Growing our food

[dpenning]

I keep chickens for eggs and have thought about raising meat birds. Since Emma is now eating raw I've decided to try a batch of meat birds.

I will order 25 meat chicks and raise them for 8 weeks then process for the freezer. It will be interesting to see if it is cost effective. The chicks are 2.20 each. Not sure what feed will run for meat birds.

I built their enclosure with all recycled materials. I will need to buy some screen to make the door but everything else was lying around.

I'll keep you all posted when I get the birds.


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[DDSK]

How much is a bag of chicken feed?If you're now raising laying hens it should be fairly easy to calculate your cost to feed the meat brood.Then estimate how much each bird weighs dressed at butcher time and how many birds your dog will eat in a week.

 

[dpenning]

That's the plan. What I've read is roughly 1/4 cup feed per day per bird. I'll need to sit down and do the math. More of an experiment at this point, to see if I can stomach the processing and if I like the flavor of a home raised bird.


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[DDSK]

I thought the birds were for the dog lol

 

[EverythingEnglishMastiff]

It's not so bad. Use two nails in a "V" shape on a nice tree stump. Insert head while applying some pressure by pulling their feet. One swift chop with a good hatchet or machete. Another tip, dunk them in boiling water to help with the plucking of the feathers

I'd be interested to see the numbers. Been wanting to try raw but the cost for me is prohibitive. I also want to switch foods sometimes soon to maybe TOTW, but if I could keep cost at or less that TOTW and feed raw I'd be down. I have a mostly built chicken coop already. Just need some more chicken wire. I could prob fit 30 chickens in there. Wonder how hard it would be to sustain your own population?

 

[dpenning]

It is possible to cross breed the Cornish cross but it is difficult to keep meat birds healthy past 8 weeks. There are some who have done it on backyard chickens. I'll just buy new chicks as needed. I thought I was so clever and figuring out how to get the price per pound the same as the high end kibble, what I didn't think about was how many more pounds she would eat!

DDSK, no reason we can't all share!

 

[Max's mom]

My sister in law raises birds of all sort...turkey, chicken, duck, goose, pheasant and I'm sure something else. She gives her birds table scraps from plates and leftovers from meal prep. Things like veggies and fruit, salad fixins, ends off carrots and celery. Zip, Zip in the food processor to make pieces small enough. Stale bread, crackers, cereal and pizza crust too. I'm not sure if that's cool for this type of bird or for the pupose, but you recycled all the building materials...maybe their meals could be partially recycled too?

 

[EverythingEnglishMastiff]

We did that with all our birds when I was a kid. We also had peacocks and guinea hens, no ducks though. Geese can be like watch dogs, some can be pretty mean lol.

 

[cj-sharpy]

what I didn't think about was how many more pounds she would eat

You'll probably find she eats a lot less lb for lb. 2.5-3% of her body weight is normally about right.

 

[dpenning]

Well shoot. On their laying birds it says they won't ship right now. For the meat birds it still let you pick a ship date but it didn't tell you until you check out that it won't ship until June! I ordered them anyway and checked the box to let me know if they ship sooner. I'm sure it is hard go gauge what their capacity is in the winter months.

 

[EverythingEnglishMastiff]

You are ordering birds online? :rofl2: I figured you'd drive over to a local farm or something.

 

[BAMCB]

I have a scrap bucket for a friend"s chickens. She said they love getting the treats! Especially the seeds I hope you keep us updated. Maybe you could sell some eggs or raise a few extra to sell and cover some of your costs? I think you could also allow a few chicks to hatch at the end of the season and use them? I'm of course only thinking out loud, I have no experience myself lol

 

[dpenning]

I have a scrap bucket for a friend"s chickens. She said they love getting the treats! Especially the seeds I hope you keep us updated. Maybe you could sell some eggs or raise a few extra to sell and cover some of your costs? I think you could also allow a few chicks to hatch at the end of the season and use them? I'm of course only thinking out loud, I have no experience myself lol

The current laying girls do love their treats! I tend to give away my extra eggs but will start including one in Emma's bowl now and then. Selling them would stress me out so much.

I don't have any roosters so won't be hatching any of my own, although it is an idea if I were to get to some fast growers that were not true broilers.

I currently have 14 laying hens. Some of them. Will likely get processed as I really only need 3 or 4 to keep us in eggs.


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[tmricciuto]

I didn't even know there was a difference between meat hens and laying hens.

 

[BAMCB]

I believe my friend only sells to local people she knows. I pay $3 dozen and keep her girls filled with goodies. I love our arrangement! Not sure how much it costs to raise them though. I have another friend who started a sheep farm. She did not want to go into debt doing it so the first animals bought were chickens. Their eggs funded other projects and eventually sheep. I was surprised to here that! Maybe chickens will fund my pack(herd more likely) of mastiffs when we find some land. Hubs would just love that! Not! LOL

 

[dpenning]

I didn't even know there was a difference between meat hens and laying hens.

Birds that have been bred for broiler have been selectively bred to mature very quickly. In a commercial operation they sit and eat, don't move much and are butcher size in 6-8 weeks. You can keep them longer but you have to restrict their food and make them forage. It is difficult to keep them alive very long.

Laying hens mature at a much more natural rate and don't start laying until 5-6 months of age.