Meat chickens!

[Inor]

Our first batch of meat chickens showed up today! I am figuring on doing 2-3 batches per year of 15 per batch.

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I was surprised how much bigger they are than egg chickens. They are only 2 days old but are already as big as the egg chickens were at about a week and a half. They are called Freedom Ranger breed and are supposedly a little slower growing than the other breeds. So they should be ready for the freezer by early June.

Several of them have a black stripe down the back. I think those must be made of dark meat.

[Sasquatch]

My chickens better start laying eggs of they are going to turn into meat chickens. One of them is already named Mc Nugget.

[MountainGirl]

What's your kill set-up like, Inor?

[hawgrider]

Culling cones are very helpful.

[Inor]

What's your kill set-up like, Inor?

I bought two metal kill cones for whacking them. We will use the turkey fryer to scald them and shrink wrap them. We have a Yardbird plucker sitting in a box in the shop. (Once I can walk again, I will get that put together. I also have some modifications that I want to make before we use it). Beyond that, not much...

I am going back and forth on whether to pick up a folding table with a stainless top for cleaning them or we may just use a folding table we currently have with a plastic top. I am just concerned the plastic top might be permeable by the cooties in the chicken guts.

[hawgrider]

I bought two metal kill cones for whacking them. We will use the turkey fryer to scald them and shrink wrap them. We have a Yardbird plucker sitting in a box in the shop. (Once I can walk again, I will get that put together. I also have some modifications that I want to make before we use it). Beyond that, not much...

I am going back and forth on whether to pick up a folding table with a stainless top for cleaning them or we may just use a folding table we currently have with a plastic top. I am just concerned the plastic top might be permeable by the cooties in the chicken guts.

I borrowed orange construction cones from the state and cut the narrow end to fit lol.

Plastic top table should be fine just use soap and hot water and if you want use some bleach.

[Prepared One]

I am a bona fide city boy for sure. I have managed to go 62 years without ever hearing or knowing what a killing cone is. I now consider myself schooled. I remember my Grandmother saying she twisted the neck and just whacked their heads off with a clever so I assumed that's how it was usually done.

[hawgrider]

I am a bona fide city boy for sure. I have managed to go 62 years without ever hearing or knowing what a killing cone is. I now consider myself schooled. I remember my Grandmother saying she twisted the neck and just whacked their heads off with a clever so I assumed that's how it was usually done.

Stuff them head first into the culling cone. Cut the neck arterys and let em bleed out. No flopping around no blood squirting all over the yard. Its a quicker more controlled way to do the deed.

[LivoniaDan]

I am a bona fide city boy for sure. I have managed to go 62 years without ever hearing or knowing what a killing cone is. I now consider myself schooled. I remember my Grandmother saying she twisted the neck and just whacked their heads off with a clever so I assumed that's how it was usually done.

Me too... (no jokes please)

Had to look up and Youtube culling cones and YardBird Pluckers.
Wife keeps mentioning chicken.. She only went as far as getting them for eggs.
So far I have successfully resisted..
Living in an area that had a major roadway disturbed... The rats that lived there found new ground in the adjoining neighborhood. - Mine...
The videos we watched cautioned about rats... Think it changed her mind.... At least for now

[Jester-ND]

My in-laws recruited me this year to help them butcher chickens for the first time (for them and me) I simply put 2 nails in top of old fence post and didn't bother with the cones. I soon realized they were going to stand and watch me do everything... the guy with the biggest hands gets to gut em.... they ran the hose, scalded em, and my wife ended up doing the final cleaning and vacu-sealing (with my sealer and bags)...

[bigwheel]

Nobody ever listens to us old ex Duck Farmers.
https://www.hgtv.com/outdoors/gardens/animals-and-wildlife/raising-ducks-or-chickens

[Inor]

The meat chickens are now about 2 1/2 weeks out of the egg and they are HUGE. They are now about the size the egg chickens were at about 6-7 weeks. I have never even heard of an animal that grows this fast. I think Mrs Inor might be secretly feeding them nuclear waste.

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They are getting so big, so fast it is throwing off my entire schedule for them. My original plan was to keep them in my shop until they were about 6 weeks old, then move them into the chicken shack. That is absolutely not going to work. We are going to have to move them in the next day or two because they have grown too big for the cage in my shop and are starting to fight.

They do have all their wing feathers and tail feathers but they do not have many feathers on their bodies yet. So we have been keeping a heat lamp going for them. I do not have electricity in the chicken shack, so I cannot plug in a heat lamp without running an extension cord. But I may have to since we are still getting down into the 40's at night. Although, with the egg chickens and the guineas in the shack, it might stay warm enough for them without the lamp? (The only nights we got ice on the water inside the shack this winter was when it got into the low teens and single digits.)

Note to self: Schedule next year's spring order to arrive in the middle of March, not the beginning.

[bigwheel]

Try not to get attached to the cute little guys. sniff sniff. As one of my old farm pals often laments on somedody losing a favoite dog or cat..."Shut up I had to eat all my pets." He said it was hard eating a pork chop that you knew its name. In fact we got one free from the inlaws one time. They raised it and didnt have the heart to eat it..but it didnt bother them to butcher it and let us eat it. They was farm type folks too.