Keeping chickens for meat

[theabsinthefairy]

Last spring we took on 10 layers and 5 table birds, of which 4 turned out to be cockerels.

We took the cockerels when they started to spur just as they started to become sexually active, ross cobb crosses (large white birds). They were very meaty and excellent quality and very fast growing. We have kept the other hen, even though she was intended to be a table bird as she lays lovely white shelled eggs that my daughter prefers.

We lost a couple of layers, one to illness, one to a fox, and will be restocking again this spring. 10 table birds this time. No more layers as ours are great little producers and we are overrun with eggs!

However, I will stagger the culling this time, as 4 in a day was about all my stomach could stand - and my OH is no good at the sight of blood so its a job for me alone, and therefore do them a couple of weeks apart. And try to restrict the feed for the previous 24 hrs as this makes the gutting job much cleaner!

To stop our layers getting broody we took the eggs straight off them and disturbed the laying area regularly to stop them getting too settled. This didn't stop them laying just stopped them sitting around.

Fertilised eggs are fine to eat as long as you take them away quickly and they will keep refridgerated as normal eggs. Candleing for blood spots is really tricky and unnecessary unless you are kosher.

Apart from anything else, there is great satisfaction in knowing how well your meat has been kept and what went in it from day one.

[daj198]

Sorry about the really stupid questions but I'm really new to the whole meat bird thing...

I've been keeping laying hens for a year now and think that it might be time to "graduate" to keeping some for meat. However, I live in a suburban area so crowing cockerels are a no no. Do they use male and female birds but slaughter them before they start fighting and crowing? Or do they just use females? Also, which breed would be best? I don't really fancy the idea of a dual purpose.

Finally, is there some way that I could get them slaughtered without having to do it myself? (Apart from getting the neighbour to do it!) Could they be sent to a slaughter line or is that just for larger numbers? I was thinking of starting with 8-12.

Thanks in advance,
Dom

[oldfella]

We keep 5 chooks and Cock for eggs, and when we have a broody hen we let her sit on 6 eggs and keep the chickens for 10 weeks and feed them on Mais which gives you a nice moist and tasty meal.

[godfreyrob]

You cannot tell if a newly laid egg is fertile or not even by candling. You can only tell if they have been in an incubator for 4/5 days or under a broody hen (when a fertile egg will show signs of development when held up to a strong light).

Just a note of caution - not all chickens taste the same! Some are more 'gamey' than others and this smell can be quite off-putting (especailly when cooking) if you are used to bland battery-farmed meat. You can eat your average laying hen but table bird breeds get fatter much quicker and you don't have the gamey smell either. A Hubbard for example will produce a large bird within 70 days, but a layer will take 2/3 times as long. As feed is not cheap it might be quite costly to produce a relatively skinny bird.