Got my first meat birds!!! (PIC heavy!!!)

[bj taylor]

great thread. i'm glad to see a pullet next to your meaties. i was wondering about the size difference - big difference. you make it sound so easy. i look forward to hearing how you manage through the processing.
maybe i'll try meaties in the future. right now, i'm loving my dual purpose girls.

 

[hydroswiftrob]

great thread. i'm glad to see a pullet next to your meaties. i was wondering about the size difference - big difference. you make it sound so easy. i look forward to hearing how you manage through the processing.
maybe i'll try meaties in the future. right now, i'm loving my dual purpose girls.

Thanks BJ! I have sent you a PM before, but you never answered. Notice my t-shirt on page 3 of this thread You have to be somewhere close. Maybe you can come help process and see if it is for you? lol

 

[Dingo]

Why the delay? I am anxious to do mine, but I am also wanting a 7-8lb bird.

I will say that mine are pretty active birds. They do spend time on their bellies, but I think my layers in the coop with them keep them on their toes. The food and water is also 10+ ft apart from each other, so they have to move. When I come out at night to check on them, a few of them are always asleep with their head in the feed trough. lol

We delayed due to not having a sharp enough instrument. We're going for the old fashion off with the head rather than a bleed out. And we didn't want to trial and error with slightly too dull weapons.

They're gaining some weight in the meantime though, and have become poop machines when picked up.

Once these food mongers are in freezer camp we might get some turkeys to be butchered in the fall.
5 week old meaties with a 5 week old Black Jersey Giant.

5 week old meaties with 5 week old BJG and RIR, and a 9.5 week old EE in the back.

 

[hydroswiftrob]

Week 7 pics. Sorry there were no week 6 pics, I was busy packing to go out of town and just didn't have time. I am thinking next week will be d-day for a couple. This has by far been the easiest, most fun thing I have ever done. It makes me wonder why I haven't done it for years. I still do not see why people do not like CornishX other than sustainability.

 

[Dingo]

Looks like you've got a couple of cockerels there. Do you notice any significance in the size difference between the sexes?
My one cockerel is quite a bit bigger than the pullets. I'd say there's half pound to one pound difference.
I got 4 more meaties earlier this week. I was shocked when my mom enabled me to get them. She's been impressed with the weight gain with the older 4.

 

[hydroswiftrob]

Looks like you've got a couple of cockerels there. Do you notice any significance in the size difference between the sexes?
My one cockerel is quite a bit bigger than the pullets. I'd say there's half pound to one pound difference.
I got 4 more meaties earlier this week. I was shocked when my mom enabled me to get them. She's been impressed with the weight gain with the older 4.

I would say that the cockerels are at least a half pound bigger. I was lucky, the first 5 I got 4 cockerels 1 pullet. The second 5, I got 1 cockerel 4 pullets. The new batch of 27 I am hoping for all cockerels, although I know it will not happen.

 

[BethM]

One week old today and they are growing nicely.



My Great Dane thinks they are his babies. lol

My Great Dane got very attached to our chicks too!! They would chirp and she would run up to them, she would even get really nervous when the kids would hold them. Now that they are all outside she stands in the window and whines for them! She's our big Mama Hen!

 

[Dingo]

My friend came yesterday to do the deed. Two of our birds were too big for one-gallon sized freezer bags. The other two meaties barely fit. The cockerels were much smaller. For doing the butchering my friend took home 3 of the 6.
The cornish x cockerel topped the scale at dressed weight of 7lbs and the others were close behind. Not bad for 7 weeks of feeding Now to figure out what to do with 20lbs of chicken.

 

[bruceh]

now that is impressive. what are you feeding them chickens. mine are 4 weeks old now . my hens i think way a pound my cockerels maybe go 2.5 pounds.

 

[Dingo]

Mine all eat Flock Raiser. The large fowl boys were about half the size of the meat birds. cut the larger of the meaties up last night, got about 4lbs of breast meat and 2-3lbs of legs.
The LF cockerels were 11-12 weeks old, the meat birds were 7 weeks old.
Here's one of the smaller meat birds with the larger of the two LF cockerels.


LF cockerel



Smaller meat bird.