WAKE UP PEOPLE
What smart choices
can we make for our bodies?
RAISING MEAT CHICKENS
by Mike Mandeville
THE COOP
For starters you need to decide how many birds you want to raise so you can determine the size of the coop they’ll need. Meat birds get very big very fast – reaching 6-9 lbs in as little as 8 weeks – so I recommend no more than 6 full-grown birds per 4x8 foot enclosure. I also recommend you purchase at least 25 birds. For this many, a 10’x10’ shed is great. I’ve used metal sheds, but you’ll need an exhaust fan with louvers because the metal gets very warm and can overheat the birds. You’ll also want a screen door and your windows on the south side of the shed, especially if you’re a New Englander, because Nor’easters are brutal on poultry and livestock. Also bear in mind you need adequate room to move around for cleaning and to store a few things, like a wheel barrow and garden tools.
THE BROODER Every two weeks you should raise the lamp enough to lower the temperature by 5-8 degrees. This will make the chicks feather out faster. For bedding, to use large wood shavings (but not cedar!) with minimal dust. Dusty shavings can cause respiratory problems in the birds. WARNING: NEVER EVER USE CEDAR WOOD CHIPS WITH POULTRY!!!! KEEP IT CLEAN Note: You can put the dirty shavings in your compost pile. Once the pile is big enough, I’ll get a dozen night-crawlers from the garden and put them in, and I’ll cover the pile with black plastic so weeds don’t grow. This also holds in the heat and in about three weeks the pile will be full of night crawlers, and before you know it you have some great loam.
WATER AND FEED At week 3 and 4 they should be almost feathered out. Remove the lamp and the brooder walls. In addition to all this you also want to start raising the water dishes and feeders each week. You want the dishes to be about level with their backs. This prompts them to stand up to eat, which keeps them from getting blisters on their bellies. Week 4 you want to go to your local grain shop and buy a package of electrolytes. It's a yellow powder full of vitamins and minerals. You want one spoonful for every gallon of water. It will resemble Gatorade. This is crucial as they grow so fast they will get cramps and die. BUTCHERING Set up a table with a clean cutting-board surface. Also have buckets of soapy water and bleach to clean utensils and tables in between birds. Get a large kettle and bring it up to 180 degrees, then just let it simmer. To kill the bird, just snap the neck with a twisting pull motion, then dip the bird in the hot water for 5-or-so seconds and it should be all ready to pluck. The feathers should come off easily. If some are too hard to pull, dip again. When bird is plucked, rinse with fresh water and make an incision all the way around the vent and straight up to the breast bone. Push the knife in just enough to break the skin without cutting into the internal organs. Once the cut is made, pull the circle-cut out, then reach in and pull everything out. Then I make ‘V’ at the base of the neck and take out the gizzard, then I cut off the neck, and keep the heart and liver. Wrap neck, heart and liver for your giblets and gravy. Now you've got one of the best broilers in the world, and you did it yourself!
You’ll need to set up a brooder inside your shed. A brooder helps shield against drafts which can cause baby chicks to get sick. Most brooders are either cardboard or wood. You can buy rolls of 12” cardboard specifically to set up a brooder (available at most grain & supply stores). My brooder is made of 12-inch barn board. For 25 chicks, you want roughly a 4’ x 4’ area. Make a circular enclosure with the cardboard. For wood brooder, make a square, then nail boards diagonally across all four corners to create an octagon. The closer to a circle the better, as this will prevent the birds from huddling all in one corner and smothering each other. You also want to suspend a heat lamp above the center of the brooder, then put a thermometer just off to the side on the floor under the lamp. Adjust the height of the lamp to maintain a constant 98 degrees. The chicks themselves will also tell you if they’re too warm or too cold: If the huddle directly under the lamp, they’re too cold; if they huddle off to one side, they’re too warm. Ideally, when they’re active they should be loosely gathered within the inner half of the brooder.
Clean out the brooder in the morning and again at night. If the wood shavings are clean, keep them, but if an area is wet or messy, do a pooper-scooper thing. Make sure the urine is out of there. The ammonia can give them respiratory infection, and then you’ve got to give them Terramycin, which you want to avoid, so keep the brooder clean.
You want to start them on a medicated broiler crumble. I use non-medicated, or what they call a chick starter, for the first 4-5 weeks. Then I gradually mix in ‘fat and finish’ pellets to the crumble on wk 4 and 5. Then I switch to an all fat and finish diet. Also I mix in cracked corn to all feed after wk 4; this is very good for them and good for you in the long run. Check their water and feed supply twice a day. Basically give them as much as they can eat. If you see too much left over, cut back a little feed. Nothing left, give them more.
By week 8-10, if they're big enough and you want to process them soon, plan a butchering date. 24 hours before butchering, stop feeding them. I actually do this at 36 hours; I just give water and electrolytes. You will be less likely to contaminate the meat with fecal matter at time of butcher.
BIRD SELECTION Also, his prices are very reasonable. Believe me, I have searched the entire country. Most hatcheries range from $1.27 and up a piece. His price is about 90 cents. You may be asked questions like do you want a straight run? A straight run is pullets (females) AND cockerels (males) mixed. Cockerels get the largest - up to 9 pounds. Pullets average 6 pounds. For order information, go to
Selecting the meat bird, you want a Jumbo Cornish x Rock. What's that you ask? It's a cross-breed bird that a guy named Ross came up with. It's a cross from a Ross 308. Central Hatchery calls these birds BROILERS. Some hatcheries call them Jumbo x Rocks. All the major hatcheries have them. BUT!! I recommend one hatchery only - the only one that doesn't vaccinate them with “Merrick’s” and other stuff you don’t want to eat. It's Central Hatchery in Nebraska; I only deal with him. Yes Him. He runs the show himself. I get prompt delivery and no vaccinated junk. They are all healthy, and he always throws in a few extra birds.
The number is 1-800-272-2449
http://www.centralhatchery.com/pricelist.html.
When You Order Your Birds, they will be shipped next day to your local post office. The postman will wake you up as early as 5 am and say "Come get these little hungry chirpers." If you can even hear the postman; you will be sure to hear the chirps!!!! Now go get the peepers! Mike Mandeville from KNMFARMS Charlestown,RI knmfarms@gmail.com Copyright 2011 Mike Mandeville
