What To Do With "Left-Over" Show Broilers?

[ShowBird]

My son will soon be getting 75 Show Broilers for our state fair in October. He will only be able to show six of the broilers (2 pens of 3) and I know we will lose a few along the way. But after the show we could be left with up to 69 broilers. Is there anywhere in the North Texas area where you can take these broilers and sale them?

This is the second time for my son to raise show broilers. He raised 50 of them two years ago. At the conclusion of the show we were left with 38 broilers. We took them to a place in Mansfield, TX and they processed them for about $3.00 per bird. We ate some of the birds but most of them went bad before they could all be ate.

I pose this question at my sons request. He asked me if there was a market sale that he sale his left-over broilers at the conclusion of the show. Thanks...

 

[sonew123]

well its too bad you dont live near me Id process and buy them all!!! Post it on CL for people-charge 12$ each and I bet they will fly out of your yard!!!! Or tell folks youll be at the fair showing and after they can collect them-pay upfront so you know they are sold??? I would get a deposit for sure-costs alot to raise that many birds! By posting this you might even find folks who can buy them from you and meet you there so you dont have to take them home!

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Hmmmm, I'm surprised that so many of them went bad before they could be eaten. If you can't find buyers for them, you might try having them butchered again and use a different wrapping and freezing method. If they are frozen properly they should last up to a year. 50 birds would mean that if you ate one a week you should be able to use them all before they become a problem. If you have some of them made into chicken sausage or ground chicken you could probably eat more than one a week without getting tired of them.

 

[krcote]

What do you mean by "went bad?"

 

[Tracydr]

If you don't have room in the freezer, I would suggest either getting a cheap chest freezer off Craig's List or a pressure canner and canning the ones that don't fit in the freezer.
Why does he need so many just to show six? Can't he start with twelve or fifteen?

 

[seymojo536]

Quote:
The rule of thumb is you need a minimum of 6 birds to get 1 showable bird. In order to be competitive in the market show ring the pen of birds should match exactly in terms of confirmation. we raise 30 to get a pen of 4(take 4 , show 3). The best bird (ie largest, nicest breast, legs etc.), the one we nickname "Bubba" never goes to the fair because we can't find 2 more just like him. You end up with a pair of really big birds that nobody matches, several trios of smaller birds that are closer to matching and a bunch of smaller birds that aren't quite ready to show. The more birds you have to pick from, the better your chances of getting 3 Bubbas. And at most fairs, it takes that to make callbacks.
So, it really depends on why you are going to the fair. If it is just for the experience, then yes you could just raise 5-10 birds, go in and take your chances. If the kid wants to do well in the ring, then it is a numbers game and the more they can have to pick from, the better their chances are.

 

[sbarab]

Where are you located? Depending on how close to Houston area you are I would be interested in some of your birds.

 

[ShowBird]

Quote:
When we had the broilers processed we had half of them quatered and left half of them whole. We were able to consume all the quaters before they went bad as they were packaged via a vaccum sealer. The whole birds which were huge, weighing between 7lbs to 8lbs each(processed), were to big to be vaccum sealed. We had to put them in huge freezer bags and before they could all be consumed they had freezer burn all over them.

 

[ShowBird]

Quote:
sbarab - We are located in Sherman, TX. About 60 miles north of Dallas.

 

[un-named]

Just curious, where does one get show quality broiler birds to begin with?