Harvesting tales.

[Molpet]

Maybe my frame of reference is skewed, since I am used to processing CX, 3 month broilers, and very heavy, optimized for meat New Hampshires, but it's hard for me to justify processing a 3-4 lb bird. As soon as I think a bird isn't going to get bigger than that, I'll sell him at a price that at least breaks even on the feed cost. It's not worth the almost 2 hrs of my time to get maybe 2 lbs of usable meat on a 3 lb carcass.

A price reference.
I have followed Good Shepherd farm and they recently started sell heritage meat through heritage food .
https://heritagefoods.com/products/whole-heritage-chicken
They have spring chicken on sale for $14. They sell by the bird not weight. A small chicken 1-2#. They have larger ones. Shipping is extra and not included in the price.
I have figured out feed costs me about $7 a lb for heritage cockerels at 16 wks. This includes the feed for parents year around minus eggs eaten or sold.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Oh this happens to me all the time! It's a pain in the butt. I don't withhold food for as long as some others do, but I do withhold for a little and don't give grit in the final 24 hours. But it seems the grit is the last thing to go from the crop! There's always at least a few pebbles.

Since I spent money purchasing these little grit rocks, would it be weird to recycle them by giving them to my flock of laying hens? Lol. I've never done it but it's crossed my mind.

 

[Molpet]

Oh this happens to me all the time! It's a pain in the butt. I don't withhold food for as long as some others do, but I do withhold for a little and don't give grit in the final 24 hours. But it seems the grit is the last thing to go from the crop! There's always at least a few pebbles.

Since I spent money purchasing these little grit rocks, would it be weird to recycle them by giving them to my flock of laying hens? Lol. I've never done it but it's crossed my mind.

I don't find grit in the crop, but I find it in the gizzard. I dump it out and Yes they recycle it lol
They try to grab guts out of the gut bucket too if I'm not watching.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

I don't find grit in the crop, but I find it in the gizzard. I dump it out and Yes they recycle it lol
They try to grab guts out of the gut bucket too if I'm not watching.

Oh gosh, I can only imagine what my flock would try to pull if I allowed them access to our processing area! Well, it's good to know there's no harm in tossing them the extra grit.