Why meat birds?

[Mosey2003]

But they not very big. I mean how much actual meat can they make for cat or dog food!!

If you grind thousands of them up whole, you'd be surprised. They aren't, you know......butchering them.

 

[igorsMistress]

It's cheaper for me to keep only the hens I want to breed and buy white eggs rather than a full laying flock. And honestly, that's just what I'm about to do if I ever make the time to butcher. I like the convenience of table eggs being right out the back door, but being as I don't even like eating eggs myself, I don't mind store bought in the slightest.

I am raising chickens primarily for meat and eggs, to hatch for more meat and eggs. I agree store eggs would be cheaper, but I like our eggs too. That's my preference though and not everyone's I know.

Personally I sure would not want to buy straight run and then have deal with all those extra roosters. Not everyone is out in the country and is even allowed to have the roosters.

As to the Hatcheries selling the extra male day old chicks as by products I always thought the chicken in dog and cat foods came from the battery hens once they are culled for a replacement flock. Not that I know that but it is just what I have always thought was the case.

I raise for eggs/meat, there's no such thing as extra roos

 

[oldrooster]

What really surprises me is that the hatcheries list males in the egg laying breeds as only about a dollar or two cheaper than the sexed pullet pricing. Honestly they must dispose of these extra males by the thousands so one would think they would sell them dirt cheap. But apparently don't really want to sell them.

I think what it is they are wanting as much as they can get per bird. I'm sure some may order straight run of a certain color of a breed and buy a rooster or 2 of another color of the same breed to make sure they do not have the same blood lines and they can still interbreed with the off spring hens for a few generations before they have to get a new blood line of males or a whole new flock...

 

[oldrooster]

I am raising chickens primarily for meat and eggs, to hatch for more meat and eggs. I agree store eggs would be cheaper, but I like our eggs too. That's my preference though and not everyone's I know.



I raise for eggs/meat, there's no such thing as extra roos

There are many here that raise eggs and meat because they taste better or at least in there opinion. others want to know what goes into their food and that's why they raise them.

 

[Mosey2003]

I think what it is they are wanting as much as they can get per bird. I'm sure some may order straight run of a certain color of a breed and buy a rooster or 2 of another color of the same breed to make sure they do not have the same blood lines and they can still interbreed with the off spring hens for a few generations before they have to get a new blood line of males or a whole new flock...

Not that it really matters in the grand scheme of discussions, but getting closely related chicks from a hatchery seems extremely unlikely to me. They flock breed, so they throw a number of roosters out into a huge pen of hens, typically it's not anything like having one or two lines. Besides, if you know what you're doing, inbreeding is actually quite useful in chickens and it takes quite a bit to see negative effects generally, unlike with, say, most mammals and people.

 

[igorsMistress]

There are many here that raise eggs and meat because they taste better or at least in there opinion. others want to know what goes into their food and that's why they raise them.

I think the meat tastes better than store bought. Less fat globules in it too. There's actual flavor, even in the breast. It's different though and some people who aren't used to it can be put off for sure.

 

[Cryss]

But they not very big. I mean how much actual meat can they make for cat or dog food!!

they grind them up feathers, organs, bones, everything. They don't cull them first, just toss them live into the grinder by the hundreds, vats full of live baby cockerels.

 

[oldrooster]

Not that it really matters in the grand scheme of discussions, but getting closely related chicks from a hatchery seems extremely unlikely to me. They flock breed, so they throw a number of roosters out into a huge pen of hens, typically it's not anything like having one or two lines. Besides, if you know what you're doing, inbreeding is actually quite useful in chickens and it takes quite a bit to see negative effects generally, unlike with, say, most mammals and people.

You are correct, but still some people may not realize that. Also if you are breeding for meat and eggs and do not want to be forced to buy a whole new flock by simply replacing older birds by hatching your own chicks and you are seeing signs you are at the end of the positives of inbreeding and need new blood lines a rooster or two ordered with a friends shipment from a hatchery may be in order.

they grind them up feathers, organs, bones, everything. They don't cull them first, just toss them live into the grinder by the hundreds, vats full of live baby cockerels.

yep that's true. also the chunks of meat you may see in pet food if it looks stew like rather than pate' of some piece of meat falls on the floor or gets caught in a machine at a processing facility and is used for pet food also since it is considered not fit for humans. Also I understand some roosters are sold alive as snake food...

 

[LilyD]

I may be mistaken, but I think the spent hens go for soup.

They do at my house. Meat for dog food I think tends to come from much shadier sources unfortunately unless you are like me and make your own dog food. I cannot bring myself to trust commercial foods at all.

 

[LilyD]

You are correct, but still some people may not realize that. Also if you are breeding for meat and eggs and do not want to be forced to buy a whole new flock by simply replacing older birds by hatching your own chicks and you are seeing signs you are at the end of the positives of inbreeding and need new blood lines a rooster or two ordered with a friends shipment from a hatchery may be in order.



yep that's true. also the chunks of meat you may see in pet food if it looks stew like rather than pate' of some piece of meat falls on the floor or gets caught in a machine at a processing facility and is used for pet food also since it is considered not fit for humans. Also I understand some roosters are sold alive as snake food...

Up here we have VINS that will take extra roosters and humanely euthanize them and feed them to their raptors. A lot of people do that because let's face it processing isn't for everyone and some people just want to rehome and not worry about extra roosters. I feed RAW to my dogs and so the extra roosters are eaten either by myself or the dogs as are extra turkeys, ducks etc.

Dog food has come from very shady sources and still does. There is no regulation saying the meat they use needs to be safe or ethical so they can take animals that are euthanized or other pets even that are destroyed at the humane societies. The only regulation is that they need to meat nutritional requirement but it's easy to do that even with non food sources. Quite scary as far as I'm concerned.