing, would you pay the 4-5 bucks?

Thanks!

The 75% pullets might actually be a good thing. Apparently when you buy whole chickens in the store, those are actually females, because females grow a more u-shaped breast and males grow a longer keel bone and a more v-shaped breast. Girls have curves, ya know? lol. My only source for this info is it's what a judge at the Ohio State Fair told me...

Processing- just gonna throw this out there as an option: skinning. My husband and I have raised and processed three batches of 30-40 birds now. We don't have somebody to outsource processing to anywhere close to us, nor would we be willing to pay for it if we did. We also haven't been able to afford a plucker yet, though we're working on it, and we're not about to handpluck. Ain't nobody got time for that. So we basically taught ourselves/with Youtube how to skin, and it's not hard. I can skin and gut a bird in about 11 minutes, more like 15 when I'm getting tired. Cons are you lose the fat that sticks to the skin, and it is more time consuming than if you have a plucker, but if you have the time and not the money, it does work well!!

Btw I look forward to readying more updates! It's nice to read someone who is even more information-and-record obsessed than myself lol.

 

[seanengler]

The 75% pullets might actually be a good thing. Apparently when you buy whole chickens in the store, those are actually females, because females grow a more u-shaped breast and males grow a longer keel bone and a more v-shaped breast. Girls have curves, ya know? lol. My only source for this info is it's what a judge at the Ohio State Fair told me...

Processing- just gonna throw this out there as an option: skinning. My husband and I have raised and processed three batches of 30-40 birds now. We don't have somebody to outsource processing to anywhere close to us, nor would we be willing to pay for it if we did. We also haven't been able to afford a plucker yet, though we're working on it, and we're not about to handpluck. Ain't nobody got time for that. So we basically taught ourselves/with Youtube how to skin, and it's not hard. I can skin and gut a bird in about 11 minutes, more like 15 when I'm getting tired. Cons are you lose the fat that sticks to the skin, and it is more time consuming than if you have a plucker, but if you have the time and not the money, it does work well!!

Btw I look forward to readying more updates! It's nice to read someone who is even more information-and-record obsessed than myself lol.

Thanks for the info! About to post the end of week 1 update.

 

[seanengler]

End of Week 1 update!

Here's some screen shots from excel...

The cockerel/pullet weights for the first week I am not able to obtain, I am a firefighter and got stuck working an extra shift today. I planned on being home today to do the weights, but whatever, won't kill me! My wife has been tracking the feed though so I have uploaded the feed log info.

EDIT: I also changed the spread sheet to show Weekly Feed Total and Feed per Bird instead of daily averages. I think the weekly total and feed per bird is more useful information for budgeting/predicting feed costs and needs in the future.

The birds have been on free choice for food and light 23 hours a day.



Here is a day by day record of the feed consumed in ounces. Not super necessary but interesting to see the rapid increase in their consumption.

 

[seanengler]

Home from work this morning and the weights for 1 week +1 day are as follows:

Avg. Pullet: 7.4
Avg. Cockerel: 7.8

Avg weight gained from arrival is 6.4 oz.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

I have raised out 2 batches of cx so far. For the first 2 weeks they had 24/7 access to feed after that I cut feed time to twice a day. Both grew out very well on 3 hours of feed in the morning and an hour of feed at night just before bed. The rest of the day I kept them out free range with my laying flock. In addition to growing a bit slower they tasted a bit better. Something about sun and bugs makes chicken so much better.

As for feed restrictions before processing that depends on you. We take feeders away but the ground is full of goodies. If you are doing your own processing (highly suggest if you have time) you can leave them on pasture up until time. It you outsource the processing a lot of places want them 0 feed or pasture for 24 hours for cleanliness.

Me and my 10 year old daughter do all our processing so there is no outsourcing. My daughter is fairly good at removing a full crop without making a mess as well as removing everything else. The little hands make it easy for her to hold in just the right spot.

 

[seanengler]

I have raised out 2 batches of cx so far. For the first 2 weeks they had 24/7 access to feed after that I cut feed time to twice a day. Both grew out very well on 3 hours of feed in the morning and an hour of feed at night just before bed. The rest of the day I kept them out free range with my laying flock. In addition to growing a bit slower they tasted a bit better. Something about sun and bugs makes chicken so much better.

As for feed restrictions before processing that depends on you. We take feeders away but the ground is full of goodies. If you are doing your own processing (highly suggest if you have time) you can leave them on pasture up until time. It you outsource the processing a lot of places want them 0 feed or pasture for 24 hours for cleanliness.

Me and my 10 year old daughter do all our processing so there is no outsourcing. My daughter is fairly good at removing a full crop without making a mess as well as removing everything else. The little hands make it easy for her to hold in just the right spot.

The processor I am using this time around (going to budget a plucker for our next batch in the fall) has yet to respond to me about the off feed/pasture timing. I'm assuming what you said will be the case, 24 hours off feed.

I really wanted to process our own birds, but the first time around it's just not going to work out. The equipment cost, while a 1x cost, is high and with my wife transition into a 100% commission job right now, I'm reluctant to dip into our savings more than is absolutely necessary. With processing costs I am still anticipating our cost to be $2.65-$2.90/lb. Compared to the cost of a pasture raised chicken at the store, I am pretty happy with that despite the outsourcing.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

You are trying to get all the big toys right up front. My set up is very basic. My table is a sheet of plywood over 2 saw horse. I use my turkey fryer as a scalded. My kids do all plucking , nothing like free labor. And as for knifes I have 2 and a pair of kitchen shears. All in all the only thing that cost was the sheet of plywood.

You really don't have to have anything fancy or expensive just purposeful. My main knife is from family Dollar. It's the El cheapo paring knife. I also have an El cheapo fishing knife from Walmart. The shears are from lowes, they are actually metal shears. Everything I already had on hand. As for kill cones I use orange traffic cones.

I feel your pain of a tight budget, there are 7 of us and both adults (my husband and I) are physically disabled. That's why Homesteading is so important to us.

 

[seanengler]

You are trying to get all the big toys right up front. My set up is very basic. My table is a sheet of plywood over 2 saw horse. I use my turkey fryer as a scalded. My kids do all plucking , nothing like free labor. And as for knifes I have 2 and a pair of kitchen shears. All in all the only thing that cost was the sheet of plywood.

You really don't have to have anything fancy or expensive just purposeful. My main knife is from family Dollar. It's the El cheapo paring knife. I also have an El cheapo fishing knife from Walmart. The shears are from lowes, they are actually metal shears. Everything I already had on hand. As for kill cones I use orange traffic cones.

I feel your pain of a tight budget, there are 7 of us and both adults (my husband and I) are physically disabled. That's why Homesteading is so important to us.

7! Wow, it's just the two of us right now lol, I could use some "free" labor. The only really big toy I want upfront is the plucker. The rest of it I pretty much have, except for a killing knife, killing cones (which I'm just gonna make). The chilling tub I have, turkey fryer and scalding pot I have, but hand plucking or even a drill plucker which I've used for duck hunting etc just sounds miserable for 26 birds and eventually more as I scale up to meet the needs of neighbors and family (for a nominal fee haha). But yeah, building my own plucker I've priced out around $400 with decent parts, even cheaper with stuff I can scavenge, while we all know the price of the manufactured hobby farm/professional quality pluckers. I just can't justify in my head spending $400-$1000, depending on quality, right now when part of our income goes away until some sales are made. I can totally appreciate the function the homemade/preexisting equipment though, that's what most of my set up will be. Great advice! I'm always amazed at the ingenuity of those truly seeking to stretch a dollar out of necessity, it's pretty cool to see some things people come up with.

How do you like the traffic cone set up? I'm going back and forth between that and making some cones out of galvanized metal for roofing. The cones seem much easier, how do they clean up?

 

[Chicken girl 15]

7!  Wow, it's just the two of us right now lol, I could use some "free" labor.  The only really big toy I want upfront is the plucker.  The rest of it I pretty much have, except for a killing knife, killing cones (which I'm just gonna make).  The chilling tub I have, turkey fryer and scalding pot I have, but hand plucking or even a drill plucker which I've used for duck hunting etc just sounds miserable for 26 birds and eventually more as I scale up to meet the needs of neighbors and family (for a nominal fee haha).  But yeah, building my own plucker I've priced out around $400 with decent parts, even cheaper with stuff I can scavenge, while we all know the price of the manufactured hobby farm/professional quality pluckers.  I just can't justify in my head spending $400-$1000, depending on quality, right now when part of our income goes away until some sales are made.  I can totally appreciate the function the homemade/preexisting equipment though, that's what most of my set up will be.  Great advice!  I'm always amazed at the ingenuity of those truly seeking to stretch a dollar out of necessity, it's pretty cool to see some things people come up with.

 How do you like the traffic cone set up?  I'm going back and forth between that and making some cones out of galvanized metal for roofing.  The cones seem much easier, how do they clean up?

the cones are great. Cut the thin end to size so you can get the head in hand and it's easy. As for clean up I use a toilet brush (new of course) and bleach. Once it dries it's good and sterile.

 

[kyleag]

I harvested my Freedom Rangers this past weekend here are some results. Average Rooster weight 6.5lbs dressed with the largest weighing 7.5, Hen average was 6 with the largest at 6.5 and the smallest at 5. All in all Im pretty happy with the results