Space needed for meat chickens

[RoosterML]

@aliciaFarmer I can not express enough when dipping the bird before plucking always keep an eye on the water temp. I believe 140-145° is the range. Do not go over or it is very easy to rip the skin along with you will have started to cook the bird, you will see little white spots. Just ask me how I know . It happened to 2 out of the 25 so I guess not to bad for our first time.

 

[aliciaFarmer]

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.



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.

That sounds like the very best way to do it! Thank you so much for sharing your method and reasoning. I think that's exactly how I will do it as well. Starting with just four-ish at a time. Plus that won't take up the whole fridge when I need to rest them. Coolers would be a huge pain in the butt! And probably not entirely safe I wouldn't think.

 

[Morrigan]

We use a turkey fryer as well for scalding. Ours, thankfully, doesn't have a safety cut-off feature.

 

[JMotuzick]

I guess I haven’t been on in a week, just read all this...

I have been butchering pork and beef since elementary school. The usda approved places are just as clean as “dads garage” once we bleach things down and sanitize the big bowls. Chickens have proven to be no different!

Using the methods described here, we took care of 60 with a seasoned friend. (There where 8 of us including a 9 year old girl doing the actual killing). Then again doing our 26 plus 10 more a different friend brought over.

We need to get a better wheel system on the tractor for this season, also doing Cornish crosses not rangers.

 

[aliciaFarmer]

I guess I haven’t been on in a week, just read all this...

I have been butchering pork and beef since elementary school. The usda approved places are just as clean as “dads garage” once we bleach things down and sanitize the big bowls. Chickens have proven to be no different!

Using the methods described here, we took care of 60 with a seasoned friend. (There where 8 of us including a 9 year old girl doing the actual killing). Then again doing our 26 plus 10 more a different friend brought over.

We need to get a better wheel system on the tractor for this season, also doing Cornish crosses not rangers.

I haven't been on in a long time either. That is fantastic! My goal is to start with chickens, then move up two rabbits then sheep and goats and then eventually couch. I'm great at butchering things that are already did but haven't done the killing part myself yet but I think I can handle it knowing that I'm feeding my family good organic clean food. My son is 15 and is really excited to help which is awesome. I think it's so great to have children involved for a multitude of reasons.

 

[aliciaFarmer]

I don't remember if @aliciaFarmer is going to free range them or grow out in a chicken tractor type set-up. The chicken tractor type set-up would most likely have a roof on it taking care of the owl/hawk issue. I'm guessing your friend in the KC area being a larger operation doesn't have a roof structure on his.

I'm going to have them in a 3000sf area with a coop, not a tractor, as I'd like them to be able to run around and enjoy their short lives while they can. I put all my birds in around sunset/before dark and haven't had any issues to date, with hawks or owls, thankfully.

 

[aliciaFarmer]

Thank you so much. ♡

That batch of babies was a flop. Mama hen sat like a champ for 2.5 weeks then moved off the eggs on a 20° night to sit on fakes, killing all the babies. She's a bit mentally challenged and I think will be my practice butchery lesson.

 

[aliciaFarmer]

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.

Thank you so much! That's great info -- I appreciate you taking the time to reply. I'm thinking maybe I'll stick to 16 at most the first round because I'd rather them have plenty of space rather than too little, though outside time will pretty much be their entire waking lives.

Awesome on no loss!! I've heard that that's rare with Cornish.

 

[mixedbreeds]

Yes they have been doing great the last couple of years. I let them eat all they want for the first two weeks then 12 hours of feed and 12 hours without. That’s plenty and I could probably get a better feed conversion if I feed them more times during the day taking it away more but they have been doing so well I didn’t want to screw it up.

 

[RUNuts]

Best wishes!
I got mine in warmer months and they only had one week in the brooder, then into the chicken tractor. They quickly outgrew the tractor and I'd open it into the fenced garden to let them devour the garden. Worked well. They loved the giant who brought food.

Shade, wind breaks and dry spots needed. We had flooding rain near the end and they wound up on the garden. The wood chips made it the highest and driest spot.

I kept food and water available, but the last 3 weeks they would empty the food themselves. Not starving when I got home, but they would put a dent in the food left out. Then finish it off for breakfast.