I'm thinking about ordering some meat birds this March. So, from all you experts out there, what would you recommend? What hatchery to order from? Best killing method? Is it relatively easy to de-feather & gut the bird? What would you recommend as far as getting over my fear of killing the poor thing? And. Rough guesstimation, how much feed per bird will they end up consuming? And about how much in feed do you end up spending? For about, twenty-five birds, let's say. Thanks for your help, loves.
I think it is a good idea, it produces a much better product than what you can get at the store. Personally I have always gotten my cronish cross from Mcmurray and had good luck, however they are a bit on the expensive side so I am planning on trying another hatchery closer to home, Moyer. I have used the pick them up by the neck and spin method, however I would advise the use of a killing cone. I think it should restrain the bird better and avoid bruising and get a better bleed out. It is easy to pluck and eviscerate the animal, it just takes pracaice. I am sure there are a lot of links on both of these topics. I do not think that you should have that much difficulty killing them. After awhile they just get ugly, in my opinion, and besides you are doing them a service by butchering them. If they go on too long they do not seem to live a good life. I am trying to figure that last question myself, I have a topic going on, so if anyone has a figure let me know. All the aforementioned material is my opinion and is based on my experience so if it differs drastically from yours then so be it, I intend to upset no one and try and do my own thing.
Well let me take a shot.... For a hatchery I would recomend the cheapest and the closest hatchery to you as the cornish x come from a handfull of breeders, and most hatcheries rarely have the same strain through a whole hatching season. For the type of bird... I would go with the cornish x. They will an average weight of 6-7 lbs live weight in 8 weeks. Best killing method would be in a cone and cutting the arteries in the neck. This way all the blood drains out of the bird. At the top of this page Frugal has demonstrated it... perfectly. It will show you how to defeather, eviscerate, and show how to prepare it for the table. For the fear of killing the birds.... don't name them for one... and as long as you know that they are for food from the start and give them a good life while you have them you will be fine. For the feed... your going to go through about 350 lbs of food or 7 bags of feed. I pay $0.15 / lb of feed which would be approx $52.00 So your looking at 7 bags of feed times the amount / 50 lbs (whatever your local mill is charging) When you do get them... make sure you do your homework on raising them as they need a little extra care than most dual purpose. Nothing major.... Biggest thing is letting them rest after two weeks. 12 with feed.... 12 hours with out. If you don't follow this... you will have heart and leg problems and might lose a few. Good luck!
The only thing I have to add is if the temperatures are below 60 degrees the feed consumption goes up substantially with cornish crosses.
