Processing Day Support Group ~ HELP us through the Emotions PLEASE!

[wingstone]

Happy Chooks where did you order yours?

Sally, what are you looking for, quick growth or do you have time to wait,,,will you be processing all at one time..there are many local hatcheries that have what you are looking for, you may have to search to find out where your local production people get theirs at....

 

[christine9]

If looking for humane meat.. don't get cornish X. Especially if you're not sure if you can do the deed. If they don't get killed with in x amount of time, they will fall over from heart issues or their hips start breaking from the weight (stress fractures).

You'd be better off getting some straight run dual purpose (white/barred rock would be good). Slightly slower grower, but you can keep them for eggs if you decide you can't eat them.. or eat them after they're done laying. You'll have a few roosters to cut your teeth on either way.

Nice idea. I definitely At what point would you process a dual breed?

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote: I want the 6-10 weeks and dismantle temp pen/run.... I dont have the room for more eye sores in my yard, so spring fill freezer and perhaps do again in the fall but for what 14 birds give I wont have room for them yet alone more than that.

thats why I want the cornish X I am thinking about running down somewhere u are lancaster area and grab some from a hatchery local, but not sure I can fit that run time in since I have kids all the time. need npip so I dont void mine, dont need to test but still need them npip

 

[ronott1]

Nice idea. I definitely At what point would you process a dual breed?

Depending on the Breed, between 16 and 24 weeks old.

You can process them sooner if they are bugging you. I will not keep one that is trying to hurt me.

They will have a stronger taste than the Corning Crosses and they will not be like the ones in the store. There will be less breast meat but more thigh and drumstick meat.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Oddly, after they are plucked or skinned they seem to become just a chicken. When they are in the Freezer for a couple of weeks, you will quickly not see them as the birds you raised--they are food then.

It is great to know what you are eating and what they were fed. It is also great that they had a nice humane life while you raised them.

Remember, we are here to help you too.

The one thing that still creeps me out after they are processed is the curve the neck takes. Even dinosaur skeletons have that same death posture--they even have a name for it in dinosaurs, I just can't think of what it is called. I now makes sure I cut off the neck when I process it.

This group has been really good helping me through the whole slaughtering process.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Depending on the Breed, between 16 and 24 weeks old.

You can process them sooner if they are bugging you. I will not keep one that is trying to hurt me.

They will have a stronger taste than the Corning Crosses and they will not be like the ones in the store. There will be less breast meat but more thigh and drumstick meat.

I would definitely recommend the dual purpose over the Cornish Cross for the reasons mentioned--the Cornish Cross needs to be slaughtered early or they will up and die on you from all kinds of issues. You can process the dual purpose birds later, and sometimes it takes a lot of mental preparation to actually do it.

I just processed three 10-month old Ameraucanas that I had just avoided and avoided dong. I'm the queen of procrastinating. I have only eaten one so far, but used him in a curry and soup. The older cockerels were MUCH harder to process than a younger bird--no reaching in the body cavity and expecting just my hand would release all the internal organs, no, I had to cut ligaments to get them cleaned. They were really hard to deal with, but the same aged Silkie pullet I processed (she fell in the pool and drowned) was just as easy as a younger bird, so maybe the cockerels were just harder to deal with because they were young roosters.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Happy Chooks where did you order yours?

Hoover's hatchery.
http://www.hoovershatchery.com/

My friend and I are splitting an order of 50. She's bought from them before and has been really happy. They were inexpensive too.

 

[Beekissed]

If looking for humane meat.. don't get cornish X. Especially if you're not sure if you can do the deed. If they don't get killed with in x amount of time, they will fall over from heart issues or their hips start breaking from the weight (stress fractures).

You'd be better off getting some straight run dual purpose (white/barred rock would be good). Slightly slower grower, but you can keep them for eggs if you decide you can't eat them.. or eat them after they're done laying. You'll have a few roosters to cut your teeth on either way.

I'll respectfully disagree with this information about the CX. They do not "fall over from heart issues or hips break from stress" if they are not killed in X amount of time. That's a common misconception of raising these meat birds and it couldn't be more wrong if the chickens are raised humanely to begin with. If one keeps them in a small area and feeds them continuous, high protein feeds and lets them gorge until they are tiny butterballs, yes, they can develop some issues...as would just about any creature with an increased hunger and quick metabolism that is genetically designed to put on muscle tissue very quickly and fed like a pig until they cannot walk.

Treat them like a regular chicken with regular feeds and let them free range and grow at a normal pace, they live healthy lives and some live as long as a DP bird(2-3 yrs), lay eggs, breed and live out their happy little lives as humanely as any other breed. One just has to know what they have and adjust their feeding schedule and amounts accordingly, encourage early foraging and exercise and raise them with common sense. Now, if one has no common sense, then this is not the chicken for you.

I can provide video proof of their vigor, health and normal, happy and humanely lived lives if anyone cares to see them and so can Aoxa...she has a whole thread devoted to free ranging these wonderful meat birds...and is currently hatching eggs from one of the hens she held over and didn't butcher.

 

[christine9]

Makes sense that these meat birds could potentially live long enough to reproduce. Otherwise they would be extinct!

I appreciate varying views so I can make my own decision. Thanks to everyone who has given me more information than I had this morning...NONE!!

 

[cassie]

Makes sense that these meat birds could potentially live long enough to reproduce. Otherwise they would be extinct!

I appreciate varying views so I can make my own decision. Thanks to everyone who has given me more information than I had this morning...NONE!!

The Cornish X meat birds you buy don't reproduce. Not because they can't but because when they do they do not produce a bird like themselves. They do not breed true. They are the result of a cross of the parent lines.The outstanding performance you get is a result of hybrid vigor. They are an outstanding meat bird if you are willing to cater to their quirks. If you are not, choose another breed.