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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: July 24 2008 at 3:06pm | IP Logged
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I am getting ready to order chicks (meat birds) as both a food source and a school project.  This is my first time. I told my dh that I feel so confused about it that it feels like I am ordering car parts! 
So here's my question...why are McMurray Hatchery chicks so much more expensive than everyone else? Are they really better than others? I talked with 2 moms locally who have ordered happily from a local resource. I also asked them about the Broiler Booster that McMurray recommends and they both poo-pooed the whole thing and said that if they are taken care of properly that none of that is necessary.
Also, do I have to worry about roosters crowing if I get straight run or all males for this? I don't know that my neighbors would appreciate that.  And while we are on the topic, what is the difference between males and females in terms of raising meat birds? Should I order one over the other?
One of the ladies I talked with at a hatchery told me that a 6 lb bird will, after dressing (which I think means butchering and plucking???) weigh closer to 4 1/2 lbs. I was hoping for a bird that would weigh 6-7 lbs after butchering. Does that mean that they are going to have to grow a lot longer than 8 weeks? They will be pasteured in a pen we'll be moving around daily so they will be eating some grass too, which I guess also slows down their growth but is good for the chicken? Is there anything wrong with keeping them around longer than 8 weeks? And is there a point where the weather is too cold to keep them outside anymore and if so, what temp. is that?
I am soooooooooooooo nervous to do this! I spent my whole life in suburbs. Talk about a newbie... 
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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momto2
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I wouldn't worry about the broiler booster. Just get feed for meat birds and you will be fine(I use purina).
I have ordered from MM before and been happy. But there shouldn't be a problem ordering local especially with other people's experience.
Roosters usually have to be older then what you will raise yours to before they are "harvested". So you shouldn't have to worry on the crowing(mine were about 15weeks old when they started(mine are dual purpose-eggs and meat)!).
There is nothing wrong with keeping them longer but their legs/body won't be able to take a whole lot longer(since they are bred for fast growing). And 4.5lbs dressed is a good size. Mine were that size BEFORE dressing them(feathers and everything). And we had plenty for 4 people(and 2 left over meals for 2 people).
HTH!
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Jen5
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Hello,
I order from MM every year and have been very happy. The booster is suppose to help them not have so many leg problems. We purchase the cornish roasters (NOT the Cornish X rocks) The latter I was told have more leg problems I was told.
This year we fed ours for six weeks before processing. We ended up with 4 pound roasters after they were cleaned. To get them to be as large as you want, 8 weeks will do the trick for you. YOu feed them continuously for the first two weeks and then after that, take their food away at night. They will also go thru a ton of water a day.
So, don't be scared, go for it! It is a great experince and a wonderful lesson in animal husbandry for your family.
Oh, males or females does not make a difference for your goal. The males grow slightly larger but not enough to make a huge difference!
God bless,
Jennifer
P.S. God had it designed so well, after a couple weeks, they are not so cute anymore and you will be ready to have them in your freezer!
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: July 24 2008 at 8:27pm | IP Logged
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Thanks so much for the replies. Jen5, I saw my friend's chickens recently that are 7 weeks old. They sure aren't cute and noble like her rhode island reds! I agree...they don't look like a pet.
Well, I guess I'm going to go for it tomorrow morning, then. I think I'm going to try the local option first since 2 people have recommended it highly, and with them, I can get the birds a week sooner than with MM right now. That's interesting that the size difference between the males and females is not noticeable...
Still listening if anyone else wants to jump in...
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~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Kristie 4
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Good luck Books...wish we could get some here too, but the inner city is not really a suitable spot for them
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Kristie in Canada
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lilac hill
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Even with a chicken tractor you should have no trouble getting the birds as large as you want.
After broiler starter, switch to grower then finisher. The protein contents will get you to the weight you want. When I did commercial meat birds I usually had 6# birds for the freezer.
My birds did butcher out about a pound lighter than a friend's who raised them as I did. The only difference was our stocking rate for the pen; my birds had more room per bird.
Around here going much past 8 weeks causes trouble for the roosters, the butcher tells me their hearts cannot take the rapid weight gain. I know they can go longer but heat can really stress them.
After 8 weeks you will not miss them. Meat birds are not lovely like old fashioned or egg breeds.
They will need plenty of water (as large as you can handle, I finally have Little Giant automatic waterers with five gallon buckets) and mine always have food available (I withhold feed the night before butchering).Mixed grains and kitchen scraps are fun to feed too.
At the feed store they have a powder electrolyte that I have mixed in the water. It is cheap and I am not sure if it helps, but when the local poultry guy suggests it, I figure it cannot hurt. I store it in a zip loc bag so I have it from year to year.
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Viv
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Donna
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Yay, Viv!! I knew you could help!
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Donna
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juststartn
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Our meat birds are now almost 3 mos old (they arrived May 1), and since we've limited their feed (cause they CAN and WILL eat themselves "to death" ), and we let them roam around all day, they are just now getting to butchering weight. Some are closer than others.
We feed a chicken feed with 16% protein mixed with cracked corn and wheat, as well as food scraps as they become available (and they WILL eat anything!!), they are in their tractors at night, but roam during the day. We've never given a booster, etc. Only the very heaviest (who DH is butchering this weekend while he is off, God willing) are having any problems at all walking around, and they can still do it, just not run, like their brothers (we got males only). No crowing yet, lol.
If you fed them carefully, and just a high protein feed, they'd max out their weight much faster. But we aren't, so they are growing more slowly. Which is fine, really. We'd rather not stress them out, bones and bodies.
We've also got dual purpose breeds (buff orps, black australorps, and some silver laced wyandottes. The orps are the same age as the meat birds and have grown almost as big. And they are mostly females (we have two cockerels, one of those is DEFINITELY destined for the stew pot, as he is known as (alternately) "Mr Impossible, Msr Impossible--say that with a French accent, Crazy chicken, and "that stupid chicken", lol).
We'll keep the other for breeding purposes, for awhile, until we can get one better, iykwim. All of the Australorps and Wyandottes are females, too. The Wyandottes are mostly for looking at, although we won't turn away a few eggs, lol. Not when we can go thru 9 for breakfast, some days...
Anyway, we've ordered from MM, and have always been REALLY pleased with our birds. We've actually got 50 more arriving tomorrow (it was sometime this week between Weds and tomorrow). We got almost all of our birds from there (the rest we got from our local Orscheln store), and they've all been healthy, alive on delivery, etc. Any we've lost have been lost due to our own stupidity or the dog (who is one more chance away from a new home...).
Rachel
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Bookswithtea
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You all are a wealth of information. Thank you so much. I placed my order (woohoo!) and they are coming next Thursday. I am going to the Farmer's Coop tomorrow to get what I need to start them while dh gets started on the pvc pasteured poultry pen! Viv, I am imagining in my head a 10' x 12' pen for 50 birds. Is that enough space??? I don't have enough land to let them range without them wandering into my neighbor's land (which they treat as a back yard so I don't think they'd like it all too much!)
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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juststartn
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Books, our "tractors" are 8x8x2--that's the final design we've ended up with...we use wood (pressure treated on the bottom, regular on the top).
DH said (just now when I asked him)that your DH may want to consider filling those PVC pipes on the bottom with water before sealing them, so that they aren't as light, and able to bear up under any wind.
Also, make sure you have a good shelter for them--with covers on the side, to about halfway up the sides, on the "back" (where you'd put the roosts), I'd put it up about 2/3ds of the way...this is to keep animals out of there...definitely get something good to cover the top--they'll need the shade and the protection from the elements...
We used siding leftover from when they did our house (the former owners kept it, but you could probably find some at a surplus store, or a Habitat for Humanity store...we attached it with screws, don't know how well you'll be able to do something like that with PVC pipe...
HTH
Rachel
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: July 26 2008 at 9:42am | IP Logged
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We've got plans similar to what you've described, Rachel, including adding water and staking it down. How many chickens do you have in your 8x8 tractor? I'm trying to decide how much space to give them...
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: July 30 2008 at 2:43pm | IP Logged
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OK friends, my chicks are coming tomorrow. For how long do I have to have the heat lamps on before the chicks arrive?
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Jen5
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If it is over 80 degrees in your area, you don't have to worry about the lamp being on before they arrive. Our first year I was SO nervous, I had thermometers all over the place and was checking them constantly. Now,we just hand the heat lamp about one foot out of the box and they regulate themselves. Turning it on before hand is not necessary in summer months.
You will find the first couple days that they will huddle together under the lamp  when they need warmth. You really do not have too much to worry about. Make sure you show them how to drink. One by one we take our babies and gently tip their beaks in the water and then they know what to do. In a week or two you will be amazed at how much they drink!
How many chicks did you order? Did you order layers or just meat birds? Don't worry if you loose a couple, that is very common.
Let us all know how you are doing!! You will enjoy this!!
Blessings~
Jennifer
Mom to five at home: 95,96,97,99,02 and three on their way from Russia: 6,3,20 Months!
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Bookswithtea
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Thanks, Jen5! I took your advice and turned on the lamp when they arrived. They are so cute! I know meat birds are ugly after awhile, but right now, they are all yellow and fuzzy.  We can't do layers right now because we don't have a coop. Next year, I am hoping to do layers. I love to look at the MM catalogue and imagine what I'm going to order when we do layers. The kids think I'm weird!
They've been here about 3 hrs now...they are quite active and are eating and drinking (I dipped their beaks like you suggested).
The kids are totally wide eyed over the whole thing. Dh has new ideas now for a chicken tractor design, so we have just a few weeks here to get that going...
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Bookswithtea
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OK ladies, I need some help???
Tomorrow is the 2 week mark and dh built a lovely chicken tractor for me. The weather has taken a very odd turn though. The 15 day forcast? about 80 during the day, but 58-60 degrees at night!!! My chicks have outgrown their brooder and are starting to try to fly. I need to get them outside (they are in my garage and, well...they sure are smelly  ) but isn't that going to be too cold for them?
What do I do now???
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Blessings,
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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lilac hill
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If they are feathered out they should not have too much trouble. They will probably crowd together to keep warm.
You could probably throw a tarp over part of the tractor, but remove it before the sun gets too high in the AM.
I reading Joe Salatin I found he gets them out very early and says it makes for healthier birds.
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Viv
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Sparrow
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Informative thread! My neighbors have chickens and I've really been wanting some of my own (mostly for meat, we get eggs on WIC), but I know nothing about raising poultry and my dh is NOT handy at all, so housing would have to be something I could make easily on my own.
Anyway, storing this info away, maybe some day soon I'll be able to do it 
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Bookswithtea
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lilac hill wrote:
If they are feathered out they should not have too much trouble. They will probably crowd together to keep warm.
You could probably throw a tarp over part of the tractor, but remove it before the sun gets too high in the AM.
I reading Joe Salatin I found he gets them out very early and says it makes for healthier birds. |
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Well, we put them out because the smell was just noxious. I couldn't stand it anymore. They seem happy enough in the tractor which has partial shade and room to walk. We covered the entire tractor with a tarp and set up the heat lamps on an extension cord last night. I am hoping I won't have to do that for more than a week or so? They aren't full feathered yet, but they are at least 1/2 way there, I think.
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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margot helene
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just now seeing this thread . . .
We must be weird because we raise the meat birds for 8-10 weeks and get 8 and 9 pound finished roasters. We do get some 6 lb ones, some that have been picked on. (We have a great organic feed mill nearby and do give them feed as well as the grass.) We ordered from MM one year, I think, but now we go with a local place: Moyers. We use the Salatin-style movable pens which my husband made from a variety of leftover wood projects with about 20 birds in each one. My husband and the kids do all the butchering. We have friends who take theirs somewhere for butchering but it is pretty costly per bird, I think.
It's been a great experience for the kids over the years (we have layers, too)!! Hope you enjoy it, Books.
Margot
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Bookswithtea
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Margot, you do all your own butchering, too??? You are a real farm woman! I just pretend.
Seriously, though, I am reading a book Eliz. recommended on her blog (Real Food Nina Planck) and it has got me all excited about raising more animals and veggies, too. Of course, I don't know how on earth to do all of this and homeschool, too.
So now my chicks are not really chicks anymore, and are eating like crazy. I think we are going to go through 2 bags of feed a week now (I have 47 after losing a few to various things). They are 4 weeks tomorrow. Can I turn off the heat lamp at night now? The temps at night right now are 58ish-62ish and breezy, and the days are 80ish. I don't imagine we'll hit 90 degrees anymore.
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Help, please, regarding Chickens?
