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

[ronott1]

We do our cx in batches of ten at a time, hubby kills and I butcher, fair division of effort. I killed the extra roos myself though, I didn't mind so much because I kept two nice ones and the rest were a**holes and very mean, makes it so much easier!

I like your process.

 

[allosaurusrock]

That was exhausting. Ended up keeping the smallest girl for my laying flock.

 

[Morrigan]

That was exhausting. Ended up keeping the smallest girl for my laying flock.

Good work! I hope you get some eggs out of your keeper hen.

We do 4 to 8 at a time. I catch and carry, husband kills and guts, and I then I pluck and do final clean up. We have processed 16 of our meaties so far, with 8 more to go. For some reason this year, my birds grew at wildly differing rates, so the 8 we have left are still pretty small, for meat birds anyway, so it's going to be at least another week before we get done. I'll be glad when it's over, but I will miss having the meaties around. I always end up getting a little attached.

 

[fisherlady]

Good work! I hope you get some eggs out of your keeper hen.

We do 4 to 8 at a time. I catch and carry, husband kills and guts, and I then I pluck and do final clean up. We have processed 16 of our meaties so far, with 8 more to go. For some reason this year, my birds grew at wildly differing rates, so the 8 we have left are still pretty small, for meat birds anyway, so it's going to be at least another week before we get done. I'll be glad when it's over, but I will miss having the meaties around. I always end up getting a little attached.

We do ours over 2 or 3 butcher runs also, based on weight or any health issues. Heaviest birds and any showing breathing or walking problems get bumped to head of the line no matter what weight.
We also notice a growth rate difference, we attribute it to some varying genetics from the hatchery, remember that these are developed crosses, some are 40 yrs+ but many are less and it is almost always an ongoing process to reduce health issues and to swap out poor producers or weak layers. The thing is that they don't know which birds have less desired traits until after their young are raised up. The hatcheries have it figured out pretty well but if they are running 100 roosters over 400 hens to produce the eggs they need for production there are bound to be a few weak producers in the 500. If we raise 50 at a time I have come to expect 5-10 above average monsters, another 5-10 slowpokes and the rest in between.
You can help minimize the problems with multiple feeding areas to help avoid bullying and conflicts but otherwise we are kind of stuck accepting that genetics isn't a perfect science...

 

[ronott1]

We do ours over 2 or 3 butcher runs also, based on weight or any health issues. Heaviest birds and any showing breathing or walking problems get bumped to head of the line no matter what weight.
We also notice a growth rate difference, we attribute it to some varying genetics from the hatchery, remember that these are developed crosses, some are 40 yrs+ but many are less and it is almost always an ongoing process to reduce health issues and to swap out poor producers or weak layers. The thing is that they don't know which birds have less desired traits until after their young are raised up. The hatcheries have it figured out pretty well but if they are running 100 roosters over 400 hens to produce the eggs they need for production there are bound to be a few weak producers in the 500. If we raise 50 at a time I have come to expect 5-10 above average monsters, another 5-10 slowpokes and the rest in between.
You can help minimize the problems with multiple feeding areas to help avoid bullying and conflicts but otherwise we are kind of stuck accepting that genetics isn't a perfect science...

Great Plan!

 

[Morrigan]

We do ours over 2 or 3 butcher runs also, based on weight or any health issues. Heaviest birds and any showing breathing or walking problems get bumped to head of the line no matter what weight.
We also notice a growth rate difference, we attribute it to some varying genetics from the hatchery, remember that these are developed crosses, some are 40 yrs+ but many are less and it is almost always an ongoing process to reduce health issues and to swap out poor producers or weak layers. The thing is that they don't know which birds have less desired traits until after their young are raised up. The hatcheries have it figured out pretty well but if they are running 100 roosters over 400 hens to produce the eggs they need for production there are bound to be a few weak producers in the 500. If we raise 50 at a time I have come to expect 5-10 above average monsters, another 5-10 slowpokes and the rest in between.
You can help minimize the problems with multiple feeding areas to help avoid bullying and conflicts but otherwise we are kind of stuck accepting that genetics isn't a perfect science...

Great post, and a good description of what a typical CX run looks like. Our approach is very similar to yours, with trying to weed out the monsters/slow walkers first. This year, the late bloomers were really, really late and were quite different right from the start. The smallest birds were always less interested in the feed trough and more interested in free-ranging, then in any other group I've raised. Much more like normal chickens. At 11 weeks, they are slowly bulking up now. I don't mind, actually. It's nice to see some of them having a healthier and longer life. I think you hit the nail on the head the genetics varying from year to year. Every year is always going to be a bit different.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

CX are such interesting birds. We process most of ours after about 12 weeks once they've spent most of their lives on pasture in a tractor. This year, we actualy kept a few pullets to outcross and try to make a more sustainable and self breeding meat bird. I have 4 babies now, about 13 weeks old, outcrossed from them. A new CX hen has started laying recently so her eggs are going in the bator now too

 

[ronott1]

CX are such interesting birds. We process most of ours after about 12 weeks once they've spent most of their lives on pasture in a tractor. This year, we actualy kept a few pullets to outcross and try to make a more sustainable and self breeding meat bird. I have 4 babies now, about 13 weeks old, outcrossed from them. A new CX hen has started laying recently so her eggs are going in the bator now too

For the NYD hatch a long?

 

[OneMountainAcres]

For the NYD hatch a long?

Is that up already? When's the set date? I've been setting eggs weekly but I may have to stock up for that

 

[ronott1]

Is that up already? When's the set date? I've been setting eggs weekly but I may have to stock up for that

Yes it is up!

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