Have you ever raised chickens for meat? OY!

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weebiscuit

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Every year for the last five years we order around 70 meat chickens. Our son and his family live just across the hay field. His wife raises the chicks, feeding and watering them, and then my husband and finish the job. We take them to an Amish family and they butcher and clean them for $1.25 a bird.

So Monday morning we had to get up at 5 AM in order to get our dogs fed and outside to do their thing, then get all the horses out of the barn and into their pastures, and drive the half hour to the Yoder home with 32 chickens. while they butcher them, my husband and I drive five miles into town for breakfast. Back home by 9:30 and put four chickens in the big Nesco roaster and three into DIL'S smaller roaster. While they are cooking we wash and freeze the rest of them. I debone them after they're cooked, then put about a pound of meat into each bag and vacuum seal them.

Tuesday morning, another 32 chickens are carted off, but on this particular day I had to cook a stinkin' FIFTEEN chickens! My DIL wanted a lot of cooked meat in handy bags as well. What a chore! Husband helped debone them all. I used all the bones and fat and other stuff to make chicken stock in the two roasting pans, adding celery, carrots, onion and garlic. But before I put the chicken scraps in, I fried them all to give the stock a nice rich brown color.

The stock finished, and was very concentrated, which was what I wanted. It went into the fridge for the fat to rise to the top. On Wednesday I skimmed off the fat, and added 1 cup water to each cup concentrated stock. It was absolutely DELICIOUS! Honestly, so much better than anything I've ever had from a store! I pressure canned 24 quarts and 14 pints.

Uh... do you have any idea how long that took? Waiting for the canner to come up to pressure, processing for 25 minutes, then waiting 45 minutes for the pressure to drop when done! But this stuff is so good! All I'll have to do is add noodles or rice, cooked chicken and veggies and we'll have a quick delicious soup all winter long!And of course I'll use it in cooking and for gravies.

Raising chickens is NOT cheap! But our chickens all dressed out at between 5.5 and 6.5 pounds, so they are big birds, but just absolutely tender and so healthy!
 
Oh that sounds so yummy! I bet your house smelled awsome!!!

I'm such a chicken fan and would love to do meat birds! Hubby and I worked for 3 days putting up new chicken fence and moving our little coop to a usable spot. I had him make me an area for meat chickens so next year I'll try out a few.

Would you give me some tips for nice birds? Please
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LOL! Sounds like you have it down to an art! FIL and hubby raised chickens all his life so all the butchering(and stuff...) will be up to them. Thats why such a small amount is ideal for now.
 
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Would you give me some tips for nice birds? Please
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LOL! Sounds like you have it down to an art! FIL and hubby raised chickens all his life so all the butchering(and stuff...) will be up to them. Thats why such a small amount is ideal for now.
The house did smell awesome, but you would not BELIEVE the chicken grease all over the kitchen, LOL! I had to spray the entire thing down with antibacterial spray afterwards and steam mop the floor. I was skating on chicken grease!

Tips? I dunno.... we just go to our local feed mill and order chickens. They are super cheap! We simply order "meat birds" rather than layers, and we buy the cheapest chicken feed he has. They are raised in the barn, with an opening into a large grassy area, maybe 75' x 80' so when they get big enough we open that door and let them free range, then they come in at night. They get SO fat that everyone thinks they'll be stewing chickens! But boy, are they wrong! These are the most delicious tender birds in the world!

We have then butchered when they are 8 to 10 weeks old, although 10 weeks is pushing it. When they are all cleaned and dressed out, we have a lot of them go over 6 pounds! That's a BIG chicken, compared to those dinky little 3.5 or 4 lb ones in the stores.

We wouldn't do this if we had to butcher them ourselves. Years ago we did that and I just gagged doing it! I could barely eat them without gagging! Having the Amish do it is less emotional for me, and not having to singe their feather off and pull off pin feathers makes a big difference, too!
 
We are planning to have our run and house built this summer. While I am mainly interested in grasshopper control and eggs, I do hope to have meat chickens eventually. As a child, I remember plucking and watching mom dress the chickens, but I've never dressed one myself. My mom is 83--I need to hurry up and get a lesson before it is too late!

I have a vintage chicken-catcher that works like a charm.
 
We are planning to have our run and house built this summer. While I am mainly interested in grasshopper control and eggs, I do hope to have meat chickens eventually. As a child, I remember plucking and watching mom dress the chickens, but I've never dressed one myself. My mom is 83--I need to hurry up and get a lesson before it is too late!

I have a vintage chicken-catcher that works like a charm.
My mom died two years ago from cancer at age 83. I can't tell you how many times I'll be doing something or thinking about something and say to myself, "I need to ask mom....."

So yes, get your lessons, ask your questions, learn as much about your family history as you can before it's too late!
 
I love the fresh meat that has been raised without chemicals/hormones! I've kept a flock in yrs past, mostly the large layers that are dual purpose and butchered a few. One yr I got a group of "pullets" that turned out to be straight runs -- running mostly roosters!
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They decided that going into my garden and scratching up my plants was wonderful!! I told them the next time, they were gone -- they tested me.
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That night I yanked them from their perch and put them into cages. At daybreak I had the ax sharp and the water boiling -- soon about 15 birds were hanging to be "finished". It's a big job -- HUGE job, LOL.

Yep, my mother did all this type thing. I remember helping my grandad catch and prepare a bird or two for a Sunday feast when we were visiting. Many of those days in the hollar of WV are still memories I honestly cherish as I learned a great deal about being self sufficient!! They had no electric, running water, etc. The cellar dug into the hill behind the house was one of my favorite places -- loved looking at the jars of canned food.
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Alas, my mother just turned 86 and has recently moved into my home as she can no longer live alone, take full care of herself and has either dementia or beginning of Alzheimers. One day memory is fine, next she can't remember names and often relationship of family members. It's sad, frustrating, demanding, life altering and you name it!!!

So, ask now as you just don't know what tomorrow will bring.
 
we raise 100 a summer, no its isnt cheap, ends up costing us about 8$ per bird. from chick to butcher. we butcher them ourselves tho, i can butcher 25 a day by my self lol

we also raise a hog and a steer every year but those get sent to the butcher lol

i love not having to buy meat or eggs at the store!
 
we raise 100 a summer, no its isnt cheap, ends up costing us about 8$ per bird. from chick to butcher. we butcher them ourselves tho, i can butcher 25 a day by my self lol

we also raise a hog and a steer every year but those get sent to the butcher lol

i love not having to buy meat or eggs at the store!
When you say you can butcher 25 a day by yourself, it gave me a chuckle. This Amish lady does 30 of then in 90 minutes with her husband helping!!!! She has a gas powered plucker, though and it is just amazing. I took a video of it because it was so cool. Wish I could figure out how to post it here.
 
When you say you can butcher 25 a day by yourself, it gave me a chuckle. This Amish lady does 30 of then in 90 minutes with her husband helping!!!! She has a gas powered plucker, though and it is just amazing. I took a video of it because it was so cool. Wish I could figure out how to post it here.

lol yeah, BUT lol i do 25 a day by my self, hand plucked, with a 5 year old and 7 year old running around the back yard... lol so i figure thats good for me
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and thats only doing a few in the morning and a few in the evening, i never could do it all day lol
 
lol yeah, BUT lol i do 25 a day by my self, hand plucked, with a 5 year old and 7 year old running around the back yard... lol so i figure thats good for me
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and thats only doing a few in the morning and a few in the evening, i never could do it all day lol
I am amazed that you can do that many, and that you are hand plucking them all! My goodness.... that is a BIG job! I don't know what we'd do if we didn't have the Amish here to do them, because it's not a job I think I could ever do and be able to eat the chickens without gagging, LOL! Considering how much it costs to raise the chickens (as you know, chicken feed is not cheap), I don't think paying $1.25 extra per bird to get them dressed out is too bad. They even cut the wing tips and necks off and give them to me separately so I can use them to make chicken stock.
 

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