lessons learned from my first batch....

just took my 2nd crop of meaties to Freezer Camp last Wednesday. Here are a few thoughts of mine along with a few stats.

ordered 75 Roosters from Meyer Hatchery,
Received them April 25th All alive with 3 extras
Finished with 69 on 6.13.12
3 found dead in coop, 5 were culled with leg issues, one was killed by accident.
Used 1000 lbs of food 20 bags @ 50lbs
Paid to have them processed at Strugin Poultry in PA
Total cost 9.42 each

I will raise less birds next year and may try all pullets rather then roo's. Some say that you get less leg issues, just raise them a little longer.

Sold 25 birds and felt bad i had to charge so much but they were happy to pay it.

I will process my birds next year which will save alot.

I built a small covered pasture for the meaties to have a little more room. My coop is small so they needed it. That worked out great! They had some space to move around a bit more then last year.

This crop of meaties seemed meaner and more aggressive then last year. Could be that they were all roo's and last year we did straight run.

by the time they went to camp, i was ready for them to go! just visiting! Chicken chores were very time consuming (2X per day) and lucky that i work from home! Those things eat/drink/poop/repeat. That is it!
 
A lot of peoples experiences here indicate DP's yield tougher, darker meat and less of it. ................ (The dark meat makes sense because they are older and more active than CX's.


The dark meat issue also has to do with the fact that Cornish Cross have double size breast muscle, so you get a lot of white meat from Cornish Cross. The heritage breeds tend to be rather scrawny in the chest area, so you get a lot less breast meat.

My Cornish Cross all have burly thighs, so there is a lot of good dark meat on a Cornish, too. Legs are fat and meaty but short. Heritage birds appear to have much longer drumsticks.

It is a consideration which piece of chicken everyone in your family likes to eat.
 
bean, my youngest is 5. He was the youngest of the 9 kids there, but more than pulled his weight. He caught the birds, helped pluck, carried birds/giblets to the cooler, etc. I think my 8-year-old will be able to eviscerate next year (though there may a significant sacrifice in skin, fat and a little meat). We felt he was a little inexperienced with a knife to use one of the super-sharp, really long fillet knives we were using for the day. Hopefully he can practice with a few bluegill or a couple snakes this summer and be ready for next year.
 
homestead, just curious, how much did you pay for processing? I'd kind of like a reference point to the meat houses around here.
 
7. Everyone enjoyed the process enought that we generated substantial interest in a "chicken co-op." This fall, we will likely all go in together on a drum plucker, bulk purchase feed/birds, help each other process.
check out the DIY pluckers on utube their is a lot of them. 2 things u need the most is a 110v motor and the rubber pluckers, pluckers are around $1 ea you can find a motor at a yard sale or auction for a couple of bucks may not look the best but as long as you keep the moving parts shielded from the kids all should be good and you will save hundreds of dollars. i think their is a kit to make a DIY one.
 
bean, my youngest is 5. He was the youngest of the 9 kids there, but more than pulled his weight. He caught the birds, helped pluck, carried birds/giblets to the cooler, etc. I think my 8-year-old will be able to eviscerate next year (though there may a significant sacrifice in skin, fat and a little meat). We felt he was a little inexperienced with a knife to use one of the super-sharp, really long fillet knives we were using for the day. Hopefully he can practice with a few bluegill or a couple snakes this summer and be ready for next year.
Yup I can see her doing all those things, she loves to help, although she is just recently processing the idea that the birds have to die to "make a nice dinner." She was kind of sad when I took my last batch, she sometimes picks birds and decides she likes them for one reason or another.

Last year, she may have been still 3, she told someone she likes to eat chicken, "just not the real ones, they have too many feathers." I about died!
 
I paid $2.75 for processing. They do a very good job, and I'm happy, but I think i can do just as good with some help from my chicken friends!
 
We processed our very first batch 2 weeks ago. I also involved my 3 kids, ages 10, 12, & 16. They helped raise them and they helped with every stage of the processing. It was a great experience, and we went out and bought 12 more!
 
We processed 16 on Monday, and hopefully 30 more tomorrow morning. My 4 year old son was a huge help. He's been involved in the chickens since day 1. It too was a great experience, and ready to get another batch. We built a whiz-bang plucker, a chicken tractor, and fenced in a pasture for them. I would say my lesson learned would be to process your own birds and stock up on a lot of feed to save on multiple trips to the feed store, because they have enormous appetites.


3 weeks old


plucker



finished product


8 weeks old
 
check out the DIY pluckers on utube their is a lot of them.  2 things u need the most is a 110v  motor and the rubber pluckers, pluckers are around $1 ea  you can find a motor at a yard sale or auction for a couple of bucks may not look the best but as long as you keep the moving parts shielded from the kids all should be good and you will save hundreds of dollars. i think their is a kit to make a DIY one.


You can find a ready made one for not much more than the DIY type. Maybe $50 to $100 more for the same size.
 

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