Harvesting hens for meat

[naf_appaz]

I would suggest looking into quail...the jumbo or Texas a&m variety mature form hatch in a couple mos. they are quiet and you can grow out quite a few of the little buggers in a relatively small area. The males are not very loud when they do start crow'n but because they tend to fight to the death over the girls you harvest them before the testosterone kicks in..lotta info about them on this site. And they are healthier than chicken, less fat!

 

[cottontail farm]

Between the crowing and lack of space, I'm back to grocery store blobs.

For what it's worth, the batch of cornish cross I did this spring were MUCH better than blobs ( I had that fear too) they were kept in a big chicken tractor on grass and (I believe from a more natural diet plus EXERCISE) the meat was firm and flavorful. It's not going to be as "chicken-y" as a slow grown heritage bird but will still be FAR tastier than a supermarket bird.

7 weeks start to finish, no crowing.

When I did red rangers they were butchered at 14 weeks and yep, crowing.

A bunch of male quail will also make racket but a very non-crowing one. Give it a google - your neighbors won't have a clue you're raising meat birds. They sound like wild birds and by the time they're "crowing" (7 weeks) they're ready to butcher anyway. In fact you have too or they'll start fighting. So that's totally another low-key option for great homegrown meat.