I started out with 50 fluffy cute little Freedom Ranger chicks 14 weeks ago. I am down to just 12 now. I just got done butchering 10 more. today. So far of the 38 I have done, none have weighed over 4 pounds. They are just under 4 pounds and up to a little over 2 1/2 pounds. Not big birds at all. And they are 14 weeks old today.
I think they just had too much room to roam in and run off the fat. I have spent way too much money on these guys too. With starter-grower and grower-finisher at $17.00 a 50 pound bag, and they went through 17 bags since I've had them, these are really expensive birds. I don't think I can do this again. I'll have to see if I will break even. Probably not. But they are all sold!
It'll be quiet around here without them all. I do still have my non egg layers. I say non egg layers because I might get 2 eggs a day from 17 less than a year old hens. I am lucky to be getting 2 a day right now, I guess. I am just not very happy with chickens these days. It's so much cheaper to buy eggs from someone else than feed these guys. And I could sell them for $10 each and make a little money that way. But them what would I do with all the sheep and goat poop? The chickens are good at scratching it up and mulching too. So I will probably keep the layers awhile more.
Happy Halloween, y'all!
2 comments:
I'm so sorry for your trouble. If you decide to do more meaty birds in the future, I'd look around for a better price on feed. I have been feeding my Cornish X non-medicated game bird starter. It's 24% protein and runs me about $14.50 a bag these days. It was $12.50 when I started, but no, there's no inflation....
I should probably raise what I charge per pound to cover it. What are you charging? I'm at $3.50/lb.
As for the layers, have they just not all started laying yet? I'm only getting about 8 eggs/day from my 30 birds because they are all molting.
Butchering is a lot of work. I can't believe you do it by yourself! Do you have a plucker?
Kristin, I have always bought non medicated feed for the meat birds. I think this must be an average weight for the FR. I saw on FB yesterday a farm not too far from here who takes theirs way up to Bowling Green KN. to a USDA chicken processing plant, that theirs are an average of around 4 pounds too. They use tractors though and I think theirs are a lot younger. I charge between $3.000-$3.50 a pound.
And yes, I do it all myself. I did those 10 birds yesterday in less than 2 hours. My husband did help on a few birds with our little homemade plucker that takes 2 people to use. But I can do it faster myself by hand in just about a minute. I use my grill to keep my big canner of water hot enough. I love this method. I also use a killing cone and cut the throat.
My hens are around 8 months old. I have 4 red Star and 1 Americana and 12 Barred Rocks. I am getting about 2 eggs a day from 2 of the RS hens. And they are not molting. They all still have all their feathers and look good. They're just lazy!
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