How to Raise Meat Chickens: Part 1
RAISING MEAT CHICKENS IS WORTH IT
So, bottom line – while we didn't save money raising meat birds, it was completely worth it to have good quality food. ... The reason we do most of what we do on this homestead is for the food! Aside from the cost, we learned a few things about raising meat chickens.
TOTAL COST: $3.52 per pound for Organic, NON-GMO Chicken.
Also, we purchased our chicks with other crazy chicken people to reduce the cost per chick.
At about eight weeks, they weigh at least five pounds and are ready to slaughter.
Feeder: As meat chickens grow, their water and feed requirements increase. Broiler chicks should be fed their grain in a feeder—not on the floor—to reduce feed waste and prevent them from eating the bedding. Meat birds live to eat, and you need enough feeder space so every bird can eat at the same time.
It takes about 8-12 weeks to raise a meat chicken to maturity, while it takes about 6 months to raise a laying chicken to maturity (when they start laying eggs). 8-12 week old mature meat chickens will have the freshest tasting meat, tender & juicy.
Live fast, die young
Chickens have a lifespan of six years or more. Under intensive farming methods in the US, a chicken raised for meat will live for approximately six weeks before slaughter.
Take a very sharp knife. You can either have someone hold the chicken upside down, pinning her wings, or use a kill cone. Slice the knife across her throat directly under the chin on either side of her larynx. Make one cut parallel to her jaw bone on each side.
You can taste the difference! Price-While the cost of feed can be a lot up front, the cost of natural grass fed beef is much cheaper to raise than to buy in the store. ... The average rate in our area is between $2.10 and $2.75 a lb, making every cut of beef around $3.00 a pound, including your expensive cuts of steak.
If you must keep the two together, free ranging is probably the best way to raise both broilers and layers. You'll probably find that your broilers will stay closer to home, lazily eating the food that is close. Your layers will roam a little further.
You don't need a licence to kill animals to eat at home, provided: you own the animal and you kill it on your property. you're killing it for you or your immediate family who live on your property to eat.
No. Animals have no way of knowing when nor how they will die. ... They would here some sudden sharp sounds but don't associate that with death. They actually don't know that death is upon them until they feel the cap-bolt go through their skull which stuns them to unconsciousness.
Don't cook a freshly killed chicken on the day of death, especially if you killed it yourself. And if you are going to kill it yourself, take away its food 24 hours before slaughter, so its bowels are empty. You want to wait this period so the meat can relax, and let the rigor mortis fade away.
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