meat birds

Hello! :frow I have a story, Question & Photos. :oldStory- Once upon a time (2 yrs ago), this Hen randomly appears on our farm. Out of the blue without notice, we have a small breed chicken roaming the farm. It was behaving feral and very nervous & un-trusting to any human or to any of our...

Hey y’all, need some advice. I have 20 layers currently that completely free range. I have plenty of land with a fresh water supply near by. I don’t feed or water my chickens during the summer and lightly feed during the winter. I do have a large carport that I converted into a coop and they go...

Hello my dad has a about 5 Cornish Cross that are about 5 weeks old and one of them can’t walk. Some of them are also bald on their underbelly. He told me they are just meat birds and are meant for just that and basically they’re just genetically doomed and can’t live too long. Is that true? One...

So, I just butchered my first quail. I was planning on it eventually, but tonight it became necessary. As my newest hatch was getting older, I moved the hens into a pen with a solo older rooster... Discovered this evening when I got home that the rooster (named Duck) had quite savagely...

So I'm going to start raising meat birds in a few years, and have decided on Chanteclers. Whenever I search up how much meat birds eat, it gives me the amount for commercial birds that will be slaughtered, and when I search for dual purpose, it gives the ingredients that are needed in the feed...

This was my second time raising CX. My last batch got huge. By 8 weeks I had birds 6.5-8.5 lbs dressed (20-22% first 3 weeks then 18% for remaining weeks). While I was happy with the results in my freezer, I felt a little bad to see them having a hard time walking near the end, even though I...

When raising meat birds, what dressed weight do you shoot for? Last time, our CX birds were 6.5-8.5 lbs. dressed, and they were pretty huge. Not complaining but I'm not sure if I need THAT huge. However, I also don't want to process too early and have scrawny chicken pieces (thighs, breasts...

Hey all. So I raised my first Cornish X last fall and it went well, as some of you may have seen from the thread I had going. Well now our chicken supply in the freezer is dwindling and I am dreading having to buy grocery store chicken now that I'm spoiled with home grown meat. Only problem...

Hello, my meat-loving friends! A few months back I posted this thread because I was on the fence about keeping meat birds. I've been interested in having meat birds for a while, but I'm from the suburbs (and now live in the city) and have never killed an animal in my life. However, you all...

We're planning out how best to maximize our backyard space for homesteading and what with the laying flock we have already purchased and the size of garden we want, that leaves us with very little space for raising our own meat source which is also important to us. We have either enough space...

We have a small flock of Cornish Cross due to be processed by the end of this month. However when tending to them, we noticed on one of our roosters this skin issue? Maybe? We aren't entirely sure what it could be and Google has come up empty. Thought maybe someone here could help photos...

Hello all. I am new to chickens in general but have fallen in love with them since getting my 4 layers. I live in the city but am very connected with nature and love doing things that make me feel more self-sufficient, so between these birds and my garden, I've started to feel that way and I'm...

This is just for curiosity’s sake since I can’t have chickens at the new place but maybe it will help somebody else soooo….. What’s the cheapest place to buy meat birds? Specifically Cornish Cross but also maybe ranger types? I know it probably varies some or some maybe have sales or...

Hi Everyone. We previous searched for others experiences ordering Cornish Cross from Tractor Supply but there did not seem to be much. So we figured we will share our on going experience. We ordered the chicks on Friday 10/8/21. Straight forward online order. Didn't get any updated til...

Both are the same age and same breed. .

Hi all, Raising meat birds for market, wanted to see if anyone knew of a fence that would be easy to set up. Biggest concern is the chickens slipping through small gaps. Current set up, any suggestions are welcome.

I’ve been day dreaming about raising meat chickens. And after doing a little research Freedom Rangers sound like a good fit since I’d like a fairly quick time to harvest and the ability to free range but I have some questions and concern. #1. Do they breed true I haven’t been able to find any...

I have no idea what happened, if tractor supply is at fault or if my expectations were to high. 2 weeks ago we butchered one of our, presumed, cornish cross and its butchered weight was 5.3 pounds at 8 weeks. Now here we are at 10 weeks with the rest of our birds (because they were way to small...

Before I start yes I guess it’s too late in the year for raising meat birds but, I have facts to back myself up for raising them, anyways, to my real question, will my Cornish cross make it to 9 weeks (aka next Saturday) I have 8 left of 12 and their weight is going smoothly, I weighed them...