Meat Project #2

[trifecta]

So, meat project #1 finished about 2 months ago. We have been sadly chickenless while nibbling away at the delicious goodness in the freezer. Now that the wedding is over, I am allowed to get more chickens! I still lost the battle on the laying hens, but a friend of mine has tons of excess eggs right now so its not a huge issue.

So, I've ordered 25 "Barbecue Special" chicks from Murray McMurray. I am praying that it will not be 100+ degrees outside when they arrive the last week of August!

I am trying to improve on my system last time. Some thoughts-

1. I think I should be able to brood them outside this time of year. Even at night, the coldest its getting is down into the 80's and I do have a heat lamp that I can add if needed. Does anyone do this?

2. Feed- I spent a TON on feed last time, and although I realize to some degree this is unavoidable, I am going to try to supplement more with "pasture". My other thoughts were- raising mealworms or other bugs as a supplement to their diet, and possibly sprouting some clover or alfalfa as a supplemental forage. Any thoughts?

3. Housing- my last group was raised in a 15x5ft dog run with access to a grass Xpen when I was home. My chickens are moderately illegal (ok in our town but not in our HOA), we have privacy fencing on 3 sides with the back opening up to a creek bed. I would like to have these guys get more access to the outdoors, but am still not entirely comfy leaving them out of the dog run while I am at work... we have a lot of foxes and worse, stray dogs around here. But, since I'm home 3 days a week,, I would like to fence off a corner of my acre yard for them to run around on. How high/what type of fencing? I am still to paranoid to let them run loose when we're not home for fear of escapees and pissing off the neighbors, who apparently never noticed that we ever had chickens in the first place.

My last group of cornish were not very "escape" minded, but the other roosters thought it was funny to jump the fence and wander around a bit.

Sorry that this is so long! We are moving in about a year so I don't want to put in any permanent structures. I have looked at electric poultry netting but don't really want to invest $300+ at this time.

THANK YOU as always for your fabulous ideas and advice!

 

[kizanne]

On the brooding. I hatched some layers 2 weeks ago. They spent 6 days in my indoor brooder and then I moved them outside. I put out a heat lamp, temps here are 94/75 they stayed as far away from it as possible. The second day outside I turned the light off during the day with the thought I'd turn it on at night. They still were far away from the light so I just turned it off. They huddled but not so much so that I thought they needed the light back. So I had layers outside and heat free about 1 week old. They are doing fine.

Meat birds seem to run hotter but have stiff feather. I think you could do outside right away and run the heat lamp but watch it cause you can probably turn it off early and you certainly don't want to overheat them.

 

[thatchickenlady]

x2, take care not to overheat them. Good luck with your project!

 

[snowflake]

premier 1 has a nice portable fence can be rolled up and taken with you, can be electrified to keep out dogs,ground predators, 48" high is good for chickens.

Have you tried Freedom Range birds. we did them this yr. good size,7 #...we have 9 left to do yet, they made it through the heat spell last week very well.Ors free range, don't go far, hang out alot in the bushes but do much better then the cornish X

 

[trifecta]

I thought about trying freedom rangers, but I'm a little worried they won't make size in time before they start crowing... we live in a residential development so noise is an issue. I felt that the last group (8 CX, 4 roosters- 2 BR and 2 RIR) were no more loud than the wild birds chirping away outside... until the 4 roo's started softly crowing around 12 weeks. I butchered them before they became a nuisance and apparently were never loud enough that the neighbors noticed.

Incidentally, I really enjoyed both sets from a culinary standpoint. My main purpose for project 1 was to produce an exceptional cullinary product in a humane and responsible manner... I figured everything everything else, such as sustainability/ecomomics/etc could come later. My cornish game hens, full grown cornish, and 4 roosters were all delicious and each had their merits and drawbacks, but I did really like the ease and consistency of my cornish last time. Once we move out of here I definitely want to experiment more with some colored broilers and FR's.

This time I am trying to work on the economic end and limit my need for commercial feed. There may be a point in time where I pursue this project in a part of the world where TSC and Orschelin's aren't a mile down the road

 

[Yukonchick]

I got about two weeks to go til slaughter day and i was thinking about supplimenting my birds with lots of fruit in the last week along with their regular feed. I wonder how the meat will taste. Do you think it will improve the taste. I wish there was a way to separate a few and do an experiment by only doing that with some of the birds.