Anyone raise their own meat chickens? What's the difficulty, costs, etc?
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Meat chickens?
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Last edited by S-3 Ranch; 02-09-2018, 10:16 PM.
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Cornish cross (CornishX) will be your best bet. Keep the feeders full and have clean water available. Also keep the distance between feed and water short. The less they move the more weight they put on. Process them at 12 weeks for 5+ pound dresssed birds. They are not what you'd call cost effective but they are for sure better meat than you'll buy at the store. Raise them in bulk. Buy 25-50 as you'll probably lose a few. The hardest part is the processing as it'll take a full day if you do them all at once. Good part about it is after that day of processing you'll have chicken in the freezer for a year.
Richard.
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Originally posted by Junkers88 View PostCornish cross (CornishX) will be your best bet. Keep the feeders full and have clean water available. Also keep the distance between feed and water short. The less they move the more weight they put on. Process them at 12 weeks for 5+ pound dresssed birds. They are not what you'd call cost effective but they are for sure better meat than you'll buy at the store. Raise them in bulk. Buy 25-50 as you'll probably lose a few. The hardest part is the processing as it'll take a full day if you do them all at once. Good part about it is after that day of processing you'll have chicken in the freezer for a year.
Richard.
This^^^^ is great advice
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I've raised Broiler chickens, which are eating chickens, and bought from tractor supply. Done it several years, and they eat EVERYTHING! So any scrap or bone or meat that you think may be tainted....they eat it up, and then you get to put them in your belly, and they are much much tastier than a bird from the costco. Unfortunately the de-feathering takes time unless you want to buy some neat tools off ebay or amazon. I haven't yet, but after last year, I plan to invest.
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Originally posted by Junkers88 View PostCornish cross (CornishX) will be your best bet. Keep the feeders full and have clean water available. Also keep the distance between feed and water short. The less they move the more weight they put on. Process them at 12 weeks for 5+ pound dresssed birds. They are not what you'd call cost effective but they are for sure better meat than you'll buy at the store. Raise them in bulk. Buy 25-50 as you'll probably lose a few. The hardest part is the processing as it'll take a full day if you do them all at once. Good part about it is after that day of processing you'll have chicken in the freezer for a year.
Richard.
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Originally posted by Chew View PostCould yall share your butchering/processing techniquesDateline: 14 February 2009 Ten years ago I started growing chickens for meat here on my little 1.5 acre homestead. I pastured them in...
This works for us if plucking. Which is all I will do if I’m raising them for meat. Skining wastes the best part! Old hen or rooster just gets skinned.
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Originally posted by Chew View PostCould yall share your butchering/processing techniques
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Originally posted by Chew View PostCould yall share your butchering/processing techniques
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