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Sounds like your feeding is fine for the meat birds. I would just assume they're storing fat in preparation for laying, and not worry about it. Now, if you butcher them, or have a minute to look at the birds that died and start to see enlarge livers, enlarged hearts, tumors, etc, if things...

So sorry you lost your birds! That sucks! The predators will be back until they can't get in again for some time. When I processed my CX, the hens at 9 wks had quite a bit of fat compared to the roosters. They collect it in preparation for laying, so I know they weren't done collecting it as...

Ah, now it begins to make sense. Murray McMurray did not state this breed would require weight restriction or feed management. I too, was under the impression you could raise these with an egger flock and process when desired. That wouldn't fit in my management system at all. Glad I passed...

That's intensely crazy! None of that looks remotely normal. I wonder what she was feeding them... Reading the reviews on the Murray McMurray website about these birds (even there) shows folks had mixed results, so I decided not to get these and instead try the Ginger Broiler (since I was...

I'm growing out Murray McMurray's Ginger Broilers right now, but those Freedom Ranger Hatchery New Hampshires are looking better and better as an option I can keep on hand and hatch more myself as needed. I want to keep doing CX, but husband objects because "Frankenchicken". Remains to be seen...

Awesome! Let us know how it goes!

One more thought - I tried skinning on a table, I even tied the feet to one end of the table, so I had something to pull against when removing the skin from the feet towards the head of the bird, but I found it super hard. The carcass just wouldn't stay in place well and I felt like I needed 4...

Check out the Sticky https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/meat-section-sticky-topic-index.248648/ I looked at all the links and learned a lot. I bought the classic butchering book everyone recommends, and it had a line diagram with dotted lines on where to cut. So I was like, okay, guess...

Yea, it's nice to work on a table to gut sitting down instead of having to work vertically while the bird is hanging from a tree. I hang from the feet and skin while on the tree, starting from the scales/feather junction on the leg and peeling down the bird. I'm particular, so I wrap the tree...

Oooohhh, plucker...... that's on my wish list! There's no one around here that rents them. I wish they did. Would save so much time and effort! Why are you dealing with feathers while gutting? Are you gutting after either skinning or plucking the bird? That's when I gut, and there's...

I think it depends on the breed of bird instead of the age of the bird? I've only plucked CX, but 9 wk CX had barely any feathers compared to a 1 yr old Production Red rooster. I would think the difficulty of removing the feathers was the same as long as you get a good scald (145F until wing...

Awesome job!!! I agree about skinning old roosters, my 9 wk old CX took 2.5 hrs processing time (skinning) from live bird to chicken in my fridge, and my 1 yr old production red rooster took an additional 30-45 minutes. Skinning the old bird was HARD work! But he tasted great after the...

Following. Would love to hear how these turn out for you, as far as development, management style, meat growth, processing time, etc. I've been eyeing these for a while and am really interested in whether these might work for me too.