Raising Chickens for meat

[aladatrot]

In my quest to be more independent, I have decided to raise a pen of broilers for the freezer. I am getting some Cornish Rock chickens today that are at this time two days old. I will feed them out for 6 weeks (starting today) and process them out at that time. I'm starting with a small pen, but hope to raise about 50 in the near future as soon as I have a knack for keeping them alive and then processing them. I'm pretty excited, and even Chris broke down and has trotted on over to www.backyardchickens.com to learn more about this. I love it when my hare brained ideas are met with such enthusiasm!

Here's what we have going so far....

1 angus steer due to be processed soon!
11 hens a laying
1 garden that is producing well
a pen of broilers

I'm also going to stock our pond with channel or blue catfish. I hope to raise my own seafood as well!


In case you were wondering, I still shave my legs and use deodorant. I've not fallen that far into the deep end!
M

[Critter]

...and Chris said I was the one who was born a hundred years too late? Ya'll are turning into regular pioneers.

We do alot of the same stuff you mention. There's just something about raising your own groceries, be it vegetables, eggs, or meat, that makes it all taste better. Plus you're not eating all those steroids the major suppliers pump into their birds. --John

I still shave my legs and use deodorant.

You can become even more independent if you quit this too.
Independantly Single with no friends who will get near you

[Bryant]

Funny you bring this up.  I saw this ad just yesterday on craigslist.com

http://austin.craigslist.org/grd/711017994.html

I thought these were pretty cool, and had actually thought of getting one for my boys to mess with.  We had a chicken last year that they named Francis but due to living on a creek, I was afraid she was going to be attracting snakes which I didn't really want around so we got rid of her.

[Circle C]

Bryant,

  Seems a lot of people use the "chicken tractors" and move them around the yard.  I would like to have some "free range" in our goat pen.
 Also I have been instructed that Mandi's chicken coop that I built a couple months ago, is ready to be replaced. I  sorta remember her saying last night that she wanted one built as a scale model of the Alamo or something like that...I really ought to pay more attention when she is speaking

http://www.easttexashogdoggers.com/forum/index.php?topic=1045.0
 The new coop the I plan to buildwill be constructed of cut limestone and cedar slabs.  Thinking about running the cut limestone up about 3-4 feet high, then finishing out with cedar slabs, and r-panel for the roof. Not sure on how large a coop she wants.... When the new coop is done, I will post pictures. We will see who's idea prevails   

[aladatrot]

Remember the Alamo!
M

[mley1]

Mandi, how many eggs are ya'll getting out of your 11 hens? We have 11 hens and they are starting to lay eggs. We're getting 2-3 eggs a day right now. Plus, I got 3 more hens that are about half their age that will be laying in a few months. Them yard eggs sure are good. But, I'm wondering how many per day I can expect when they get to laying real good.

[uglydog]

Marty, I only got 4 hens, but I get atleast 3 eggs a day and once in a blue moon I get 5 eggs a day.
It seemed to help when I started feeding laying pellets along side their usual scratch. they also get alot of table scraps.

Are you free ranging your chickens?

[mley1]

Yea, Krystal, we're free ranging our chickens. We let them out to feed in the yard at least a couple of hours a day. But, we are also feeding the laying crumbles too. We went from the chick starter to the finisher to the laying crumbles. We stayed with the crumbles cause we heard that they may not eat the pellets too good going straight into them from crumbles. We figured the laying crumbles were pretty much the same as the pellets. But, I don't know for sure.

Our chickens just started laying a couple of weeks ago. So, we're hoping they'll become more productive as they get a little older. We have 9 Rhode Island Red hens and two black ones that I don't know the breed. And, we have one Auracana, one barred rock and one banty chick. And, the chicks are about half the age of the hens so it may be a while before they start laying.

Do you have any suggestions on making them more productive?

[uglydog]

Sorry Marty, I am no chicken expert. I bought 3 barred rocks that were already laying and the other hen was well a funny story..... in short we coming back from hunting driving down a gravel county road, see a heeler dog running along side the road with something in its mouth, curious I told Thomas "speed up" so we caught up to the dog, It was carrying a rooster! (or so I thought) The dog spits it out and takes off, the Rooster jumps up and across the road it runs, "Thomas go get that Rooster " I said, after I get the funny look he chases the rooster down. I inspect it to find it realy only has one injured spot on its back. Nobody within a mile has any chickens, So we take him home put him in a cage, the next morning I go out to find the Rooster done layed an egg. I was first thinking My daughter or Thomas done put that egg in there from the fridge and was messing with me! I did not get anymore eggs for two more weeks, but in the meantime I got a chicken coop built and bought the Barred rock hens, was given a huge Aracuna Rooster (A real Rooster) and "Rooster" my hen has since grown a realy long comb that falls over and covers half her eye. Everbody I tell my story too, thinks I must be an idiot until I show them the hen that looks like a rooster. She lays white eggs and the others lay brown eggs.
That is how i got back into having laying hens, I always had chickens running around the barns when I was growing up, but always had something killing the ones I tried to raise on my own before living out here.

Most times if I got a  question I ask around at the feed store, them older folks usualy are full of practical information, then if that fails I ask Meemaw. I know they go through stages were they take brakes from laying, stress and so on will cause them to stop sometimes. One thing you can do is take fake eggs and put in the nest will help them get comfortable with laying in a certain spot. This seemed to help my girls get their pattern down.

[mley1]

I heard about putting golf balls in the laying nests so they'd get the idea to start laying there. And, that has worked. We're getting eggs from 2 of  the nests so far. They are using all of them for bedding. You can tell by the way the hay is matted down that they are using the nests. But, they just ain't laying real good yet. Our rooster is doing good with the hens. He's been feeling his oats and has been taking care of his business. So, we're hoping the egg laying performance of the hens increases.

[jdt]

i am by no stretch of the amagination an expert, but we have good luck letting our hens out 2-3 hrs a day as well. that way they can get every thing they need thats not in the layer crumbles. we also have a great pyrenees that we raised with em that would die before anything { accept a hawk } bothered them. if they have everything they need and are happy they should lay their harts out for ya. them fresh eggs are sure alot better than anything you can buy. some people say to give em oyster shells for calcium , if they spend time outside they probably dont need it but it never could hurt. when they git ready , theyll lay.

[jml]

angus steer due to be processed soon!
11 hens a laying
1 garden that is producing well
a pen of broilers

Mandi you forgot about Delta.

[mley1]

i am by no stretch of the amagination an expert, but we have good luck letting our hens out 2-3 hrs a day as well. that way they can get every thing they need thats not in the layer crumbles. we also have a great pyrenees that we raised with em that would die before anything { accept a hawk } bothered them. if they have everything they need and are happy they should lay their harts out for ya. them fresh eggs are sure alot better than anything you can buy. some people say to give em oyster shells for calcium , if they spend time outside they probably dont need it but it never could hurt. when they git ready , theyll lay.

Sounds like we're doing things the way we should then. We are putting a small bowl of oyster shells that are crushed in the coop with them. They do seem to like them. And, your sho right about them fresh eggs being better than store bought. I'm fixing to have me a few this morning. Thanks for the info.

Mandi, sorry I hijacked your thread a bit.

[HIPOCKETS]

Extra orster shell never hurts nothing but your laying pellets has shell in the pellets.so shell is allready there. i feed only laying pellets and garden scraps..if your hens get fat they will not lay every day..and never feed potato peeling to your chickens..don't ask me why ,i don't know but i've heard that all my life...lol

i have one nest per 5 chickens..hens slow down in this heat..i'm getting a little over 50% of my hens laying now..i get 80% to 90% during cooler weather in the spring & fall...clean fresh water in very important..

lavon

[uglydog]

[mley1]

Yup, Krystal, I've been a member at Backyard Chickens since we got the RIR as chicks. It's a pretty good place. But, I did get into it a bit with one of their members when I posted about my tire garden. The fella was from canada and some kind of environmentalist. He said I was going to poison my family because of the tires. He was trying to tell me that the chemicals in the tires would leach into the veggies. I say bull puckie. I called him out on it. He didn't like it and neither did some of the folks from Kalifornia who chimed in to support him. Anyhow, I found out quick that some of them folks are liberal wackos who don't like rednecks. So, I ain't been back there in a while.

I found a better site with friendlier folks, who are mostly ALL from TEXAS! Here is a link. http://petchickensoftexas.com/community/forums/ Some of the folks on this site were from the Backyard Chicken site and they referred me to the Texas site when I got into it with the durned liberals. Hope ya like the forums there. They are some good folks.

[uglydog]

Hey thanks for the link, it says that New Registrations are currently noT possible, I reckon they just don't want me there!

I got A new on for you YALL. How About PEA FOWL?
Anybody dealt with Peacocks or fowl.? I always said I wanted some when I got settled somwhere. I guess we are not moving anymore and all my chickens have survived now, figure might try the big pretty birds that make funny noises.

[aladatrot]

Pea Fowl are terrible! They get on your truck, on your house, on your 4 wheeler, on ANYTHING.... And they roll poop rockets down your roof and windshield. They are noisy as well. If you do get some, can I come get a few feathers for floral arrangements?

Hey, speaking of fowl... I got two gay male ducks (Ben and Jerry) from down the street. They were nice sophisticated ducks from U of H. This week, they attracted a sorority of wild ducks which took over the pasture for a few days. I was worried that Ben and Jerry would leave with the wild ducks, but thankfully they do not like women and are totally in love with each other. They have chosen to stay in Delta's pond where food is served twice daily.

My meat chickens are nearing butcher weight, and my layers are rocking and rolling. Tyson gets three eggs a day, Clorox gets one, and Meaty gets two. The dogs are loving the egg laying chickens.

M

[mley1]

Hey thanks for the link, it says that New Registrations are currently noT possible, I reckon they just don't want me there!

I got A new on for you YALL. How About PEA FOWL?
Anybody dealt with Pearoosters or fowl.? I always said I wanted some when I got settled somwhere. I guess we are not moving anymore and all my chickens have survived now, figure might try the big pretty birds that make funny noises.

Krystal, just email the admin there. They'll get you in. They just revamped their site and I had to contact her just to get my password and userid redone.