Space needed for meat chickens

[aliciaFarmer]

This coming late winter/early spring we will be venturing into raising meat birds for the first time, but I'm having a difficult time finding recommendations on coop/housing size. We won't be doing Cornish -- either starting with Rangers or even the Meyer's "fry pan bargain" of solely mixed cockerels. They will have their own coop, separate from my other hens and roos, in a space I'm in the process of building myself. Currently it's 4x8' with a 4x4' loft but I'm considering enlarging it. All of my chickens and ducks are let out 10-20 minutes before official sunrise and put back in around sunset so will never be cooped up in the day. The meat birds will have about 1500sf to free range in (the fenced half of my garden area that isn't yet planted -- they will help to prep it). Since we'll be processing between 12 and 16 weeks I presume they can have less inside space than my laying/breeding flock but I also don't want to cram them in or be inhumane. For those experienced in raising birds for meat, how many cocks do you feel could comfortably live (or sleep, essentially) in that amount of space? 32sf main floor and 16sf loft.

I was planning on starting small, like 16 to 24ish birds (especially since we'll surely have others to process from our 28 layers/breeders) but want other's opinions before I order them.

Thank you so much.

 

[RUNuts]

The 48 hour resting period is to allow rigor mortis to pass. Depending on a lot of variables, it can pass quicker or longer. Waiting 48 hours is a guideline. The resting can be done before or after freezing. Before cooking, bend the legs to see how easy they bend. If difficult, you will have a tough chewing bird.

Yes, 145°F ish water is helpful to release the feathers. Pin feathers are the most difficult, aggravating and is a good reason to skin the ones in that phase of growth.

 

[cholland]

I can't give you much on space requirements. My chickens have a large yard. But I hatched some Barred Holland's in the spring. A "dual" purpose heritage breed. I'm in this for the eggs so not really exploring the meat end. About half were roosters, and I only needed to keep one.
I kept the best looking, largest one and butchered the rest at 17 weeks. By then they are crowing a lot and starting to spar a little between themselves. The breast meat was great for frying or grilling. Not much for wings or drumsticks. The carcass makes a good soup stock. Definitely not the size of a meat bird.

And yeah, the bees. OMG. As soon as I started plucking the first one it was a complete swarm. Not just a bunch, literally thousands. I set up an 8x10 pop-up screen room and did all the processing in there. Much better without bees all over everything.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I butchered 13 broilers all on one day. It is a lot of work. My husband ended up helping me do the last 6. He dipped them and ran them through the plucker before he gave them to me to butcher. My first batch was only 4 Cornish X, and I was glad that I started with a small batch to figure out the whole process..

 

[RoosterML]

That's fantastic! I hadn't thought to keep so many in a smaller place like that because I thought it could be messy, but moving it frequently makes perfect sense. I had planned on them just being inside until about 3 weeks, then only in a coop at night and free ranging in about 1500sf from sunrise to sunset.

To start though, I decided that 12 is plenty for my first time around. Then I'll probably do 30ish or more twice a year. I just don't want to overwhelm myself the first time, especially because I want to do meat rabbits as well.

That was my first time doing this also with the 25. It was not bad at all. I would say the most work aside for keeping fresh water and moving the pen comes on processing day. We did all 25 at just over 9 weeks old took 3 of us 6 hours from start to finish granted there was also alot of beer consuming going on which may have slowed us down some. You could very easy split up the processing and do some every week or every other week nothing says they all have to go the same day. I to was thinking about doing some meat rabbits I have two females now and i may bring in a male in the future. I have never done meat rabbits but I hear its alot easier than chickens. Good luck with your venture.
Also YouTube was a great tool on learning how to eviscerate the chicken.

 

[Morrigan]

You could very easy split up the processing and do some every week or every other week nothing says they all have to go the same day.

This is what we do. We raise between 20 and 25 meaties a year and do them in batches of between 4 and 6 at a time. We can do a batch that size in about 1 1/2 hours from start to finish, even with hand-plucking (which does get easier and quicker with practice). Aside from making butchering days more manageable, we like doing it that way for a couple of reasons. First, we can rest the birds in the fridge for a couple of days before further processing and freezing. Otherwise, I guess we would be managing the resting period in big coolers, which seems like a pain. Second, it gives us a variety of sizes. The first groups are around 6 pounds, which we like as whole roasters. The next group are around 7 lbs, and we cut those out into parts and freeze the breasts separate from the legs/thighs. The last groups we let get really big 8 t 11 lbs, and turn them into a year's supply of breakfast and Italian sausage.

She is more the "Meat comes on a tray and wrapped in plastic" type of gal. To give her credit, she is a pharmacist so being a germ-a-phobe is understandable.

I'm curious as to why she would think that the birds coming out of a factory farm and commercial slaughterhouse are more sanitary. The one thing I love about raising and processing my own is that I know that my birds were raised in fresh air, clean bedding and an open, and non-crowded environment, and that my butchering area is very clean.

 

[RoosterML]

We sue the turkey frying set that DH bought and we never used... It has a propane burner that fits underneath it and holds the pot securely on it. The lid has a hole in it and it comes with a thermometer with a long tail that fits in the hole and reads the temp of the liquid inside the pot.

That's what we use as our scalder. Works well aside from the darn safety that cuts the propane flow unless you reset it every 10 minutes. If I would have to guess that was some liberals bright idea .

 

[aliciaFarmer]

I'm still in research mode for raising/processing meat birds, but I have found some helpful information that you may be interested in, especially with your thoughtful and humane approach in mind...

An honest and heartfelt article about raising straight run & harvesting the cockerels, including YouTube videos for "Respectful Chicken Harvest" (maybe you've already seen, but I'm saving for future reference)... a really nice insight on first time slaughtering:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...vestock-and-respectful-chicken-harvest.72871/

Another article with a natural approach to raising CX (reminds me of your own goals)
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/raising-cornish-x-for-meat-–-the-truth.66015/

Thank you so very much for both of those links! The first video was beautiful. I love that lady. I had actually never seen that one before and I'm so glad you shared it. I don't like the idea of a cone and wondered about other ways that I could bmorehumane about the process. Her method is beautiful. I also never gave much thought to all of the little cockerels getting incinerated and that just breaks my heart. So I again appreciate this very much! My plan was to get a bunch of straight run chickens for my first round but having a couple broodys right now, I see that I'm going to be starting with my own. I already have three roosters in my flock and have to start with one of them (the youngest will be 12 weeks tomorrow but a Swedish flower hen so I want to keep him).

I had such strong preconceived notions about Cornish/CX that I almost didn't even read/watch that but I did and I'm so glad for that! Again, I thank you so very much. Both for the Enlightenment and for taking the time to respond. And I apologize for taking so long to get back to you. I'm not online very often.

So, now that I'm soon to have a bunch more babies Oh, things are going to be different then my original plan but I think that's how Mother Nature works. I also have a couple of semi mean girls that I was thinking of gifting to another Farm but I think I'll use them as practice with an overabundance of love and respect for them and their lives. ♡

 

[mixedbreeds]

All I have done are Cornish x and rangers. I built two 8x8 brooder/grow out pens and I started them all in one then split 15 to each side. They stayed in there till butcher about 12 weeks I like them big. That is about all the chickens I wanted in that amount of space as they never left and the poop was big consideration. Your situation will be different though so you could probably do a higher density. I didn’t have any loss either.

 

[Acre4Me]

I'd definitely stick with that method since it works so well. That's awesome!

The meat birds like Cornish aren’t exactly active when they get big, so not likely to need a really large area. We did not have Cornish, but a similar fast growth, white feathered meat bird. They were still running (short stretches) and walking at butcher age of 7.5 weeks. They didn’t really scratch up the dirt either, like our other birds. We kept them indoors at night, but free range in a fenced area during the day. They ran hot, and we provided cool water and feed at separate locations to encourage walking. We had to provide shade all day, otherwise they were uncomfortable, so luckily their area was on the eastern side of the barn so they we’re completely shaded for the afternoon. We provided feed and lots of water 24/7. They seemed to drink a lot of water all day. We kept 12 and that was a great number to start with.

Good luck.