Chickens on the homestead

[Chic Rustler]

I'm pretty new to chickens....and everything else.

Seems to me that raising chickens for meat just sux. You feed the rooster for months, spend an hour plucking it and then get less than 2 lbs of tough chicken. Rabbits are so much easier and pay better dividends.

If I were a rich man I'd buy a plucker and build another coop to fill with Cornish crosses

 

[NH Homesteader]

Build a plucker, there are plans online. And raise dual purpose birds, there's more meat on them. We just got 2 cornishes (not crosses) to breed with our Dominiques and other assorted birds in an attempt to make a "better, meat bird.

We've raised cornish crosses for years, also. Hope to not have to by next year. I hate them, but they taste like chicken. We have chicken tractors we move every day, so no big pen to build. My husband built them with scrap wood and chicken wire.

 

[Beekissed]

Or raise them and skin them...easy peasy with those kind of birds. I can all my chicken, so the skin isn't necessary unless I'd want to save it for making stock or something.

 

[CrealCritter]

I'm pretty new to chickens....and everything else.

Seems to me that raising chickens for meat just sux. You feed the rooster for months, spend an hour plucking it and then get less than 2 lbs of tough chicken. Rabbits are so much easier and pay better dividends.

If I were a rich man I'd buy a plucker and build another coop to fill with Cornish crosses

https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=RDkh_EKKgX7bA&v=yEZwbY6piAA&index=5

 

[Hinotori]

I always skin. Have you tried plucking a silkie? Those feathers stick to everything. It's actually easier to dry pluck them.

I've been waiting for my old large fowl hens to mostly pass on before I get more ameraucana. They were my first hens and are more pets. They are also the only ones laying the last few months much to my irritation.

I'm butchering the 2 and 3 year old brown layers as soon as the rains come back and the ground softens enough for me to bury the butchering scraps.

Hubby wants a giant breed. He likes the big friendly roosters that some of them produce. I've thought about cornish. The bantams remind me of parrots and the large fowl have tree trunks for legs.

 

[NH Homesteader]

My cornish roo is NOT friendly. He will never be allowed to free range. They beat the snot out of my sweet Dorkings and white orpingtons. They're the segregated breed until breeding season, lol.

 

[Hinotori]

Oh hubby was looking at Jersey giants and Orpingtons. He thinks that cornish are ugly.

He doesn't care for the silkies either, but says they are my birds

 

[NH Homesteader]

Lol well, they kinda are. I have some hatchery jerseys and am sorely disappointed as they are the size of my Dominique hens. Love my orpington hens so far though. They're so sweet!

 

[Hinotori]

It's the birds he's seen at shows he fell in love with. 15 pound big boys.

My hatchery Brahma hens are right around 9 pounds. That's pretty good for hatchery birds to be proper weight. They bully the EEs and ameraucana though and haven't laid in at least 4 months.

I had hatchery barred rock hens once. Had to butcher half of them as they kept attacking and trying to kill anything that wasnt one of them. I was able to rehabilitate 3 of them, but none made it past 2. One died from an enlarged heart and the other two had reproductive issues.

I'm fed up with hatchery birds and their issues. If I get brown layers again, I'll probably get some Russian orloffs. They have a similar look to ameraucana even if they are more flighty.

I've thought about just keeping the smaller birds. With what I've been breeding on silkies lately, many of mine aren't bantam anymore. My mutant adult rooster is 4 lbs 12 oz. His 8 month old son is a pound lighter and still has to finish filling out.

The boy will probably end up bigger than his father. His 5 month half brothers are showing promise but might not be as big. One stalks me for attention. He likes to be held.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

@crealbilly Thanks! We will sooooooo be making our own plucker next time!
and @Chic Rustler, we're new to this too. This is the first time we've had chickens (since I was a little kid) and we're learning as we go.