Is it worth all the work?

[Aacre]

My husband and I were having this conversation the other day. We've decided that we are going to try and raise our own chicken for butchering. At first, I thought that that it's probably cheaper to raise and butcher your own meat chickens, but if you factor everything in- feeding them, watering them, time spent on them in general, and also the actual work put into butchering and dressing out.. It's NOT cheaper. But it feels better to know that they lived a happy life. Mine are all allowed to free range in good weather, and so they have the joy of picking bugs and eating anything green that they can find, and don't forget the adventures they have in their "travels". It's a lot more satisfying to know that I'm not supporting the mass produced chicken factories where the chickens are forced to live in crowded and probably dirty places. Plus, the ones I raise and eat taste phenomenal compared to store bought chicken.

And it's not always the husbands that have to do the dirty job. My husband has a weak stomach, he can lop heads off, but I do the rest pretty much on my own. I don't trust myself to lop any heads off because my balance and aim are off a lot and I'm afraid I'll just injure them.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

i have to clean mine too. i just use my hatchet and off with their heads. i only have done extra roosters though. not very good. makes good stock or dumplins.

 

[Aacre]

We just butchered out two young roosters a couple weeks ago. They were bantams that my husband just HAD to have last spring. But then when they started to crow, we had problems and I knew we were going to to have to cull them or give them away. They were a bit tough, even for young roos! But they do well in the crockpot. I have about 4 hens that I plan to butcher out by next winter.. I just need to wait until I have more hens that are laying eggs for me.

 

[irischick]

We were thinking of building a second small coop just for meat birds. Question come to free ranging. We already have 15 hens and two happy roosters who free range. Won't it get confusing for everyone as to what coop they go to? Maybe I'm over analyzing this.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

These charts vary some but still a good number to show you how much feed you'll go through. End of week 9 they have consumed about 20 lbs of feed each. If you've a feed mill somewhat near you it's well worth buying in bulk to get the cost down. Otherwise 50# bags at the feed store are $16, 50 chickens (if no mortality) will consume 20 bags so $320 right there. Electricity and actual cost of chicks is not much but your looking at around $9 per bird in total cost. Feed mill will save you a lot. If you have a local area that butchers them that's usually $4 per bird.

Meat birds will be tender. Broilers don't live long enough, butchered anywhere from 8 to 10 weeks, or exercise enough to get the flavor and texture of older dual purpose birds. Some people like to purchase straight run so they can butcher males one weekend, feed the females another week then butcher them.

There is a lot of info in the Meat Birds section.

 

[bluefrog87]

Cockerel - Male chicken under a year
Pullet - female chicken under a year

straight run- random mix of the 2 genders

Using the typical math- your 25 meat chickens will somehow (shipping, sudden death syndrome, the cat, the dog, the kid, the act of god that nobody for sees) become 19 meat chickens and generally cost to $1.20-1.50 per lb. So your fresher chicken will be kinda cheaper.

Be careful though, meat birds don't lay eggs well. They are designed to eat a lot and not produce many eggs. So, If you think you will get attached it may cost an arm and a leg in feed.

I don't get attached though. I see them as livestock.

 

[animalspooker]

Thank you bekissed. Very informative and I appreciate your time and effort. Let me ask you this. I was thinking of buying a straight run of layers/meat birds, eating the males and allowing the females to mature and lay eggs, incubating the eggs, brooding the chicks and raising more meat chickens the next go around. I would 'restock' my layers with the new birds as needed. I know from an earlier thread that this is not recommended, but if I wanted to try it anyway, what would be the ideal breed for such an experiment? My thinking is this would eliminate the cost of buying chicks?!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Thank you bekissed. Very informative and I appreciate your time and effort. Let me ask you this. I was thinking of buying a straight run of layers/meat birds, eating the males and allowing the females to mature and lay eggs, incubating the eggs, brooding the chicks and raising more meat chickens the next go around. I would 'restock' my layers with the new birds as needed. I know from an earlier thread that this is not recommended, but if I wanted to try it anyway, what would be the ideal breed for such an experiment? My thinking is this would eliminate the cost of buying chicks?!

Orpington, Plymouth Rock, New Hampshire, Delaware, Buckeye and Wyandote would be good dual purpose choices.

 

[Beekissed]

Thank you bekissed. Very informative and I appreciate your time and effort. Let me ask you this. I was thinking of buying a straight run of layers/meat birds, eating the males and allowing the females to mature and lay eggs, incubating the eggs, brooding the chicks and raising more meat chickens the next go around. I would 'restock' my layers with the new birds as needed. I know from an earlier thread that this is not recommended, but if I wanted to try it anyway, what would be the ideal breed for such an experiment? My thinking is this would eliminate the cost of buying chicks?!

There are no layer/meat birds unless you are speaking of dual purpose birds and that's a common practice with those breeds. The DP birds won't have the meat on them like the true meat breeds and they take longer to mature but they yield a better flavor and are easier to manage. You could even look in to caponizing your DP roosters~castrating them~so that they can grow out longer but do not develop male characteristics...this is not something I recommend for a beginner in poultry but it's an old practice that is gaining new popularity.

The true meat birds won't be much good for breeding or laying eggs though some have kept a few around to do just that, they don't thrive as well as DP birds and they just keep gaining weight until their mobility is hindered. This hinders their breeding, roosting, and laying as well. They also do not reproduce their type consistently because they are the result of several outcrossings and do not breed true when bred to one another. You can put a DP rooster over a hen of the meat breeds and get a meatier DP that doesn't lay well but that just defeats your goals.

For a true meaty DP breed that will yield you excellent laying and also meaty carcasses, I always recommend the Plymouth White Rock which was the breed used for many years in the meat industry before they developed the Cornish Rock cross birds. They contribute genetics to the CX meat bird crossing, so they are worthy of being called a meat breed but they also lay well, making them worthy of being called a laying breed. They are hardy, gentle, go broody on occasion, lay well in the winter months, have fast molt recovery, forage well, have good survival instincts, and make a great bird for new flock tenders.

They are the ideal breed for your goals and make up the backbone of each of my flocks.

 

[bluefrog87]

Orpington is my favorite dual purpose chicken.

When matured, it is like a golden retriever in chicken form.

It's a big fluffy chicken that lays 3-4 eggs a week. It is very docile and calm which means it's very laid back and easy to work with. Buff (blondish) is the easiest color to get but there are lots of other colors (blue, black, splash, brown, lavender, light yellow, multicolor). The Buff Orpington is pretty cheap too. It's one of the top rated breeds here on this forum.

The down side is they don't mix well with other more aggressive breeds. Their laid back personality gets them picked on but they can be mixed with other laid back breeds.