Elevating meat chickens looks as if a frightening activity, however actually, it’s fairly straightforward. When you’ve ever needed to learn to elevate chickens for meat, that is the time to do it. As a result of, what higher time than now!
When you’re right here, it signifies that you’re most likely realizing simply how damaged our meals system is. And why it’s necessary to take management of your individual meat supply. You are able to do this by elevating meat chickens by yourself property. No actually, you are able to do it! Let’s stroll by these straightforward steps to get you began.
The Fundamentals of Elevating Meat Chickens
Whereas meat chickens are fairly straightforward to lift, there are some issues to contemplate earlier than diving in head first. Be sure to perceive the method, and also you’ll be good to go.
Right here are some things to contemplate earlier than you get began.
- Most meat chickens develop to full maturity between 8 and 12 weeks of age. When you select to go along with a slower rising heritage breed of meat hen, they’ll take as much as 6 months to achieve a big sufficient hen for the desk.
- Business breed tremendous hybrid meat chickens (just like the CornishX) don’t reproduce offspring or eggs on their very own. They usually additionally don’t survive effectively after the ten or 12 week mark of age.
- There are a couple of most important breeds for meat chickens––CornishX (like what you purchase on the retailer), Freedom Rangers or Red Broilers (which have darker meat than retailer hen), and Heritage Hybrids (just like the Delaware Enhanced). All are nice choices, however the heritage hybrids and Freedom/Purple broilers do take about 12 weeks versus the 8 week CornishX.
- Meat chickens eat plenty of feed. That’s, until you’re elevating them on pasture. Pasture might be so simple as a 1/2 acre yard! Even nonetheless, they eat extra feed than egg laying chickens.
- You’ll must buy butchering provides. And a few of them aren’t low cost. Or, you are able to do issues the quaint means. It simply goes slower. We’ll go over each strategies.
- Some meat breeds are tremendous ugly. Yeah, like, tremendous ugly (just like the CornishX). They don’t have a bunch of feathers. They lounge round worse than an adolescent in the course of the summertime. Different breeds are extra energetic (just like the Purple Broilers and Delawares) subsequently making them higher foragers.
- Meat birds have increased mortality charges. Particularly in case you get the massive business breeds, just like the CornishX. Be ready to lose some chicks, and even some mature chickens. They are often fragile as a result of their genetic make up. So maintain this in thoughts when making an attempt to determine what number of to order. Nevertheless, folks have raised loads of batches with out shedding any chicks in any respect. Simply know that it is a chance.
Meat Rooster Housing and Feed
Elevating meat chickens doesn’t require way more of an effort than elevating common chickens. They’ll want ample housing that’s massive sufficient in your chickens to maneuver about. You possibly can home them in a coop with a hen run. Or you’ll be able to home them in a pasture elevating system on grass. The strategy of housing and feeding meat chickens is admittedly as much as the way you’re selecting to lift them. Let’s go over them.
Elevating Meat Chickens on Pasture
Most individuals will select to lift their meat chickens on pasture. You possibly can elevate them wherever, however pasture will produce a extra pure hen for the desk. And in case you’re placing in all this effort, why not go along with all pure! Pure chickens have extra vitamins than birds raised utterly on feed.
You possibly can create a pasture ranging arrange like the one used on Polyface Farms (above), or just like the hen tractors that we now have, created by John Suscovich. Both arrange will work effectively for you.
Transfer your hen tractor every day to new pasture. Incorporate electric netting, just like the one seen above, to provide your chickens an even bigger area to vary. This additionally permits so that you can solely transfer them each few days, quite than day-after-day.
Provide one feeding of hen feed every day to your birds if they’re foraging. We frequently like to do that within the late afternoon in order that they forage first after which eat feed secondarily. Many meat birds might be lazy, so doing this will help educate them to eat pasture earlier than feed. This may also reduce down in your feed invoice.
Your hen’s feed consumption will depend upon what number of birds you’ve got. However usually it’s 1/4 lb+ of feed per hen per day.
Elevating Meat Chickens on Feed Solely
If you’re selecting to lift your meat chickens in additional of a small or confined space, you’ll be able to elevate them off of grower feed and kitchen scraps alone. They’ll eat extra feed, subsequently you’ll undergo feed much more. Be sure to save these kitchen scraps, as they contribute to the feed consumption! Free meals is nice for chickens!
Many individuals additionally select to continually feed meat chickens in order that they develop faster. Some do the 12 hours of free alternative feed (a feeder continually crammed for 12 hours), then 12 hours off of feed. This provides their digestive tract a break, however permits them to eat as a lot feed as they need to in the course of the first 12 hours time frame.
The most important subject you’ll have with elevating meat chickens in confinement is that, effectively, they poop. So much. Loads of poop, ya’ll. So maintain this in thoughts when selecting find out how to elevate your meat birds. They’ll must be moved, or their space cleaned, usually.
Your meat chickens needs to be fed a grower feed of not less than 19% when you are elevating them.
Clear, Recent Water is Essential
Consider it or not, clear, contemporary water in your meat chickens is essential. Meat chickens can get dehydrated rapidly, in order that they’ll undergo plenty of water. Since they eat extra meals than a daily hen, additionally they require extra water.
Can My Meat Birds Reside with My Common Flock?
Consider it or not, you probably have a sufficiently big arrange, your meat birds can reside along with your common flock. Nevertheless, they’ll most likely develop slower. We now have efficiently grown random meat birds in with our common flock. They simply eat common feed and free-range. This gave us birds for the desk in about 10 to 14 weeks or so (relying on the breed).
Whereas I wouldn’t advocate it, it completely is attainable in case you’re trying to solely elevate a couple of meat birds at one time. It helps to not need to arrange a very totally different space in your birds. And it’s simpler throughout chore time!
Provides for Dispatching Your Meat Chickens
So that you’ve raised your meat birds to full maturity, and now it’s time to butcher them. What on earth will you want, and the way do you do it? Whereas I’d love to have the ability to let you know step-by-step, that’s laborious to do in a weblog put up. Consider it or not, I don’t have my very own video (but) on hen butchery. However the fantastic world of YouTube is filled with loads of movies to look at on hen butchery. I’d additionally encourage you to take a look at the Homesteaders of America membership program, which has a full, in-depth video by Joel Salatin about elevating and butchering meat chickens.
Earlier than you go skipping off into Youtube world although, let’s undergo a few of the stuff you’ll want for processing your birds.
You’ll additionally think about having rubber/latex gloves in case you don’t need to get blood in your palms. Some folks can have a pores and skin delicate response when their palms are processing chickens for greater than 30-minutes. I’m a kind of folks! So I select to put on gloves.
When you choose to butcher chickens the quaint means…
Then you definately actually solely want a inventory pot filled with scorching water, a really sharp axe, and your palms for plucking!
Don’t overlook to maintain the toes!
And all the opposite goodies too. The livers, hearts, gizzard. The perfect a part of elevating your individual chickens for meat is that you just get to maintain all the stuff you wouldn’t usually get with a hen on the retailer. You should use this stuff to make extraordinarily dietary do-it-yourself hen bone broth. Or, higher but, you’ll be able to learn to prepare dinner them for consuming. You can too use these conventional discards as pet food!
Be sure to don’t feed your chickens for not less than 12 hours earlier than butchering them. It’s going to make for a a lot cleaner processing of the hen.
That’s mainly it! Be sure to feed them every day, give them contemporary water every day, and transfer them continuously . . . and also you’re good to go! Nearly anybody can elevate their very own meat chickens. And what a liberating feeling it’s to personal your meals system!
Different posts it’s possible you’ll take pleasure in:
