Raising, butchering, & processing isn't a new thing for me but all I ever did was excess DP or heritage breed roo processing & old layers. My wife had no experience but wanted to do this. I had my helper and excess roos ready. Everything was good up until gutting. Not wanting to have my helper get squeamish and bail out on me I opted to cut off leg, thighs, wings, and then filet the breast meat off like fileting a fish. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/butchering-without-gutting.1417237/
Kept my helper and she enjoys eating our home grown chicken so much we are chewing through it quick. Hmm 5-6 months is a long time to raise to a decent size which got me to looking at meatbirds.
Reading here I have to thank you all for your experiences with meat birds. BYC is a great resource.
Hatchery search online!
Sold out. Sold out. Then I find cornish x birds at Welp hatchery for $.99 each. Ordered 32. Got 34 this morning. All lively after almost 40hrs of travel time.
I'm following what Welp recommended with sugar water first. Hydrate those fellas. Now they have 22% feed.
I'll try to keep updating as we go.
Kept my helper and she enjoys eating our home grown chicken so much we are chewing through it quick. Hmm 5-6 months is a long time to raise to a decent size which got me to looking at meatbirds.
Reading here I have to thank you all for your experiences with meat birds. BYC is a great resource.
Hatchery search online!
Sold out. Sold out. Then I find cornish x birds at Welp hatchery for $.99 each. Ordered 32. Got 34 this morning. All lively after almost 40hrs of travel time.
I'm following what Welp recommended with sugar water first. Hydrate those fellas. Now they have 22% feed.
I'll try to keep updating as we go.