To do meat birds or not to do meat birds?

[adorable]

I have done meat birds every year for the past 4 years. And every year ,I say not next year. Well here i go again. I am really tossing the idea if i should or shoulnt.
The problem that i have is feeding the commerical food.Isnt it the same as the store bought ones. I dont want to hear it taste better because you raise it. Like come on ...Really ....They poop stink so bad.....But they taste so good. I have a real hard time raising them because of the smell. They smell themselve ,not just the poop either. I can go organic but to expensive to travel to get the food and buy the food. So that is out of the question. So back to commerical food to feed them. It cost more to raise them ,then the store bought ones. But you can have bigger ones. I keep on raising them every year because i like bigger bird....But the food.ISnt it the same stuff the big boys feed there birds. For less money.

 

[Buster52]

So raise something else, like standard Cornish or Delawares or Buckeyes.

 

[TimG]

Others my disagree, but I suspect the food is quite similar. Except there is no chance that the commercial roasters will ever munch on grass or clover or bugs or slugs.

It probably makes little difference to the taste of a bird, but commercial roasters are kept in very close quarters. (They get less exercise than birds you raise, so their meat will be more tender -- some say mushy -- so there is a taste issue involved.) Some people feel better eating food they know to have been raised in what they consider more humane conditions.

But, let's face it, most of these "condition" things are people applying their human perspective to chicken happiness. Just like all the people who ask me how I keep my chickens warm in the winter. An unheated coop, isn't that sort of cruel?

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

I agree with the OP. I've asked myself the same questions.
I would say give the freedom rangers a try. From what I understand they take about a month longer to raise, but get a large portion of their nutrients from foraging - thus "more organic" and less smell.
Myself, I'm trying to create my own "freedom ranger type" meat bird. This is my first year with chicks hatching and I think it will take about three years to get where I want to go; which is a 6lb, 15 week bird, fed on only whole grain and forage, with a natural life span that includes reproduction (if not butchered).

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

Well yes, the food is the same....however, I think the issue is the treatment they get with you vs. the poultry houses. a month ago someone posted a link to a poultry house on here and when you clicked on the pics. inside...I was apalled!! I treat my chickens as well as everyone else on here I am sure with kindness and love. they do have a smell, and that has turned me away from it for years, but I recently killed one and ate it, and honestly speaking...I put cologne on a tissue and rubbed it real heavy on my nose before doing the job,and it helped..I ate the chicken the next day with no problem...

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
The test I apply is, what do chickens like to do, where do they prefer to do it, and can they? If they can, then I reckon they are about as happy as a chicken can get. If they can't...

 

[adorable]

D'Angelo N Va. :

Well yes, the food is the same....however, I think the issue is the treatment they get with you vs. the poultry houses. a month ago someone posted a link to a poultry house on here and when you clicked on the pics. inside...I was apalled!! I treat my chickens as well as everyone else on here I am sure with kindness and love. they do have a smell, and that has turned me away from it for years, but I recently killed one and ate it, and honestly speaking...I put cologne on a tissue and rubbed it real heavy on my nose before doing the job,and it helped..I ate the chicken the next day with no problem...

 

[KareyABohr]

Am I the only one on this site that ALWAYS eats chicken the night I process 30-50 of them in a day? (Giggle) I just figure if I fry one up that is one less I have to bag and freeze!

 

[TimG]

Quote:
Quite likely you are part of a small minority. Most believe that the chicken will be less tough once aged 24-48 hours in the fridge. There is scientific support for this.

But, chickens the world over are often slaughtered and eaten the same day. And, it was once common practice on the farm in this country.

 

[Bossroo]

Yea ! Due to evolution, the human jaw has become smaller and less massive, thus the need for less toughness of meat to accomodate chewing it. Therefore there is a need to age the meat after slaughter to have it to decompose and become mushy. I like to enjoy the meat of the fast growing X bred whose meat is nice and tender at slaughter and cooked on the Bar Q Que.