thinking about meaties for Spring? answer some questions for me???

What do you guys think of the fry pan special on page 16 of the cackle catalog. 25 birds for $13.00? Would it be worth it or just do the crosses for the extra money.
 
We raised meaties for this first time this past spring and it was a rewarding experience. I did all my calculations before hand and figured it would cost me approx. 9-10$ per bird. I took mine to a processor but we did 50 at a time and that was so worth the drive and the money, I wouldn't do it any other way now. We took 'orders' from family and told them they could have them at our cost. Funny thing about that is that no one was ever available to help keep them fed and watered. They will eat you out of house and home. Ours were clean and healthy with unlimited water (refilled by us many times per day) and feed for 12 hours during daylight hours and then we removed the feed at night. We did not lose any of the first 52 or the second 41 and felt pretty proud of ourselves. I must say that raising them in the fall was easier because they were bigger as it got colder and not the other way around. Heat is hard on them so good shelter is a must. In the spring we butchered the roosters at 8 weeks and they dressed out at 5.5 to 7.25 pounds. At ten weeks we processed the remainder and they averages 7.5 to 9 pounds. In the fall we raised another batch and they all dressed out at 5.5 pounds on average although all other variables were the same except the weather.

An amazing amount of work goes into these birds you wouldn't expect. If you have an automatic waterer, your life will be easier. We don't and cannot add one to the bard as the walls are cement. I don't waste any part of the bird and even boil the carcass for soup stock because so much work went into them. I would still recommend the experience to anyone with time and inclination. The meat tastes so much better and feeding them to special people is always fun as they all claim they have never had anything so good. I am sure some people just raise them and don't mind the dirty environment they create. I for one wanted to have something that was clean, healthy, happy and treated well before I ate it. I also wanted to know exactly what they ate and came into contact with. I am a control freak:) But it was still worth it and I had $10 into each bird, not including fuel to processing or to buy feed which is over an hour from us.
 

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