My first time getting Meat birds...

[FutureChickenMan]

messy and stinky job too.

they're easy to raise. lots of food, fresh water, and do your best to keep them out of their own filth.

After having 4 accidental cornish x's (they were shipped but I didn't order them) I would definately say raising them in crops would be the best bet. Get a bunch, raise them, butcher them all at the same time then move on. I butchered 2 at 9 weeks and the other two at 11 weeks. These were my first cornish x's and probably my last. I know they yield more meat than other birds but they are quite disgusting to look at, handle, clean up after etc. Hence the raising them in crops comment. If you do go that route, raise them in tractors and move the tractor every day to a fresh piece of dirt and roto-till all the turds under from the previous spot. These guys are eating machines and the by product is mounds of stinky lincoln logs.

But they taste good, BBQing the last two tonight.

 

[aladatrot]

I read this thread with great interest, since I am awaiting the arrival of my broilers for the first time this week. I do have some questions that go along this same line...

Unfortunately, I do not know what breed I actually ordered. I told the newbie feed store owner that I wanted "broilers" , and she asked me white or red. I said I didn't care, so you can imagine what it is that I'll actually be getting :O)

Here go the questions:

I saw mentioned on this thread about money spent on the feed for the chickens when you are feeding so much that the feed isn't going to meat production. In cattle, we call it a point of diminishing return. What amount of feed should I expect each chicken to eat before it is feeding to excess?

What should I expect to pay for meat chicks? I'm paying $4 per bird this time and I know that's probably high. The reason was that I didn't want to commit to enough birds on my "trial run" of actually raising and butchering my own birds to warrant making my own order from a hatchery. Any ideas on what I should expect to pay in the future?

How do you guys come out money-wise on raising your own meat birds? I know I pay more per egg than I would at the grocery store once you calculate what I pay for feed and layer supplies. I'm assuming that raising my own meat birds will be the same way, I'm just wanting to know how much the money is different versus buying commercially raised chicken.

I run a Plymouth Rock roo on my mixed flock of Plymouth Rock, Production Red, and Australorps (sp?) hens. Would I be better off running a straight Cornish roo in there and just letting an older hen set some eggs when I want meat birds?

Is there a disadvantage of replacing my highly docile roo with no human aggression issues with a Cornish roo? I do not know anything about what breeds are docile and which ones are flighty. All I know is that my Plymouth Rock "Brad Pitt" is gentle even with the kids.

Thanks in advance for letting me mooch off of your experiences!

M

 

[GallowayFarms]

I would start with 25. 50 can be a handful. Esp when you have to water all them little babies. and the space.

Good Luck

Nick

 

[blue90292]

Quote:
if you do a search on the meat birds etc section, there's a couple of threads that talks and does the math for you regarding the food ratio.

if she asked black or red, i'm thinking you're going to get a slow cornish which will be ready for processing at 10-12 weeks since most fast growing cornish X are white.

alot of people eat their excess roosters. you really can't grow commercial type chickens from your backyard since the cornish X that you're used to seeing at the stores are breed very specifically and have 50 years of breeding ahead of you.

$4 is ridiculously high. any chance you can get them to not order it? i think there was a recent post that said meyers is selling their cornish X for very cheap and also i just ordered 25 cornish X from schelcht hatchery and with shipping it came out to $1.40 a chick.

hope that helps.

michele

 

[Redfeathers]

I'm on week 7 with my 20 Cornish X. I paid 1.49 each for mine. In feed and processing alone I will be paying approx 10.00 per bird once all done and in the freezer. That doesn't include all the bedding, waterers and feeder I bought. Mine will be processed this coming Saturday and they are huge, the boys outweigh the girls by at least a pound if not two. I haven't had a single issue with raising these guys, I bought 20 figuring I would lose a few but so far they are all healthy and have no leg issues. Would I do it again? yes, but I would do less, the poo and cleaning is constant and I'm obsessive about keeping these guys clean...but that's just me.... It's been fun and I'm actually going to miss these silly chickens.

If you get 50, make sure you have a large waterer or multiple waterers otherwise you become a slave to keeping them full.

 

[aladatrot]

**i think there was a recent post that said meyers is selling their cornish X for very cheap and also i just ordered 25 cornish X from schelcht hatchery and with shipping it came out to $1.40 a chick.**


The whole shipping thing is what I'm scared of. I'm so new to this, and I am having trouble fathoming how my chickies could safely get to me by mail in this heat.

How do they ship them?

I didn't order very many at this price. To tell you the truth, I'm not completely sure I can do the whole "raise to butcher" thing. I'm ok with cattle and hogs for butchering (I slaughter feral swine myself) but I'm not normally ok with raising something to eat. I'm hoping that I can get some chicks, raise them without forming an attachment, and butcher them myself. This is a test run and hopefully a learning experience.

Another thing is where to raise 50 or so birds for 8 weeks. I can't do without my horse stalls, and booting a horse or two for 8 weeks isn't an option. We haven't yet built my permanent hen house, and my laying hens have my temporary hen house occupied. I was going to get a few broilers and keep them in tractors. If I can handle the butchering, I will make sure to build a meat bird pen when we build the permanent chicken quarters.

I'd hate to get into this to the tune of 50 birds only to find that I can't do it. I'd rather start out on a few birds (like 5 or so to account for some demise) and see how I handle.

Is this a bad idea? I'm not squeamish or anything - I'm actually intrigued by how innards work. It's the killing my babies part that I don't know about. Surely I'll get over that?

Thanks for the help!
M

 

[Redfeathers]

I understand your worry about becoming attached, but for some reason it's different with the meat birds. I am very attached to my egg layers, they are pets. The meaties are different because I know they are more likely to die at a young age anyway if I do it myself or not. Plus they are very different kinds of birds, they don't interact with me, they are kind of ugly, they don't do the normal chicken things that my girls do, they just kind of lay around or they might get up, flap their wings a bit, waddle around and then plunk back down. They even lay down in the middle of the feed. Hard to get attached to something that wants nothing to do with you. These are not very social birds...but they are funny and interesting in the differences from my other birds.

 

[chickabator]

I just bought 50 today from meyer hatchery today and it was 38.00 plus 12.98 shipping the total order came to 51.00 but we split the order with my dh's buddy from work and it is just costing me 25.75 for 25 birds that is including the shipping I have six in the brooder right now that are not even a week old yet and have already almost doubled the size of the other chicks that I bought from hoover hatchery that I received last friday. (white leghorns , silver laced wyandotts) they lay down eating and drinking their water. you can go to the meyer website and it has a special on the cornish x rocks they call it a surplus special and they also have a surplus special on bantams at a reduced price.

 

[aladatrot]

Thanks for the advice guys. I will certainly look into the websites mentioned. How do the chickens get to me in this heat through the mail? I may get the few I ordered from the feed store and then order 25 from one of those sites as soon as I butcher the first ones. Are these birds available year round?

Stupid question - can meat birds fly once they are out of the brooder?

Thanks again guys. I'm pretty sold on the Cornish x Rocks. Seems like apart from some leg issues if not fed properly, they are the ones to have.

Thanks
M