New batch arrived, old batch leaves tomorrow! *now with pictures!*

[PotterWatch]

Ours are going to be composted.

 

[halo]

Quote:
Why do you think not restricting feed was a mistake? Is it because they got much bigger than expected? Isnt that sorta what you want?

 

[PotterWatch]

They did get much bigger, much faster than we expected. I do want a good sized bird, but I want to minimize the possibility of death loss due to gaining weight too fast. I also don't really want a bird that dresses out at 6lbs. It is much easier to sell a bird between 4 and 5lbs. Considering the size ours ended up at at 8wks, we could have easily done feed restriction and gotten birds the size we want.

 

[PotterWatch]

Just wanted to share some pictures of our finished product.

A whole bird (about 6lbs):

Cut into parts (breasts weighed just over 1lb each):

 

[terri9630]

If you want smaller birds they all you have to do is butcher them earlier. You don't have to wait until 8wks.

 

[terri9630]

Quote:
We do 25 at a time and we just bag everything up as we go along and toss it in the dumpster. We time the butchering with trash pickup so it's not in there longer than overnight. We would compost, but our dogs would just pull everything back out and make a mess.

 

[PotterWatch]

Quote:
Even at 7wks the birds were still bigger than we really need. Mostly, I think feed restriction will keep our death loss numbers down. I don't want to lose a tenth of the flock to heart failure every time.

 

[Woods_Woman]

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Wow..Looks like you'll have some good eats there. I've never had fresh chicken, I bet it's a whole lot tastier then store bought.

 

[Pineywoods Peepers]

Quote:
Do you have pics of your processing table? What is the height, depth, etc?

Thanks!

 

[PotterWatch]

This is our processing table:

It's a stainless steel, double sink table that we picked up used from craigslist. When we finish with it, it will have two faucets that have foot control. The side tables are very slick when you have a wet, featherless chicken on there, so we used some non-slip shelf liner on the tables to keep the birds in place while we worked. It is about 36" high and 22.5" deep. The side tables where we worked on the birds are 16.25" x 22.5" and seemed just the right size.