Suburban Meat Birds

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

I’m actually going to have the butchered at a local USDA inspected processor. Doing the butchering myself the first time around is a bit too much for me. Hoping to find a class, but so far no luck. You’d think it being Idaho there’d be something lol.

I bought the tractor, I built the coop with my dad for the girls. It went well, but it was a pain so I’m happy just paying someone to build the tractor lol. Good ideas on some changes to make to it!

I’m a little worried about what the weather is going to do in late May and June. Sometimes it doesn’t get over 90 and other years June has lots of days in the 100s… Fingers crossed. I have a fan and mister for my girls that works well for them so that’s my plan for the chicken nuggets.

Oooh, fancy! Well, that makes things easier lol. So I guess all you have to worry about is raising them. It's not too hard. But like you mentioned, weather can be a factor. They are prone to overheating. If it starts getting way too hot, you can also process them a week or two early. Last time I processed at 8 weeks and they were so huge I would have been fine with 6-7 weeks!

 

[Smokerbill]

I’m actually going to have the butchered at a local USDA inspected processor. Doing the butchering myself the first time around is a bit too much for me. Hoping to find a class, but so far no luck. You’d think it being Idaho there’d be something lol.

Have you seen this video of Joel Salatin processing broilers? Very informative!

 

[Tervuren]

The chicken nuggets are doing well! I’ve been plopping one on the scale every few days and they seem to be gaining 20ish grams a day. I’ll weigh everyone on the one week mark Wednesday.

Had to use the dog’s little foot grooming scissors to get some poop off of two of them. Wet paper towels weren’t doing the job.

So much easier to keep the water clean with these guys! I think I was constantly cleaning bedding out of the waterers when my girls were chicks.

Processing day is at 6 weeks and 1 day. Getting it done right before I head out of town for a dog show.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

The chicken nuggets are doing well! I’ve been plopping one on the scale every few days and they seem to be gaining 20ish grams a day. I’ll weigh everyone on the one week mark Wednesday.

Had to use the dog’s little foot grooming scissors to get some poop off of two of them. Wet paper towels weren’t doing the job.

So much easier to keep the water clean with these guys! I think I was constantly cleaning bedding out of the waterers when my girls were chicks.

Processing day is at 6 weeks and 1 day. Getting it done right before I head out of town for a dog show.

Sounds good!

Do you mind me asking how much your processor charges per bird?

 

[Acre4Me]

Good luck. They will need more shade -CX run hot. Our first year we used a broken shade umbrella the previous owners left behind. It was large, so very useful. Keep up on the water -they drink A LOT.

Cost per bird may not be more than the grocery. With added processing cost, it might be more expensive, but overall, with the retail price of good meat being pretty high, it might not end up so different.

Glad you found a processor for a small number. The closest USDA poultry processor that a BYC keeper can use, changed their requirements -they will not do less than 100 per order, but in the past, they would do small quantities.

 

[MalSabreur]

Picking up 7 Cornish Cross from Dunlap Hatchery tomorrow. First time trying to raise meat birds. Kind of a project in suburban self sustainability.

I’ve had my hens for 2 years now who are like pets to me, so we’ll see how do with the meat birds lol. Part of the reason I started with CX is because they have to be butchered and it is literally impossible for me to try to keep one as a pet without it amounting to cruelty imo. Also want to have first hand experience raising the kind of chicken I’ve been eating my whole life. If this goes well I’ll probably go with a ranger type in the future.

I’m going to be keeping them in my garage for 3ish weeks and then have them in a chicken tractor in my backyard that’ll be moved daily. Have the set up ready to go in the garage with an xpen and the chick plate heater is warming up. Will expand available space in the pen as they grow. Opted to start with puppy pads. I assume meat birds are like other chicks in that they’ll try to eat bedding at first. Had a very silly moment in that I forgot I threw out the chick waterers 2 years ago because I disliked the plastic ones so much. Dunlap has a store though so I’ll pick two up tomorrow am.

Going to update with weights and a rough tally of costs as I go along. Obviously will be way more expensive then store bought but I like keeping track of things so I will. View attachment 3491085View attachment 3491087

If you like keeping track of everything, get yourself The Poultry Keeper's Almanac (PKA). It will do everything from helping keep track of incubating eggs to recording what lives where, calculating/ tracking feed costs to printing your own egg box labels. It's inexpensive, easy to use and comes as an instant download. I find it very useful because everything is in one place. If you can't find it, message me.

 

[MalSabreur]

Have you seen this video of Joel Salatin processing broilers? Very informative!

WHY? The hardest part is the actual killing. I can understand you worrying about doing it because I did at first. It was the thought of not doing it cleanly and causing the bird to suffer. I use a " humane, wall hung poultry dispatcher" I found on ebay. If you have it at a comfortable height whilst standing, with the bird held under one arm, you put it's neck in the groove and pull down firmly on the lever, dropping the bird at the same time you get a clean kill every time. I talk to the birds all the time to calm them and they don't get anywhere near the same level of stress as they do taking them to a slaughterhouse. I always try to knock them off in the early morning before they are fully awake. If you are unsure about doing it yourself, find someone locally who has done it before and get them to show you how to do it.
When it comes to plucking, I always try to get the big flight feathers out whilst the bird is still warm as they come out far easier. If you have to, you can then leave them to hang until you are ready for the rest of the job. You can then use a sharp knife to bleed them. I use pliers to get the primary feathers and those tough little ones on the leading edge of the wings out.
Apart from saving yourself a packet, you will end up with a tremendous sense of achievement, do the BEST you can for birds that you have come to love AND end up with better quality meat because the bird has not been as stressed as sending it on a long journey to a strange environment where there are other frightened birds and the smell of blood. Another plus is being certain the bird you are eating is actually the one you took to slaughter.

 

[Tervuren]

Birds went outside yesterday evening. They seem to enjoy it! The dog is very interested but not too interested lol. Reflective tarp should be arriving today or tomorrow so that will help with more shade. Relatively cool this week in the low 70s. Last week in the garage was a pain because we hit the 90s. A previous owner had a cat door into the garage from the laundry room. Opened that up and put a fan in front of it with an xpen panel against the door as well to keep the cat out. Lowered the garage temp by about 5 degrees. Very glad that they’re outside now!!! Will add weights later.

 

[Tervuren]

Weights!! Think I averaged everything correctly

 

[Tervuren]

Also, picking up more feed this weekend. Another bag of 22%? or 20% or 18% protein? Brand is Country Companion if it matters.