How to successfully do meat birds?

[Chicks in VA]

How can you do meat birds without losing money?
Also how do you keep them so they could reproduce? I asked question number 2 because I heard that they have no good quality of life after week 12 is this true?

Also what's a good diet to feed dual purpose so you can eat them?

If you do meat birds please share how you do it ! Thanks!

 

[NatJ]

How can you do meat birds without losing money?

Most people can't. If you buy the birds, and buy the feed, it usually costs more than buying chicken meat at the store.

Also how do you keep them so they could reproduce? I asked question number 2 because I heard that they have no good quality of life after week 12 is this true?

For Cornish Cross, the ones that grow fastest, you do not have them reproduce. Hatcheries do not have them reproduce either-- they have one kind of hen, and another kind of rooster, and they cross them to get the chicks they sell. You cannot buy the females and males they use, because they do not sell them.

The hatcheries have to partly-starve the parent birds, to deliberately stunt their growth, to keep them alive and healthy enough to reproduce (the parent birds would not grow quite as fast as their chicks, but still too fast and too big for good health.)

Also what's a good diet to feed dual purpose so you can eat them?

Almost any normal chicken food will work fine (chick starter, grower, all flock, flock raiser, meat bird feed, etc. Just don't feed them layer feed, because it has so much calcium it is dangerous to growing chicks.)

They will be safe to eat, but they will never grow as fast or as big as a specially-bred meat chicken (like Cornish Cross.) Whether they get "big enough" to eat is determined by how big you think they need to be. Some people raise quail for meat, and even bantam chickens will grow larger than quail. But most people want their meat chickens to be much bigger than that!

 

[Chicks in VA]

Most people can't. If you buy the birds, and buy the feed, it usually costs more than buying chicken meat at the store.

Okay. That's disappointing

For Cornish Cross, the ones that grow fastest, you do not have them reproduce. Hatcheries do not have them reproduce either-- they have one kind of hen, and another kind of rooster, and they cross them to get the chicks they sell. You cannot buy the females and males they use, because they do not sell them.

Oh wow I never knew that !

The hatcheries have to partly-starve the parent birds, to deliberately stunt their growth, to keep them alive and healthy enough to reproduce (the parent birds would not grow quite as fast as their chicks, but still too fast and too big for good health.)

✓

Almost any normal chicken food will work fine (chick starter, grower, all flock, flock raiser, meat bird feed, etc. Just don't feed them layer feed, because it has so much calcium it is dangerous to growing chicks.)

Okay just wanted to make sure that I could feed them the normal!

They will be safe to eat, but they will never grow as fast or as big as a specially-bred meat chicken (like Cornish Cross.) Whether they get "big enough" to eat is determined by how big you think they need to be. Some people raise quail for meat, and even bantam chickens will grow larger than quail. But most people want their meat chickens to be much bigger than that!

I have three ahole rir rooster that might go to freezer camp and want to make them gain weight before, they free range with low access to food ( the older rooster chases them off so they don't get tons but they do have plenty) so I'm going to separate them and feed them a lot lol

 

[BigBlueHen53]

We have eaten EE, Black Australorp and (I think) Dom cockerels as well as Cornish game hens. The first three are, of course, not nearly as meaty as the latter, but mostly we make soups or dumplings out of them, so huge quantities of meat are not required. They have all been tender and tasty although we found the color of the BA a bit off-putting. Just feed them a good well-balanced commercial feed and treat them well. They may, in the long run, be more expensive than commercially bought chicken, but for us the fact that we know they were raised healthfully and humanely is worth far more than dollars and cents. And you can't beat the flavor, honestly!

 

[NatJ]

I have three ahole rir rooster that might go to freezer camp and want to make them gain weight before, they free range with low access to food ( the older rooster chases them off so they don't get tons but they do have plenty) so I'm going to separate them and feed them a lot lol

If they are still young and growing, they probably will grow faster when you do that, although they will never grow as bulky and meaty as the Cornish Cross chickens you see in the stores. But if they are already grown up, they are probably not going to gain much actual muscle, just some fat.

In general, if you are concerned about the cost of the feed and about your own convenience, it may work better to butcher scrawny chickens instead of trying to make them grow more. Considering the bother of separating them and having to tend an extra pen of birds each day, and the cost of the food, they may not gain enough more meat to be worth it.

Of course you can do it any way you want. I'm just offering thoughts based on what you were asking, and what I am assuming about your goals.

 

[Chicks in VA]

If they are still young and growing, they probably will grow faster when you do that, although they will never grow as bulky and meaty as the Cornish Cross chickens you see in the stores. But if they are already grown up, they are probably not going to gain much actual muscle, just some fat.

Yeah they are young!

In general, if you are concerned about the cost of the feed and about your own convenience, it may work better to butcher scrawny chickens instead of trying to make them grow more. Considering the bother of separating them and having to tend an extra pen of birds each day, and the cost of the food, they may not gain enough more meat to be worth it.

Of course you can do it any way you want. I'm just offering thoughts based on what you were asking, and what I am assuming about your goals.

Yeah I and appreciate it very much!

 

[Chicks in VA]

We have eaten EE, Black Australorp and (I think) Dom cockerels as well as Cornish game hens. The first three are, of course, not nearly as meaty as the latter, but mostly we make soups or dumplings out of them, so huge quantities of meat are not required. They have all been tender and tasty although we found the color of the BA a bit off-putting. Just feed them a good well-balanced commercial feed and treat them well. They may, in the long run, be more expensive than commercially bought chicken, but for us the fact that we know they were raised healthfully and humanely is worth far more than dollars and cents. And you can't beat the flavor, honestly!

Yeah that's fair!

One more question when you get ready to butcher them , do you not feed them for a period of time?

 

[NatJ]

One more question when you get ready to butcher them , do you not feed them for a period of time?

Some people withhold feed (so the guts are empty at butchering.) But it is quite possible to butcher a chicken with a full crop and guts. So I would say it comes down to personal preference, and what works well with each person's schedule and managment methods.

Personally, I have never bothered to withhold feed. That would require planning further ahead (instead of deciding "I'll butcher them today.") It would also require that the birds to be butchered are in a pen or cage separate from other birds (because the ones not being butchered still need to be fed.) And if I plan to butcher one day, and then change my mind, I would have hungry birds that didn't grow as much that day as they would have otherwise.

But if you already have the birds in a pen with no others, and you are going to butcher them all the same day, it is easy to skip feeding them that morning.

Or if you like to catch the birds after dark, and put them in a cage to butcher the next day, there is no need to provide food and water in the cage. Withholding feed is easier than feeding them in that situation.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Yeah that's fair!

One more question when you get ready to butcher them , do you not feed them for a period of time?

We separate them the night before so their crops are empty in the morning. I can't speak for the remainder of their digestive system. Oh wait, yes I can. I put them in a dog crate and haul them to the butcher in the morning, and I have to roll the windows down on the way, if you catch my meaning. We (DH and I) do not do our own processing. We have a lovely Mennonite neighbor who charges us only $2/head to do it for us.

 

[Acre4Me]

All good info by @NatJ. Only additional info I’ll add is that Cornish X are specially bred to maximize feed to meat conversion in a very fast timeline. They are not GMI, rather they are this way from specialized breeding which includes a breed of chicken called Cornish. The Cornish have thick legs, wide stance, and a double breast muscle. This double breast muscle is one reason they get so large.

When you raise regular chickens (dual purpose), you will not get the fast growth rate nor the size. However, you can find strains of various dual purpose that are bred for size and relatively faster growth if your goal is to hatch your own so that girls give you eggs and the boys are worth the trouble if butchering around 16-18 weeks. There are also “Ranger” strains that are meant for free ranging, and/or feeding pellets, with an average butchering age of 16 weeks. But, no double breast muscle on these strains.

Last year we purchased White Plymouth Rocks from a source indicating large size, many eggs. This was true-the boys were quite a nice size and we kept the girls and they lay very nice and large eggs. We butchered the boys, and with the exception of a couple bullied boys that didn’t get as much feed, they were meaty. We did use Meatbird start to finish feed at 22% protein, just like we would for Cornish Cross and that did help them reach a good size too (instead of regular chick starter that is 18-20% protein).

However, we won’t do dual purpose for meat again. The boys wouldn’t shut up for weeks-we were glad to butcher them. They took 2x as long, for a smaller carcass than CornishX. Cornish X are quiet -butchered before they crow. They take up less space and time. But, we live rural, but have neighbors on each side of us, and no need to annoy them for no reason.