MEAT BIRD'S " TELL US HOW YOU DO IT"

[Celie]

Oh and weeks 2-4 We have a personal trainer come in 24/7 to make them work out....

Pretty personal trainer bunny !

 

[bruceh]

Somebody tell me why I should try a batch of Cornish. I have raised hundreds of Freedom Rangers but thought about some Cornish. Can you raise them in 6 weeks during the winter since they don't range anyway?

Shawn

shawn,
you know i have raised them. i won't raise a bird in 6 weeks. that is me however. i grow mine slow and healthy. mine all range, jump. fly. run. and scratch. they act like any other bird.. myself i find them meatier on the breast. in my experience the super high fat and protein % feed gets squirted out the butt. i raise now at 18 1/2 % but i raise with my layers. however if you are just doing meaties 20% is good. i also use calcium for bone development. the are a unique bird. however you can control the bad aspects through management practice. there are also 2 strains of these birds. there are fast grower and a slow grower. the way you grow your birds i would use the fast grower type and you could butcher at 8-9 weeks or sooner. if you are using the tractor and they get good clean grass i would start at feeding on time a day at the afternoon- evening. if they are penned or don't have fresh grass try 2x daily once morning the afternoon- evening.. these birds need to be exercised to avoid the health issues prone to these birds ie flip.


p.s. ruby is doing great.

 

[loanwizard]

Glad to hear about Ruby.

 

[sabella]

I just finished raising Marans cockerels. Next year I'll be doing Naked Necks and Freedom Rangers, keeping a couple of each and cossbreeding them. I want the naked neck on Freedom Ranger mass. This is because of how slow and unthrifty the Marans are. At 20 weeks my boys dressed out to 3-4lbs. I pastured in tractors until they were old enough to run amok. The last 6 weeks they ran loose during the day and were cooped at night. They were fed Coyote Creek Organic broiler ration and black oil sunflower seeds. We fed 2x / day. They foraged just fine. Every gizzard was full of grass.

I'll report on the flavor tomorrow.

We used 150lbs of feed @ $.50 per pound. We had a d@# dog kill one and ruin one the day before we processed (will be billing neighbor! The ruined one was processed and used for our dogs.). We got 7 birds in the end. We started with 12 cockerels. We kept two for breeding, lost one as a chick. That comes out to $3.06 / bird. Had the neighbor's d@^# dog not killed two it would be $2.40 per bird. Still a hell of a lot cheaper than organic from the market! Light years cheaper than locally raised pastured organic that I got a few years ago. They wanted $13 for one four pound bird!

 

[unkadan]

while I wasn't raising Marans for meat specifically I did raise 2 small batches (6/8) of roosters this summer these were culls from my future breeder program. The birds were processed at 18/20 weeks, free ranged and fed 20%grower week 4-14confined to a small pen at week 14 and fed 20% grower supplemented with corn and oats.

All birds weighed 4.5-5.2# dressed not weighing the necks and giblets. They taste great!

An old time bird man told me about the confining at the end and finish the birds on the corn oat mix,,,,,just my .02

 

[chickenmama22]

Did the "old time bird man" say why meat birds should be confined at the end and finished with a corn/oat mix?

An old time bird man told me about the confining at the end and finish the birds on the corn oat mix,,,,,just my .02

I have been caponizing extra cockerals for the last 2 months and some of my favorites are the extra Cuckoo Marans. They are gentle and big... and I have one keeping 6 Cornish X Rock chicks warm instead of using a heat lamp.



I ordered 25 Cornish Crosses cockerels from Welp Hatchery, received 26. They are 15 days old today and they averaged about 6oz ea on day 12 when I weighed them. The heaviest ones were these 6, so I divided the other 20 into 2 groups of 10 and gave each group a young capon. The other capons are not as broody as the one pictured, but I'm excited about the possibilities -- getting the capons to keep the baby chicks warm. I have these in our unheated greenhouse which does provide some protection from the cooler weather here in NJ. The husband is working on a tub style chicken plucker (like Whizbang) and my goal is to get large roasters in a total of 10 - 12 weeks or longer, if necessary. I think this is my 3rd or 4th batch of Cornish Xs in the past few years. I have been feeding these meaties a variety of feeds: I have been "fermenting" 20% chick starter/grower with a little ACV, but also had a large quantity of day old bagels available for free. So, I put the bagels through a food processor to make crumbs and then mixed that into the slurry of food. Some days it ferments more than others. It was about 1/2 bagels and the other half 20% grower. I am not keeping records this time around -- just trying to keep feed costs down and get them to grow . On day 12, they did seem to be about 1 week behind Welp's growth chart.

Oh, I am removing the feed each night from the meaties when they have a light, but I am leaving the food for the birds that have a broody capon. I figure they won't eat in the dark.

Yes, they are already in a roasting pan that I gave them for a "nest."

Once they get bigger, I plan to put 13 in the left side of the greenhouse and 13 on the right side. They'll have a dirt floor with pine shavings on top. I have a cinder block wall dividing the 2 sides. I am hoping that putting the cornish is smaller groups cuts down on competition so they all have equal access to food.

 

[unkadan]

"Did the "old time bird man" say why meat birds should be confined at the end and finished with a corn/oat mix?"

remember these meat birds are roosters we are culling,,,not CX

corn and oats are the cheap grains here, confining the last 2-3 weeks keeps them from running off the protein provided we both went 50/50 on the mix this year, I did add an electrolite/vitamin supplement to their water

side note,,,with my Marans being white skinned birds I saw little yellowing of fat, a friend that I butcher with raised some White Rocks,,,these had noticeable yellow fat starting when dressed


interesting to see you caponizing something I want to try at some point. how old were the birds when you did it?

ETA: I have a high tunnel I plan to get some early starts in next March,,,also where I will do my brooding

 

[bruceh]

Thanks, Bruce, I appreciate the advice ! The birds are not on medicated feed either. I have a problem with medicating anything that is not sick. The whole purpose in raising our own food is NOT to use anything that is not natural or has antibiotics ! If we eat animals that have been eating medicated food, we are being medicated and if we get sick it will take stronger and stronger antibiotics and longer to get well ! The chicks are changing from yellow to white feathering and coming along nicely. Since we got all females, we know it will take a couple of week longer, so we will keep posting. I plan to put them into the barn at 3 weeks and start them on ACV and FF then. They will be inside the barn, and inside a 10'x10' chain link fence type dog kennel. I hope I can acclimate them to the 40 something night temps we are getting by then. I have found that the hot weather temps. here in Southern Louisiana are harder on these little fatties tan is the cooler temps and with 50 of them plus the other flocks in the barn, there should be enough body temperature to keep them warm. In November the days can get well into the 80's while the nights drop to 40's, so we will see.

the cornish x produce a lot of body heat. so they will be fine. it is not all important to use medicated feed. i am sure i will get a rash of complaints from this comment. if you are using fermented feed and apple cider vinegar this will create an environment within the bird that is not comfortable for parasites to thrive. i never medicate. if i wanted medication in my food, i would buy a store bought chicken. high protein feed is made to copy broiler house operations. it is very hard on the birds making the organs work harder. the birds in fact will grow faster and can be brought to slaughter earlier but at what expense. the bird will not be healthy. you will lose birds from broken bones and organ failure.
i have never lost a bird and not known why until today. i contribute to the lasts week high protein feed.trail. it was my biggest bird and i just found him dead under a tree.it was very disappointing to me. life goes on. i will not do that again. all this will be posted in my weekly update

bruce

 

[chickenmama22]

remember these meat birds are roosters we are culling,,,not CX

interesting to see you caponizing something I want to try at some point. how old were the birds when you did it?

Yes, I have both Cuckoo Marans and CX. I may try to caponize a few CX. I'm curious what happens when you caponize them. I can't imagine that there will be much of a benefit to warrant the operation, but I am curious.

I did a ton of research and tried to find SOMEONE with caponizing experience. Got a caponizing kit on eBay and practiced on a few culled roos first. I have processed a lot of chickens, but it is different working on a live bird.

I think the birds I've caponized ranged in age from 4 to 10 weeks. The oldest one was the most difficult -- the cockerels get stronger as they get older and he was fiesty. About 1 pound is the best size for the tools I have. I strongly suggest a headlamp flashlight that straps to your head. The most difficult is seeing INTO a small incision. I bought a 70 lumen one by Energizer ($20) and it works great for caponizing AND for checking the yard for predators at night! Taking pictures and/or filming the caponizing procedure is difficult because of the small incision and how dark it is inside the chicks. I still have to make 2 incisions, but I am working on increasing my speed and eventually want to get both "jewels" from one side.

I don't always starve the cockerels beforehand. It is more difficult when the intestines are full, but a hungry roo is an unhappy, struggling roo. Ideally, I'd make them fast 24 hours (with water but no food), feed them so their crops are full and then caponize them. Empty intestines, full crop = calmer bird -- it's just a theory at this point.

I like doing something useful with the extra cockerels.

 

[bruceh]

Yes, I have both Cuckoo Marans and CX. I may try to caponize a few CX. I'm curious what happens when you caponize them. I can't imagine that there will be much of a benefit to warrant the operation, but I am curious.

I did a ton of research and tried to find SOMEONE with caponizing experience. Got a caponizing kit on eBay and practiced on a few culled roos first. I have processed a lot of chickens, but it is different working on a live bird.

I think the birds I've caponized ranged in age from 4 to 10 weeks. The oldest one was the most difficult -- the cockerels get stronger as they get older and he was fiesty. About 1 pound is the best size for the tools I have. I strongly suggest a headlamp flashlight that straps to your head. The most difficult is seeing INTO a small incision. I bought a 70 lumen one by Energizer ($20) and it works great for caponizing AND for checking the yard for predators at night! Taking pictures and/or filming the caponizing procedure is difficult because of the small incision and how dark it is inside the chicks. I still have to make 2 incisions, but I am working on increasing my speed and eventually want to get both "jewels" from one side.

I don't always starve the cockerels beforehand. It is more difficult when the intestines are full, but a hungry roo is an unhappy, struggling roo. Ideally, I'd make them fast 24 hours (with water but no food), feed them so their crops are full and then caponize them. Empty intestines, full crop = calmer bird -- it's just a theory at this point.

I like doing something useful with the extra cockerels.

caponizing a cornish x will produce you a big bird in a short time with the most juiciest self basting chicken you can find. the bird will turn out so good the next time you order you will want all males. you got my mouth watering.