When does meat bird season end?

[MyFirstFarm]

At what point in the season (outside temps, I guess?) does it become not possible to raise meaties (outside in tractors)?

I guess the same question applies to when in the year you can start raising them?

Would like to get a rough idea of how many weeks there are available in the season. TIA!

 

[Denninmi]

Where are you -- it depends on your climate - can be almost year round in the right place, such as parts of CA, to just a few months in the colder climates.

 

[Dogfish]

It depends.

In Washington State, west side, we can grow them year round. Seldom do we hit 90's, and very seldom do we hit 100's. Humidity is low here, 40-50%.

The answer would matter based on where you are. Alabama would have a different answer than Vancouver BC Canada.

Where abouts are you located?

 

[Sundown_Farmer]

Near St. Louis we get our first chicks the first week of March. This year we will process our last batch the third week of October. Last year we processed in November. Birds were fine, we were cold.

 

[al6517]

Where I am at in Oklahoma it is safe to start in March and go through early May, then a fall crop starting in Sept going up to December. Free ranging in tractors is out of the question for the most part because grass won't grow on this stuff we call soil.

 

[Mrs. Mucket]

Washington State, east side, we can usually go from May through October with colored broilers (I start chicks in the barn in April to get a head start). The July/August heat can be a bit much for CX.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

when you can't take the smell anymore!

 

[MyFirstFarm]

Thanks everyone! We're near Victoria, BC on Vancouver Island. Looks like we'll be able to do 2 or 3 batches then before the weather gets too cold (or in our case, too wet!)

 

[PotterWatch]

We are able to raise them all winter but we have to stop in the summer. It just gets too hot. So our season is about 9 or 10 months.

 

[bigredfeather]

Here in Ohio, the first half of the season will end in 2 weeks for me. It just gets too hot raise them in the Summer. I start getting chicks again in August, and butcher the last batch in late October/early November. The batches I do in the Fall are always bigger due to the cooler temps. Last year a week after the last batch was gone, we got a bunch of snow and wind. Perfect timing.