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

[Angelicisi]

Hahahaha ya I get that a lot!

I ovate you!

Daily it is reset I've noticed . Another site I use has a karma system similar to ovations but you can only give what you get in karma points for funny or useful posts lol and you can only give karma so many times to same poster lol doh I think I have gotten that message here too

So much information, thank you all so much!!!
I tried to give you all "thumbs up", but apparently I'm over my quota?  Haha I didn't know they were limited

 

[Bethel3330]

Question : is it worth it to get that processing kit with the drill attachment plucker or just save the money and pluck by hand?
Thanks for your input.

 

[Angelicisi]

Probably. We didn't get a choice but we got unlimited quantity at same price and the ability to do a huge amount at low cost per chick was appealing. I'll be doing it again next November with the cheap cheeps from AG but we know what we are getting so can plan better plus I'm a glutton for punishment
KUNTRY? You here? How bout 500 ONE TIME grow for the year...how much freezer space do we need for that many 4 to 5lb birds?!

We just had been doing the fast growers and were not prepared for double the grow time. Sorta messed up our plans. We take a break on broilers during summer and re start in August. Nature broods outdoors for us then and by butcher its cooler and the older birds aren't struggling in brutal heat. We had planned a double batch for our freezer and then one more batch to cover others orders while summer rolls through but this current AG order set us back time wise and we missed the window we prefer and are short a few dozen chickens. We have friends that do the same thing so our customers still were covered thank goodness and friends got some business, but we lost some.

My hatchery offers two types of cornish x. A "fast" grower which finishes at 8 weeks and a "slow" grower which finishes at 12 weeks. Slow growers supposedly have fewer problems at higher elevations (ascites) , flip, etc.

Sounds like that's what you got.

 

[Arielle]

GOod discussion. THere is a time to use intervension as us noobies learn the preventions.

 

[Coralietg]

Question : is it worth it to get that processing kit with the drill attachment plucker or just save the money and pluck by hand?
Thanks for your input.

Depends how many you are processing. It takes me about 20 minutes to hand pluck. Doing a few at a time, it's not too bad. If we had 50, it would seriously suck!

 

[dutchbunny83]

Do you all pluck your chickens?

We plucked the ducks with wax, but we skinned everything else. The duck plucking was really gross to me, I had a hard time eating the meat after. You really need the skin for fried chicken, but it's so much faster to skin. Maybe I should look into this drill attachment. I would think it would bruise the meat, no?

 

[Toast n Jelly]

I've skinned too but will try the plucking at some point. I've been turned off by people complaining of the smell.

 

[Angelicisi]

We made this for $15. Worked great for a few birds at a time. Tip: Use rubber bungee cords cut into straps as "plucker fingers". Harbor freight sells packs of these rubber bungee cords for like $5. When making cut in PVC cap for bungee, just use a drill & use a drill bit SMALLER than the size you need - drill holes the width of bungee and take time to push bungee thru. Better to have a snug fit than a loose bungee!

Then we tripped into the OCD (obsessive chicken disorder) and got one of these bad boys

Question : is it worth it to get that processing kit with the drill attachment plucker or just save the money and pluck by hand?
Thanks for your input.

 

[Tomtommom]

I prefer not to routinely use medicated feeds, and my choice really has nothing to do with how safe the resulting eggs or meat might be for whoever eats it. Rather, it's because antibiotics are a limited resource. Microbes will always evolve to overcome them, so we need to treat them like the limited resource they are, to put off the antibiotic resistance for as long as possible. This means limiting how we use them. If we can get good results by improving sanitation, then I think we should do that.

That's basically my reasoning behind antibiotic use. And I also feel a lot of times you just raise a weaker bird by solving it's body's issues, rather than letting the system take care of it themselves.. Now, if you raise meaties for others, the financial hardship of losing them all would probably a different story. But if you get to such a situation, a person should really look at their methods. If chickens are kept right, they shouldn't get sick that often (not never, but often). If we keep them too close together, stress can aggravate things tremendously and make it hard to keep their quarters sanitary.

I'm cautious with any antibiotic use. Often it's just really not needed. Personal preference...

 

[LindaB220]

We made this for $15. Worked great for a few birds at a time. Tip: Use rubber bungee cords cut into straps as "plucker fingers". Harbor freight sells packs of these rubber bungee cords for like $5. When making cut in PVC cap for bungee, just use a drill & use a drill bit SMALLER than the size you need - drill holes the width of bungee and take time to push bungee thru. Better to have a snug fit than a loose bungee!





Then we tripped into the OCD (obsessive chicken disorder) and got one of these bad boys

So where did you get it and how much? If you don't mind me asking.