Pros and Cons of farming meat birds

[Frazzemrat1]

Teach me! Ever since I looked at my first chick with the intent to start raising chickens I've been thinking about raising some for meat. The more I've read, I'm not as interested in Cornish X as I am other meat birds, such as brahmas, jersey giants (I know they mature slow), or other heritage breeds.

So, is it cost prohibitive to raise your own meat birds? I'm already all over and on board with the idea of knowing what I'm feeding them and knowing they've been raised happy and healthy. Also, what would be the best bird for this?

 

[bbond]

I think that depends on your end goal. If you wanted to also have a breed of chicken to sell hatching eggs/chicks from, you may want to go with one of the large heritage breeds and process any excess roosters or sub par hens. You will end up spending more on feed per lb of meat on a dual purpose heritage breed. But they have the advantages of being able to breed and if you had a market for eggs/ chicks that could help offset the cost. Personally I liked my Cornish xs and didn’t have any problems with them. Some people I’ve spoken to preferred their freedom rangers, but I have no personal experience with them. My advice is whatever you do, start small because it is a sharp learning curve.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

I should tag @rjohns39 to this... I know you do heritage meat birds, right?

 

[RUNuts]

Good Morning,
Do it. Try them all.
In my one attempt at CX, I found them to be chickens. Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing mysterious. Just large birds. With an eating problem.

Define your goal. Cheap meat = buy it. You can't compete with economy of scale.
Better tasting cheap meat = CX that you raised. But we are still close to $5/lb if you include your time.

This is a hobby, so if you enjoy chickens, this will be chickens with a purpose. The heritage are smaller carcasses. May be fine. The taste, though. Oh! The taste! The maturity and the diet affect this more than I realized. But have you tasted grass fed chicken? Do you like wild duck? I do.

Best tasting. From reading, the internet says Bresse and Dorking. I'm establishing a baseline by eating CX for now. I have a goal. The local pastured poultry guy has sold me several CX. Tasted different enough for me to try my own. I'll tell you how they tasted next week. These are the ones I raised.

CX meat to feed conversion is 3 pounds feed to 1 lb meat . Heritage will be closer to 5:1. Not quite half the feed cost. 8 weeks CX to 14-20+ weeks for heritage butchering. Time = money.

 

[RUNuts]

I should note the cost of the birds. CX chicks I've found for $1.30 delivered. Heritage from Ideal Hatchery, if you catch them on sale can be $3 delivered or more. Check the hatchery nearest you.

If you can have roosters and hatch your own eggs, the price drops? If they free range without predation, the price drops.

Does it show that I've been pondering this?

 

[Frazzemrat1]

I've never tried grass fed chicken or wild duck. I am very interested in flavor. I was raised to not just eat to live, but enjoy the eating while I'm at it.
Is CX that's grass and home fed really that much different than the store bought?

 

[RUNuts]

YES!

Texture is firmer. Meat has a different flavor. Imagine veal is farm raised CX. Soft, mushy that will pick up whatever flavor you impart it.

Now turn that cow out to pasture. The muscles are used and strengthen. Get firmer. The live food has so many different nutrients and oils that are removed while processing.

If I fed you fast food, I bet you would taste like fast food after a while. Variety is the spice of life. The CX I raised would nibble the grass. Out of 5, 1 hen would eat more grass than the other 4. Those 4 at the trough filling up. She was also the smallest of the batch. I'm looking forward to that one.

I'm also brining the birds for flavor. This is new for me. Add rosemary and sage from the front garden. The last 2 got accolades from the family. I really liked it too! Now to get the smoker going.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

LOL the idea sounds so good. It would definitely only be a hobby kind of thing. I don't own a lot of land. I have two teenage kids, one being a boy, who eats a LOT! So not a lot of extra money to spend.

 

[RUNuts]

Cons
Poop - with 2 teenagers, they should do chores. If you are space limited, clean the coop. The more you put in a small space, the more cleaning you do. I wanted the lazy way, so made a chicken tractor and moved it. Sometimes not soon enough. I also let them out to play occasionally. They liked roaming around and tried to bed down in the garden more than once. Herded them back in and put them to bed. Worked well for me. Didn't kill many plants.

I also checked on them twice a day. I had a 3 gallon waterer with 5 birds. Fill it twice a week. More birds is more water.

I'm still thinking the pros outweighed the cons. My point is not to discount the CX due to all the horror stories. They are a sparser feathered bird and MUCH easier to hand pluck. Now, do I cycle the layers through or keep them for 2 years?

 

[JDN]

I've never tried grass fed chicken or wild duck. I am very interested in flavor. I was raised to not just eat to live, but enjoy the eating while I'm at it.
Is CX that's grass and home fed really that much different than the store bought?

Wild Duck and farm raised duck are totally different. Almost as different as Pork and Beef...And it has little to do with the species and not as much to do with diet as you think. Remember, Plenty of Ducks winter in Canada eating peas and grain in farmers fields and fly down to Arkansas or Louisiana eating corn and rice and grain...It has more to do with the fact that they fly thousands of miles.

But Chicken, even compared to Pheasant or Quail? Not nearly as different IMO. Sure, they require different preparation, but nothing crazy. My Cornish Rocks that I raised and let out in a grass run most days taste great. They taste better than most Grocery Store chicken but it doesn't blow your mind.

What's considered to be the best tasting poultry in the world? One of the most known as a delicacy would be the French Bresse...But I would wager that if I went to France, bought a bunch of hatching eggs, and raised them on quality feed and let them forage a pasture before processing, I would be disappointed. Its the whole process...The birds that are fed a low protein diet of cereal grain and dairy, so they forage for insects, that are fattened for the last month in a darkened cage where they're fed Corn and Milk intensively...And you can't discount the "sizzle," the fact they're sold with the blue legs and the metal band with the producers information on the leg...

Maybe you could do a 2-4 bird experiment...By a Cornish X or two, and buy a Jersey Giant, and raise and process them and tell us what you think. I would wager that you might be surprised at your preference if you decided to do meat birds again.