MEAT BIRDS THREAD ~Plans, pics, pens, pluckers, processing! GRAPHIC!

[Snowhunter]

Fuzzy butts!!! How adorable!!!!!

Sounds like you got the chickies off to a good start Interesting about the buttermilk... I think, like most animals, the chicks know whats got more nutrients and better and go for it...thus the eating the fermented/soured products to help replace the good enzymes and such in thier innards. I can't wait to see how yours grow out!!!

I should be able to get back to having clabber for my meaties, so they're goin back on about 1q a day. They've been on a sprouted wheat/rye w./whole oats/pearled barley since I ran out of milk to clabber and its not had any ill effect. Still see CX semi flying around the garden area Moving em to a new section of garden soon as its fenced and they into a tractor thats full of grass for finishing. Was gonna get to that last week but got too busy.

 

[Beekissed]

I just can't wait to see your end product on these birds and until you taste them and see if it makes a difference in the taste. I talked to a lady over on BYC that fed fermented foods to broilers before and stated that the meat was the most tender and juicy of any broilers she had ever tasted. I like the sound of that!

You'll maybe want to do some pics of them right before you process so you can see how they looked at the finish and also of the carcasses....I'd be interested if you'll be able to notice a difference in general health of organs, color of meat and skin, etc.

 

[the funny farm6]

For my chicks, I have been making a mush of buttermilk and non medicated chick starter. And feeding that every other day. Plus the acv in their water. They have been very heathy so far. Tomarow my husband and will make a hillbilly tractor for them out in the yard.

I started feeding them like this when the were @ 1 week old. They didn't want to eat the mushy food at first, so I sprinkled dry starter on it, they finaly go it though. The girls we will keep- the boys will be eaten and sold.

We went to a hillybilly auction over the weekend and roosters were selling to the meat buyers forr $6.00- $9.00 each. There was another animal sale farther north that we almost went to, rabbits were $25.00 to $125.00 EACH! Roosters were $12-25 and mixed breed chicks were $4.00-$8.00 each! This is crazy!

 

[Beekissed]

It is! I agree....this new chicken craze sweeping the nation has caused an actual run on the cheapest livestock to get and has driven up the prices. Use to be you could get spare roos for $1-$2 and that was at processing age. Then the price slowly began to take an upward slide.... :/

I'll be sort of glad when all the....um..uh....shall we say "hobbyist" get tired of their new toys and get back to wanting the next new thing so that folks who are serious about producing food for their families can get more appropriate pricing.

 

[the funny farm6]

It has been crazy this year. Farm and home got chicks and was sold out in 4 hrs!

 

[Beekissed]

It hasn't hit WV as much as most...probably because most folks here know someone who has chickens or their family have had them and they don't see it as such a novelty. TSC seems to have plenty of chicks every time I go and no one hanging around the tanks oohing and aahing at all. The local feed mills don't even get any chicks in to the store nor does Southern States(the chain feed mills and farm business in WV). We don't seem to have many, if any, poultry auctions....just livestock auctions at which folks may try to sell poultry out of the back of a truck outside the auction barn.

The biggest difference I can see is the pricing on the mail orders from the hatcheries since the last time I bought chicks....HUGE difference and it has nothing to do with gas prices and consequent feed price increases because the last time I bought chicks the gas was higher than it is right now. It's purely supply and demand.

 

[Beekissed]

Happy to report normal chick poop by Day 3. All happy and content....we'll be getting a cold snap starting tonight and for a couple of days and I'm brooding outside, so I'm wondering how my setup will suffice. So far, so good and it is chilly!

 

[Beekissed]

A nice neighbor gifted us a young White Rock rooster today...healthy and very nice bird. I gave them a loaf of freshly baked homemade bread in return. This roo doesn't even have his spurs yet, I'd say he's around 5 mo. old. Mom named him Rudy and he will be the supervisor of all these CX chicks when they go out on free range...that ought to be fun to watch!

More and more poops~what goes in must come out!~ and all are normal. Thank you, Snowhunter, for the tip on the clabbered milk! I think the buttermilk, along with the other fermented food choices, really is key to helping reculture these young bird's bowels for normal function.

 

[Snowhunter]

Hey Bee I'm SO glad to hear its working so well for you, YAY!!

Sorry I haven't gotten updates lately.. haven't had time to do much of anything...cow problems

I will report that I let the CX, BAs and RIRs out to free range, cuz I tilled under every speck of good grass in the garden area to plant (and its been 2 wks and still not planted ) and they have gone over 1000yds from there and still return at night. Into the pasture, into the barn, around the yard... They're everywhere!!!! They haven't gotten clabber for awhile and I'm happy to report still normal poops! I have enough milk now, though, that I've got some clabbering for them, which I'm sure they'll appreciate!

All the CX have green feet and faces from all the delicious cow pies in the pasture and barnyard

I'll see if I can get some pics

 

[Beekissed]

That's so funny! AND good to hear that they can travel so far away, are that mobile and actively foraging....it's good to watch a chicken be a chicken, no matter what the breed or purpose.