Posts Tagged ‘Raising Chickens’
Raising Meat Chickens in Suburbia
From Day Old to Dinner Entrée – If you want to make sure the chicken in your oven is raised well and processed humanely –Raise them yourself!
Most of my friends cringe when I tell them that we raise our own meat chickens and my daughter NEVER tells her friends for fear they will avoid eating over. But, this relatively simple process has become an integral part of our suburban homestead and food storage plan.
I’ve always had laying hens to provide us with eggs for the table and manure for the garden. And, when the girls were too old to lay they got to live out their life scratching around for bugs, churning up the soil and adding manure where ever they went; a mutually beneficial relationship I think.
It wasn’t until my friend Sandy bought and raised her first batch of meat birds that I really started to get interested in raising our own chickens for meat. But, raising 50 chicks seemed a bit too ambitious for a beginner, not to mention someone who lived in suburbia. So, several years ago I began by raising 8 Cornish/White Rock crosses, usually referred to as Cornish Rocks. These fast growing birds are the same breed raised commercially and sold to restaurants and supermarkets either as whole birds or in cut-up parts.
My test project was a huge success! All 8 chicks lived to their 8-week maturity, were healthy and seemingly happy, and the processing of the birds was nothing like I had imagined. When the project was over and we were feasting on own homegrown chicken, juicy and full of flavor I was determined that meat chickens would be an annual crop raised on our little suburban homestead. Read the rest of the story »
Raising Ducks for Meat
Meat chickens, turkeys and rabbits are the quintessential small livestock used for meat production on farms and homesteads of all sizes. But other fowl, like ducks, should not be discounted as a viable source of food and income. In fact, ducks are thought to be easier to raise then meat chickens because they are heartier and don’t require expensive housing. They can handle many different climates very well. They eat a variety of foods, from kitchen scraps to garden culls to small critters like toads and snails. Ducks are also beneficial. They produce good quality fertilizer while ridding the garden of weeds and bugs. And, they are not as susceptible to avian diseases as chickens are.
So—if you’ve mastered raising your own meat from other small livestock and want to try something new, try ducks.
The more popular meat duck breeds include the Pekin, Rouen and Muscovy. The White Pekin is a favorite of the three because it produces delicious, healthy white meat. The Rouen is second to the Pekin with its flavorful carcass. Rounding out the trio is the Muscovy because the meat is similar to ham or sirloin steak, yet much leaner (98% fat free). Read the rest of the story »
Belonging is a State of Mind
The other day I walked into our local feed store needing to buy chick starter for our new batch of meat birds. As I strolled the isles looking over new arrivals and favorite old items I overheard a woman at the register asking Gary about raising chickens. They were the typical questions all new chicken raisers ask.
But this time was different. In the isle that stocks the horseshoeing supplies two men scoffed at the innocence of her questions. You know the tone. The one reserved for newbie livestock owners or out-of-towners who buy a few acres with the idea of growing their own food. I’m sure they meant nothing by it. When your family has raised cattle here for a hundred years and you spent your life on the back of a horse you might find it humorous not knowing how to raise a chicken, or any small livestock for that matter, but it struck a cord with me.
Once upon a time…a long time ago I too was that lady asking those very same questions. I smiled as I walked by them, but it has taken me a while to get to this point. For new farmers it can feel downright unsettling; thinking you’re the butt of all jokes or a worn out stereotype at the local café where the “ole timers” hang out.
It seems to be the old long-time local vs. the new beginner divide that makes so many new farmers or homesteaders feel out of place. Think about it…if you’re fresh out the back of beyond with city lights and pubs that stay open till dawn…you have good reason to feel separated from the locals. It took me years to crack the surface and even more before I felt like “one of them”. But I can tell you this with certainty – Don’t let it affect you. Do not let who you are now stop you from becoming who you want to be. Embrace the difference and let it be part of where you are heading. Read the rest of the story »
The Final Tally Is…
In my Backyard Chickens post I told you all about our little surprise when we returned home from last weekends sheep show – CHICKS!!! – 3 at first, then another five by the next morning. Well, it’s been a few days with no new hatches. I think we are finished. Or should I say the hen is finished.
The final tally…drum roll if you please…14!!!
Little Frizzle hen still has 5 eggs under her, but I don’t think they are viable. Or maybe it’s hoping, praying actually they’re not. That would make 29 chickens total in a coop that’s built for 12 to 15. A tight squeeze to say the least.
All the chicks are nestled in their (enlarged) brooder box in the corner of the kitchen where they are out of the way, but can still be checked often. And, as fate would have it, or dumb luck, my neighbor came calling the other day to ask me about raising chickens. She wanted to get a few from the feed store and had no idea what to do or how to do it, so she stopped by for my help. “Well”, says I, “have I got a deal for you”. When she heard the peeps coming from the kitchen her eyes lit up and she ran over to see them. Needless to say I closed the deal and Fran will be taking 4 of our little darlings as soon as they are old enough to live in a coop. She even offered to buy the next bag of Chick Starter because I’m keeping them so long. What a deal.
I must have been on a roll that day. Either that or the chicken God’s were watching over me because I ran into another friend and she was talking about getting more chicks, but the feed store won’t have any until the beginning of April (last year they ordered too early and most of them dies from the cold). I told her about our population explosion and Amy is going to split the remaining 10 with us. Now all I have to do is get Brianne to decide which one’s she wants to keep. That will be a challenge.
But, for now we are enjoying our little peepers, watching them scratch and peck and run around the brooder is a sight. Definitely happy birds.
photo credit: jennifertomaloff
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