Questions for those of you who's raised meatbirds

May 21, 2022
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486
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Tennessee
Hi all!

So hubs and I have tossed back & forth getting meat birds since last year.
But we have been discussing it a bit more & I would love for some advice and questions answered from seasoned raisers.

1. What's the best number to get to start? 10? 20? 50?
2. What breed is best? I personally do not like the CornishX ones. I have thought of the Rangers.
3. Best type of feed? We would be raising them on grass along with feed; moved daily so that might influence the type of bird, also.
4. Hatchery? Or local feed stores?
5. Anything else we need to know?

Please feel free to share anything else you might think would help.
 
1. What's the best number to get to start? 10? 20? 50?

We started with 15

2. What breed is best? I personally do not like the CornishX ones. I have thought of the Rangers.

You could try dual purpose, good for both eggs and meat. Rangers are good ones to.

3. Best type of feed? We would be raising them on grass along with feed; moved daily so that might influence the type of bird, also.

meat bird feed. Natur's pride has a good one..

4. Hatchery? Or local feed stores?

we got ours from the feed store,, they did great

5. Anything else we need to know?

They aren't very active birds and don't require too much space to be content. Most that I know of aren't avid foragers either.
 
1. The number you get depends on how much space you have (both to raise them and freezer space to store the final product), and how confident you are that you will like the process. If you have space constraints or are uncertain about butchering/eating chickens you raise/etc., you might want to start out small -- 6 to 10 birds. I started out with 25 CX the first go around, it wasn't too much work, and gave us a lot of meat for the time spent.

2. There are pros and cons to each type of meat bird. CX are the most efficient in terms of feed to meat ratio and will be ready in 8 weeks. Rangers are a little easier and hardier to raise, but take 10 to 12 weeks. Having raised both, I personally like the rangers better than the CX, but that's just me. Dual purpose is a lot more challenging -- I raise and eat a lot of heritage birds as well, and I really enjoy it. But it was a longer learning curve and I still sometimes do small batches of rangers. Also dual purpose bird will generally be smaller and take longer to raise.

3. Any type of grower feed is fine. They will like being on pasture but it won't cut the feed costs much.

4. Your feed store might have limited choices (mine only carry CX). I like Freedom Ranger Hatchery for rangers, but there are a lot of good options out there.

Overall, I recommend raising meat birds. Telling us more about your set up and goals, might help us provide some more useful feed back for you.
 
I too like the Freedom Ranger hatchery birds rather than the Cornishx birds from the feed store. We've done both, and the Cornishx birds are most economical to raise, but are comparatively fragile, not the 'normal' birds like the ranger types. We also do some heritage birds, depending on the year.
There's a small processing facility nearby, and it's been convenient to have our birds go there instead of doing them at home. Much less messy that way!
We feed an all flock diet, and restrict feeding time after three weeks of age for the Cornishx chicks, which keeps more of them alive...
Mary
 
1. What's the best number to get to start? 10? 20? 50?
15 is the best starting number. It's an easy amount, room for the losses (which do happen), and less casualties happen than in a larger amount. That's the amount I originally started with.
2. What breed is best? I personally do not like the CornishX ones. I have thought of the Rangers.
That depends on what you're looking for and the time you have. I've raised the Cornish Xes for years. They were ready in 6-8 weeks old and were big! Some people do like the Rangers better. For one, they're prettier than the white Cornishes. I've never raised them yet, as I've only raised the Cornishes, so I'm not sure which breed is better.
3. Best type of feed? We would be raising them on grass along with feed; moved daily so that might influence the type of bird, also.
Broiler crumbles. For a better looking bird like what mine looked like (the butcher who only does poultry said I had some of the prettiest birds they've seen), get organic Green Mountain broiler crumbles. Put the grain in bases and set them on the ground so they can sit right in the feeder. (If they poop in the feeder, you'll need to scoop that out.) Have a few evenly spaced out so everyone can get some. Keep the feeders and waterers close so they don't have to go far and can just pack on the pounds.
The grass is good, though it can't be their only source of food. Because meatbirds are very messy, expect to have a messy and very fertilized yard by the time you're done.
4. Hatchery? Or local feed stores
I always got mine from a local feed store. It's simpler that way. You don't have to worry about shipping issues or other things like that. You might need to go to your local feed store and put in an order through them now to be guaranteed that you're getting some.
5. Anything else we need to know?
Meatbirds are messy. Depending on your coop size, they might need to be cleaned every day or two. They eat a lot and grow fast. Due to their weight, they can easily have leg problems and heart attacks. Keep their stress levels down as much as possible. Getting them early in the year (end March early April) or Fall is best. You don't want to get them during the Summer because the heat can be too much for them.

Here's a video of day to day growth on some Cornish Xes I did one year:
 
1. The number you get depends on how much space you have (both to raise them and freezer space to store the final product), and how confident you are that you will like the process. If you have space constraints or are uncertain about butchering/eating chickens you raise/etc., you might want to start out small -- 6 to 10 birds. I started out with 25 CX the first go around, it wasn't too much work, and gave us a lot of meat for the time spent.

Hubs said around 10 is what he was thinking to start with.
2. There are pros and cons to each type of meat bird. CX are the most efficient in terms of feed to meat ratio and will be ready in 8 weeks. Rangers are a little easier and hardier to raise, but take 10 to 12 weeks. Having raised both, I personally like the rangers better than the CX, but that's just me. Dual purpose is a lot more challenging -- I raise and eat a lot of heritage birds as well, and I really enjoy it. But it was a longer learning curve and I still sometimes do small batches of rangers. Also dual purpose bird will generally be smaller and take longer to raise.
Yeah, I think I'd be willing to wait longer than to get those abnormal growths on legs. lol Dual purpose being like Buff Orpingtons, Wyandottes, etc??
3. Any type of grower feed is fine. They will like being on pasture but it won't cut the feed costs much.

4. Your feed store might have limited choices (mine only carry CX). I like Freedom Ranger Hatchery for rangers, but there are a lot of good options out there.
My local Rural King or was it TSC, hmm...had Rudd Rangers the other day. But most normally carry the CX.
Overall, I recommend raising meat birds. Telling us more about your set up and goals, might help us provide some more useful feed back for you.
Goals to have fresh, pasture raised (much as possible that is), meat we know what's in it, etc...
We would be building one of those smaller chicken tractors that are movable each day like the PVC frame type to keep them in. (They wouldn't be integrated w our layers, for sure.) We have almost 2 acres of land; a large portion is field/grass they could graze on.
 
15 is the best starting number. It's an easy amount, room for the losses (which do happen), and less casualties happen than in a larger amount. That's the amount I originally started with.
Thanks, hubby said 10 but I'll pass the info along.
That depends on what you're looking for and the time you have. I've raised the Cornish Xes for years. They were ready in 6-8 weeks old and were big! Some people do like the Rangers better. For one, they're prettier than the white Cornishes. I've never raised them yet, as I've only raised the Cornishes, so I'm not sure which breed is better.
Ok thanks.
Broiler crumbles. For a better looking bird like what mine looked like (the butcher who only does poultry said I had some of the prettiest birds they've seen), get organic Green Mountain broiler crumbles. Put the grain in bases and set them on the ground so they can sit right in the feeder. (If they poop in the feeder, you'll need to scoop that out.) Have a few evenly spaced out so everyone can get some. Keep the feeders and waterers close so they don't have to go far and can just pack on the pounds.
The grass is good, though it can't be their only source of food. Because meatbirds are very messy, expect to have a messy and very fertilized yard by the time you're done.
Yeah feed might be an issue as we feed Tucker Milling's No Soy/No-GMO feed. And Idk of any that we can get that's that. I am in E TN, and I can't get teh Green Mtn. Did a search, seem to be quite a few up near OH and Penn and that area. But not near me. :/
Fertilized grass works for me. lol Sets it up, for future better grass. lol

I always got mine from a local feed store. It's simpler that way. You don't have to worry about shipping issues or other things like that. You might need to go to your local feed store and put in an order through them now to be guaranteed that you're getting some.
Ok good info.
Meatbirds are messy. Depending on your coop size, they might need to be cleaned every day or two. They eat a lot and grow fast. Due to their weight, they can easily have leg problems and heart attacks. Keep their stress levels down as much as possible. Getting them early in the year (end March early April) or Fall is best. You don't want to get them during the Summer because the heat can be too much for them.
Ack! That's good to know then. We get to high 90's sometimes here in E TN during the summer. (And we have basically no shade so pure sun from sunup to sundown.)
Here's a video of day to day growth on some Cornish Xes I did one year:
Thanks!
 
1. What's the best number to get to start? 10? 20? 50?
6-10. If you’ve never done meat birds, do not stress yourselves out with a large batch. Bc they need processed too. You will be slow at first, learn a lot and adjust for the next time. You could raise 2 batches though, spaced a few weeks apart.


2. What breed is best? I personally do not like the CornishX ones. I have thought of the Rangers.
What do you not like? The idea of CX? You’ve never raised meat birds, so I’d recommend being open to either and possibly trying both, if you can.

For us, we have raised CX, it is our preference: fast track to meat. The MOST efficient means of getting the most meat bang for your buck (in feed and time). Ours are penned bc they need shade and we want to process all of them and not risk a predator bc it’s not like they are going to run or fly to get away. They have a double breast due to the Cornish (an actual chicken breed) heritage -Cornish have a double layer of breast muscle, making the white meat prominent in the carcass.

However, we have butchered s variety of males (dual purpose breeds known for good carcass) - these are tasty, but always leaner at 16weeks than a 7 week CX. We also raised 20 WPR last year, for 16 weeks, with the intent to butcher. We live rural, but have neighbors. Around 10+ weeks, the males would not shut up. We were apologizing to the neighbors, but luckily they like to hear chickens, and the sound was not penetrating their homes as the chickens were housed behind the barn. When processed at 16 weeks, the WPR were A good size, but for 8 extra weeks of feed and labor were not worth it. We concluded CX fit our style the best, best return on time, effort, feed by a loooooong shot to get meat in the freezer.

Rangers are excellent if you have the space to free range, and don’t mind the longer wait. Another plus, they don’t grow as fast, therefore, you can stagger or draw out the butchering phase over a couple weeks or more (females can be last In butcher lineup or grow longer bc they will butcher easier than a male at an older age).

3. Best type of feed? We would be raising them on grass along with feed; moved daily so that might influence the type of bird, also.
Meat bird feed, usually crumbles. Some start with turkey starter bc higher protein for the first 3 weeks. But, if you decide to range the birds, and rely on bugs etc, and have some space, I’ll recommend you look for some chicken seed mixes or a few plots of varied vegetation known to be good for poultry. Some seed companies actually sell seed mixes for this purpose. But, even free ranging birds benefit from balanced feed provided. Since you want muscle development, I’d recommend providing feed first thing in morn, they eat their full. Then they forage for the day, with more feed before they roost. Your feed bill will be reduced. One note: CX are bred to eat and make muscle, so they would benefit from having feed most of the time with the option of grass/bugs in a pen or tractor setup, free choice.

4. Hatchery? Or local feed stores?
Whatever is convenient to you. We buy ours from a Hatchery we can drive to. We bring them home and they are not stressed by shipping, they will start to eat and grow from a healthy beginning to make muscle for us.

5. Anything else we need to know?
CX need shade, and drink A LOT of water. A LOT. Make them move more by setting up feed and water apart from each other. They do poop a lot too but we toss around the bedding and refresh it a few times during their 7-8 weeks of life. But, fewer numbers or larger space may not require much more than tossing it around.

We throw away the innards - so, from experience, I can tell you to butcher the day BEFORE trash pickup and NOT a day or two after trash pickup…it is a smell you won’t forget. You may have space to bury, or compost the feathers/innards, but we do not.

It is a learning process, no matter what breed/type/style you choose, so don’t expect perfection the first time, and don’t over estimate your abilities for the first batch (meaning, I don’t recommend 50 birds with no experience..you might never want to raise meat birds again).
 
1. What's the best number to get to start? 10? 20? 50?
There is a learning curve involved so I suggest a small number. The learning curve includes how to house and feed them, possibly poop management, how to butcher, and how to store them. Do you like how they cook or taste? You can tell your husband at least one person on here agrees with him, if it is your first time I'd suggest 10 as opposed to 15. Then with the experience you can determine what works for you.

2. What breed is best? I personally do not like the CornishX ones. I have thought of the Rangers.
We are all different. What is best for me may not be best for you. The Cornish X are the gold standard if all you are after is meat. The Rangers were designed for your conditions, some advantages of the Cornish X but take to foraging and pasture raising better. Dual purpose means breeds like Orpington or Wyandotte but there are many more you could choose from. What breeds do you have now? If you hatch your own you can eat the boys and maybe excess girls. That's one advantage of the dual purpose, but they grow a lot slower. If you wait for them to get larger you may be restricted in how you cook them.

One of my standard suggestions is to try different things and see what suits your goals and conditions best. I personally like dual purpose but some people prefer Cornish X and others prefer Rangers.

3. Best type of feed? We would be raising them on grass along with feed; moved daily so that might influence the type of bird, also.
I'll let others handle this answer. I raise dual purpose and raise my replacements so I don't feed them the same as you probably should for pure meat birds.

4. Hatchery? Or local feed stores?
Wherever you can get what you want when you want it.

5. Anything else we need to know?
Please feel free to share anything else you might think would help.
We have so many different goals and conditions there is no "best" way for all of us. Jump in and try something. If it doesn't suit you try something different. But get back on here and tell us why you didn't like it, we might be able to help.
 

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