is it really cost effective...

[Farmfresh]

I have done exactly that for several years. I find the final cost is approximately 93 to 99 cents per pound. The cost varies somewhat with normal chick losses. I supplement with leftovers when I have them and fresh green everyday. (The Cornish crosses are too lazy to free range well so I cut greens for them. ) At the end when they tend to over eat I finish them on cracked corn which has less protein than grower feeds. I do the butchering all myself, which saves quite a bit of money. This also allows me to package the chicken like we eat it.

If you compare "real tree ripened oranges" to "real tree ripened oranges" I am making out like a bandit! At our local health food stores a whole chicken raised like I raise mine costs between $8 and $12.00 for a 4 pound chicken! And prices go up from there. http://www.grassfedfarms.com/whole-chicken.html Some people spend a fortune on good chicken! http://www.blackwing.com/landing_full.php?cmc=1004

So yes I think it IS worth it!

I encourage you to treat your homesteading project as a business. Keep accurate records of everything you do. You will learn more each time and learn how to do more with less and less. Then remember to give yourself the credit that is due for the things you raise. Compare like to like. You will eat like a king on a peasants wage.

 

[lorihadams]

Farmfresh--- what is your feeding plan? Right now I have them on Dumor starter crumbles with some chick grit mixed in.

What do you feed them, for how long, and when do you switch them over to cracked corn?

 

[miss_thenorth]

See, there are some who say treat it like a business, and while that works for them, I do not. I treat it a a hobby that gives back. I like raising ALL my animals. It IS my hobby.

I will never go back to grocery store chicken. i enjoy raising my birds (and other animals), and I enjoy knowing how they were cared for, what they ate etc. When you think I could have hobbies out there that cost me tons of money but dont' give back to my family, I am perfectly comfortable doing what I do. The fact that we are eating healthier b/c of it--priceless. So it's not really a monetary thing for me.. Don't get me wrong. I am the frugal queen. If it were costing me say $25/bird, I might rethink my hobby,raise less, or look for different options--(find a new hobby). But raising my birds is economical for me too.

Guess what I'm trying to say is--it's not just financial for me. If it's all about the bottom dollar, -grocery store chicken is definitely cheaper.

 

[Farmfresh]

I usually raise Cornish Rocks from Welps hatchery, so they grow REALLY fast and well. I always keep fresh water, grit and daily feed chopped greens. Those frankenbirds do not free range well they are too lazy!

I brood them in a stock tank in my mudroom closet until they are "hardened off" to cooler temperatures and fairly feathered. I like to start my chicks in August so the nights are still pretty warm but the temps are cooling off as they reach full weight. This way they don't over heat when they are big and fat. When they are big enough they are moved into my Chick Mobile tractor at my daughters.

As for feed, in its simplest form ... I start my chicks on free choice Dumor 24 percent until they are mostly feathered. Then I switch to Dumor 20 percent until they reach about 3 pounds. I start them on cracked corn/Dumor 20 for a short while and finish that last pound or so on straight cracked corn.

By slowly lowering the protein levels like this I never have to worry about "keel over" where the birds eat so much and gain weight so fast they have a heart attack. Also the bigger they get the faster they consume the feed and the cheaper the feed they eat gets! Dumor 24 in this area is $15.50 a bag and cracked corn is about $7.00 a 50# bag.

 

[lorihadams]

Thanks!!! I was wondering about feeding cracked corn and figured I could mix it towards the end to cut some of the feed costs. I was worried about the heat issue too so that's why we got them when we did. We usually don't get any really cold weather until December-January and definitely no snow so I figured it wouldn't be so bad to butcher in November.

 

[mekasmom]

You have to look at those first birds you bought as seed. They are not to simply eat. They are to reproduce, so you can eat the offspring. You start with a seed of a flock which grows, and then you eat the harvest. Just be sure to buy a few bantam hens to brood the eggs next summer. The first year, you raise the chicks, the next year they raise chicks, and you harvest both eggs and meat from that. Plus you save a few more of those chicks to raise to produce the third year.

 

[Blackbird]

That would otherwise work Meka, but Cornish X usually aren't able to reproduce by the time they're able to, because trhey're genetically modified. Atleast ours never were. Both were so fat that the male would always end up falling off before anything happened!

 

[miss_thenorth]

That would otherwise work Meka, but Cornish X usually aren't able to reproduce by the time they're able to, because trhey're genetically modified. Atleast ours never were. Both were so fat that the male would always end up falling off before anything happened!

Just to clarify--they are not geneticvally modified--they are a product of selective breeding. But yes, they do not grow long enough to reproduce.

 

[Farmfresh]

The hatchery that I purchase my Cornish Rock cross birds from, Welps, sells two different strains of the cross. The one I usually buy is a very fast growing meat bird. If you let them grow to adulthood they become excessively large, especially the males.

I have allowed a couple to grow as large as they could for use as a roaster. The birds dressed out at over 10 pounds each. This was ready for the oven! Birds of this size are so heavy and awkward they don't have a lot of mobility much less the ability to mate.

On the other hand I have also raised their slow grower Cornish Rock strain a few times. It takes them several weeks longer to reach eating size. I have carried some female birds of this strain to adulthood. These birds were large and heavy and tended to have more trouble in the heat than normal breeds, but several of them were also extremely good layers. This actually came as quite a surprise to me. I think if you lived where the weather was never extremely hot (Missouri DOES NOT qualify here) you could possible keep some of these hens as breeders and cross them with a lighter more viral male of some kind to raise your own meat birds.

You would definitely need those bantams or an incubator however. Hybrid birds like the Cornish Rock cross do not go broody.

 

[FarmerDenise]

I have two cornish crosses. I have been calling them butterballs, because they are so heavy. They can no longer get into the roosts by themselves, so I lift them up onto a board in the henhouse. They are actually quite sweet. It is going to be hard to buthcher them, But I'm looking forward to tasting them.

We can get real pastured chicken at one of our local chains. How about shelling out $5.99 per pound