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

[Buster]

Just to update on my meaties project...

We have now processed all of the first batch and half of the second, with a little over 125 left to go. The plucker helps a lot. We've sold and delivered most of those we have processed, with a good percentage of the remaining live ones spoken for. They aren't as large as we had hoped. I've decided it is a combination of the hatchery and diet. I have plenty of protein, varying between 19% and 21%, but think I am lacking in the right amino acids, because even my BBW turkeys are lagging and some are having leg problems. I've had to switch the turks to commercial game bird blends. I'm adding Fertrell Nutribalencer and fishmeal to future mixes, like most of the recipes I have seen recommend.

We are also experimenting with various systems, with each batch using a different system. The first batch was raised mostly in broiler pens, the second day ranging in netting, and the third day range without the net and their movement is controlled with placement of feeders and waterers. So far I like the net system best. The birds have a decent amount of freedom, but their inputs and foraging still controlled to specific areas, not as focused as broiler pens, but more focused that total freedom. I'll report more on my impressions of these systems later.

 

[Buster]

Also why am I not getting alerts that there is a post? I did subscribe to the thread.

It will send you one notice it is updated until you log in again to check it. Could be you missed one notice, and since no subsequent notices were sent, you didn't realize there were more responses?

I like the new BYC notification system. If you set it to Immediate, it sends you not just an update, but a copy of the post. Comes in handy for some heavily used threads like the Okie thread. I never check in there any more unless I have something to say. Otherwise I just read the email updates on my Gmail, which threads them.

Another meatie update:
Apparently Cornish Cross can handle a little heat when they are on pasture. Just barely shy of 100 degrees today with a heat index of 103, and not a single loss. Some of these birds are 10 weeks old.

 

[ninny]

Buster- Thank you!

Okay everyone new BIG question. We just butchered our birds on Saturday. I evidently am not taking this whole deal well. I left during the dispatching part. When I got back hubby and friends had started plucking and the rest. My job was cleaning up the yard and bagging up the birds. I lost it when I saw the birds lined up. I have to go hide in our bedroom and cry. I finally made myself go out and help. After all the kids thought everything was awesome. I ended up just sitting and watching everyone else work. I got everything cleaned up. I even handled the birds afterwards. However, I can't get myself to eat the birds. Our friends cooked some up and I couldn't touch it. I also had horrible nightmares last night about the whole deal. I could barely eat the store bought chicken that was on the pizza we had tonight. Is this normal? My friend was joking it's because i'm pregnant. My thought is I grew up not even allowed to hurt a animal that was hurting you. So I don't know. If I can't get over this we are not doing this again. Help?

 

[the funny farm6]

It is always harder the first time. it took me 6 years to just be there when dh killed the rabbits. (And I still haven't killed one myself). I always have to remember that this was the reason we had them. I'm not sure how much being pregnant would have effected me. Those days are gone. It should get easyer with time.

 

[ninny]

It is always harder the first time. it took me 6 years to just be there when dh killed the rabbits. (And I still haven't killed one myself). I always have to remember that this was the reason we had them. I'm not sure how much being pregnant would have effected me. Those days are gone. It should get easyer with time.

I hope so. Thank You

 

[the funny farm6]

If you were just a little closer, I would offer to come help. The chickens don't bother me I get kinda tired of them by the 10-14 weeks it takes to grow them out. Lol

 

[ninny]

If you were just a little closer, I would offer to come help. The chickens don't bother me I get kinda tired of them by the 10-14 weeks it takes to grow them out. Lol

Unfortunaly for me I love chickens. They are my favorite barn yard critter. Im really really glad for both me and my DD that we have the layers still. Makes it much easier to not have my two year asking where all the chickens went. May do a rabbit next. She keeps asking when we are going to eat it. Ugh.

 

[the funny farm6]

That is why I have my hens. The meaties (when we get them) just anoy me after a while. I can sit for hours and watch the hens. Maybe I just don't make that "conection" with the meaties.

Wow, makes me wonder how eating lamb is going to go next year.

 

[Beekissed]

I loved my lamb...both when he was alive and when he was in the crockpot.

For me, it's all in your view on life whether it is going to bother you to eat the animals you raise. Mine taste so much better to me BECAUSE I raised them...not just because I know they were raised in a healthy manner or because I know they had a great life, but simply because I loved them from the time they were born and I took the whole journey with them up to the point that they fulfilled their purpose on this Earth. They died for me and I love them for it.

To me, the meat is more savory when it was raised with the knowledge of the intent of that raising, of the sacrifice made to nourish my body....something beautiful had to die so that I could live. People like to forget that fact all over the world and they even like to think that CX are ugly so it's easier to kill them. To me, every animal is a miracle of design and engineering that God created specifically for our use. No animal is ugly...every facet of their body and lives is a miracle and thing of beauty that was created in such fine detail that I am in awe every time I watch them, feed them, process them and then eat them.

It is no mistake that our body does not function properly without B12 and that it can only be obtained through the eating of animals. They are here for a purpose, we need to eat them for our health, God provided them for us for that very reason. He could very easily had just designed us without that need, but He didn't. The relationship we have with these animals is one of mutual need of one another.

One just needs to think about the whole thing as a natural and necessary thing, not something you are doing to be mean to an animal.

 

[peteyfoozer]

I loved my lamb...both when he was alive and when he was in the crockpot.

For me, it's all in your view on life whether it is going to bother you to eat the animals you raise. Mine taste so much better to me BECAUSE I raised them...not just because I know they were raised in a healthy manner or because I know they had a great life, but simply because I loved them from the time they were born and I took the whole journey with them up to the point that they fulfilled their purpose on this Earth. They died for me and I love them for it.

To me, the meat is more savory when it was raised with the knowledge of the intent of that raising, of the sacrifice made to nourish my body....something beautiful had to die so that I could live. People like to forget that fact all over the world and they even like to think that CX are ugly so it's easier to kill them. To me, every animal is a miracle of design and engineering that God created specifically for our use. No animal is ugly...every facet of their body and lives is a miracle and thing of beauty that was created in such fine detail that I am in awe every time I watch them, feed them, process them and then eat them.

It is no mistake that our body does not function properly without B12 and that it can only be obtained through the eating of animals. They are here for a purpose, we need to eat them for our health, God provided them for us for that very reason. He could very easily had just designed us without that need, but He didn't. The relationship we have with these animals is one of mutual need of one another.

One just needs to think about the whole thing as a natural and necessary thing, not something you are doing to be mean to an animal.

Eloquently stated. I'd like to add, that all of them will die somehow, I'd rather mine died a humane death with purpose than to suffer disease or old age or be destroyed by a predator.