I need encouragement and some good advise

[jmofaustin]

I am really thinking about doing this, trying to raise some meat birds. Here is how I have justified it to myself, my daughter, and friends..

1. I am not a vegetarian, so every time I buy a chicken at the store, I am promoting the horrible conditions they put those animals through just to sell us cheap meat.

2. Who wants to buy meat that has been injected with broth?

3. I can give these chickens an excellent life, maybe short, but they will be happy.

4. They only live to be about 12 weeks old before they die of natural causes anyway (this is the reason that I think I can do this.

Now I cannot process the chickens myself, but I think I can make an appointment to get it done

.

So here is my question, if I get 10 meat birds, how many bags of feed will they need from start to finish? Has anyone every kept track of that?

 

[justusnak]

I have 9 cornish X. When they are ready to....process...they will have gone through 100 lbs of feed. Well....mostly all of it. I am sure alot of it has been spilled a few times in the flooreing...when I clean the brooder, there is some in the bedding. They are little piggies, so when I put the feed in, they all come running, and act like they are starving! I feed them 2 x's a day now...at 5 weeks old...for 9 pullets....they get about 4 cups per feeding....and they are about 3 or 4 pounds each already!! We will be precessing ours here at home...over a 2 day period...in 2 weeks. Its a great experience...my 6 1/2 yr old grandson wants to help with the butcher. Wil have to see how THAT goes tho. LOL Good luck...let us know!

 

[jmofaustin]

Thanks Deb, that is great to know, why did you get all pullets?

 

[djwingo]

wow good luck i hope you don't get them all and become attached lol it's very easy my hubby wants to eat mine and im like no way jose!!!

but if u can do it awesome for you it is much healthier you know what they have been fed and how they have been taken care of

again good luck and let us know if they are tasty lol

 

[justusnak]

Well....originally when we got them, they were to be for my grandsons 4H. He was told to get pullets for show. Well...in our haste....we got them about a month too early.

Now we have to get more....( oh darn)

This time we might get a straight run..and just HOPE for at least 2 hens. I would like to see the difference in thier dress weights. Not a biggie I am sure. Maybe we will go with all pullets...will have to decide soon, have to order the new ones in about 2 weeks....right after we process these one.
Oh, and nature has a way...or...whoever has a way of working. We decided on processing them on the 24th and 25th of April. Then I was looking at the bator....I have 27 eggs in there....due on the 26th. He givith and He taketh away! Will be a very busy 3 days here on our little farm.

 

[homechick]

That is really neat. If I had a husband that could take care of the "processing" then I would probably be OK... probably somewhat sad but like you, I can feel better about eating meat from a bird that didn't live in cruel conditions while they WERE ont his earth. Plus, you don't have all the steroids, hormones.. you can trust that your meat is as pure as possible! Good for you! Plus, instead of saying "Thank you Lord for this meal" you can say "Thank you Lord, and Sally, for this meal." Hee hee. Sick humor.

 

[jmofaustin]

My husband can't do it either, that is why I am going to have to make an appointment with the chicken processor.
The hormone thing is another reason that I have considered also, they say that children are going through puberty years earlier nowadays because of all the hormones in our food.
I was supposed to get the chicks this week, but "chickened out", so to speak

. I will try again next week.

 

[sloper74]

You can process them yourself. Just get someone to walk you through a few times, the chopping block is the hardest part, but once you get "your groove on" it goes fast. Broilers are great because they don't have hardly any feathers so the scalding and plucking goes fast. I've tried skinning regular roosters with the feathers on, trying to save time, and it was really challenging. I'm convinced scalding and plucking is the way to go!

You can do it! It's very empowering to boot!

 

[jmofaustin]

Oh Sloper74, I have trouble killing insects, I don't think I could do it. We caught a snake eating our eggs and me and dh had to take him somewhere to let him go, couldn't kill it.
I can gut a fish, but I can't kill it. I know I could probably process a chicken, but someone else would have to kill it

.

 

[Critter Crazy]

I never thought I could cull one of my birds, as I had purchased them as pets, not for meat. But Last summer one of my Roos Became very aggressive towards my 7 yr old, my son couldnt even come out of the house, cause the moment the roo saw or heard my son, he would attack. Anyways after getting advise from other chicken owners it was decided that the best course of action would be to cull the Bird. I have to say, it was much easier than I expected! and boy did he taste good!