Age to butcher dual purpose birds?

[RememberTheWay]

I tape the ankles and put in a cut up kitty litter jug for a cone.



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I use a PVC pipe cutter to decapitate.

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How do you keep it sharp enough?

 

[Molpet]

How do you keep it sharp enough?

I have sharpened them but they usually get a nick in the blade. I usually replace after 25 birds or so

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...PAaP6WTnQSHr5ZVxrCcnbNLgA_6-49GoaAvvkEALw_wcB

 

[RememberTheWay]

I have sharpened them but they usually get a nick in the blade. I usually replace after 25 birds or so

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...PAaP6WTnQSHr5ZVxrCcnbNLgA_6-49GoaAvvkEALw_wcB
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Are you doing this live? Or are they already passed?

I know these are crazy questions, I have never actually processed my own birds. I don't like the idea of taking their life or the idea of accidently botching something. So I am researching my options. I am considering doing meat birds next year.....not sure what breed just yet though. Thinking maybe Mandelyn's Line of Breese

 

[Molpet]

Are you doing this live? Or are they already passed?

I know these are crazy questions, I have never actually processed my own birds. I don't like the idea of taking their life or the idea of accidently botching something. So I am researching my options. I am considering doing meat birds next year.....not sure what breed just yet though. Thinking maybe Mandelyn's Line of Breese

This is what I use to remove the head to kill the bird. I was squeamish slitting the veins in the throat and letting them bleed out.
Do you have any body in the area that is already doing this? Maybe they could show you. It's not for everyone

 

[SmallAndDeliciousLife]

I start butchering my cockerels at 16 weeks as I decide which I want to keep. I make my final decision and butcher the last one at 23 weeks. That suits my goals for raising them and the way I cook them. They typically have finished "fast growth" by 23 weeks and have enough meat to make it worthwhile butchering them by 16 weeks.

Ridgerunner, do you have any problems with the cockerels as they mature? Do you have tips on preventing fighting until they get to slaughter age? Thank you

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Glad you joined!

Not really, other than to give them as much room as possible. My goal is not to stop them from fighting, it is that they don't injure or kill each other. Each one has its own personality. Some are more ready to fight than others.

I typically have 10 to 15 cockerels in my first hatch. What I normally see is that a few will fight for dominance. But after a short while one decides it is best to run away and concede dominance than to keep fighting. As long as it has enough room to get way the fight is usually over. Most don't fight at all as they are intimidated by the more aggressive and don't challenge them.

But once every three or four years it gets really rowdy. Not so much that the cockerels are fighting but that they are over-mating the pullets. I lock them in my grow-out coop/run until butcher to protect the pullets. If they don't have the girls to fight over they tend to not fight nearly as much.

Once I had a 15-week-old kill a sibling. For some reason he kept attacking until the other was dead. I had 17 other cockerels the same age, no serious fighting between them at all. For whatever reason he just decided that he did not want that one cockerel to live. Other than that I've never had one injured.

 

[SmallAndDeliciousLife]

What I normally see is that a few will fight for dominance. But after a short while one decides it is best to run away and concede dominance than to keep fighting.

But once every three or four years it gets really rowdy. Not so much that the cockerels are fighting but that they are over-mating the pullets.

Thank you for the welcome.

This brings up a couple of more questions—and if there is just a book you could really recommend for a self-sustaining flock, I would be grateful for any tips.

Question 1 is how the cockerels do with the mature rooster.

And question 2 is if there is any problem with mating the pullets as long as they don't get to the feather loss stage.

I am coming to this from rabbits, where you don't want them to mate until they are old enough. Do chickens have that same dynamic?

Thanks again

 

[Ridgerunner]

and if there is just a book you could really recommend for a self-sustaining flock, I would be grateful for any tips.

What aspects of a self-sustaining flock? You can start your own thread in the appropriate section and ask specific questions. Or go to the "Articles" tab up at the top and look for articles that interest you. These are written by people with various experiences and you can get a lot of different opinions so don't be afraid to start threads and ask questions. At the least they can help you decide what questions to ask.

Question 1 is how the cockerels do with the mature rooster.

Are you only raising cockerels or will there be some pullets the same age with them? I'll assume a mix of cockerels and pullets. And I'll assume you have a lot of room. I have over 2,000 square feet outside.

Different things can happen. Sometimes the juveniles stay off by themselves. No real interactions with the adults. The cockerels mate the pullets and they are left alone.

Sometimes the rooster sees the cockerels mating the pullets and chases the cockerels off. He does not want to see them mating in front of him. That is a challenge to his flock dominance.

Sometimes the cockerels try to mate the mature hens. They just crossed a line. My hens typically run to the mature rooster when that happens and the rooster scares them off. It is not really that violent. But if the cockerel doesn't run away fast enough it can be a serious fight.

Rarely I see a cockerel try to take over the flock. Mine generally don't live long enough to mature to that point or I'd probably see that a lot more.

And question 2 is if there is any problem with mating the pullets as long as they don't get to the feather loss stage.

Some people get really upset over this but I've never had a pullet injured from this. I think having a lot of room helps with this a lot. Some people have seen behaviors that I don't see, like cockerels ganging up on a pullet. Some of these people are the ones that I trust to know what they are seeing so I fully believe it can happen.

Some people have had pullets injured from over-mating. It is violent so it can happen. Read my previous post where I sometimes isolate the cockerels for this reason.

I am coming to this from rabbits, where you don't want them to mate until they are old enough. Do chickens have that same dynamic?

No. Chickens do not give live birth like rabbits, where the risk is that the doe is too young to safely have kits. Chickens are going to lay eggs whether they are fertile or not. The eggs are no different whether they are fertile or not. Mating makes no difference in that regard.

 

[SmallAndDeliciousLife]

What aspects of a self-sustaining flock? You can start your own thread in the appropriate section and ask specific questions. Or go to the "Articles" tab up at the top and look for articles that interest you. These are written by people with various experiences and you can get a lot of different opinions so don't be afraid to start threads and ask questions. At the least they can help you decide what questions to ask.


Are you only raising cockerels or will there be some pullets the same age with them? I'll assume a mix of cockerels and pullets. And I'll assume you have a lot of room. I have over 2,000 square feet outside.

Different things can happen. Sometimes the juveniles stay off by themselves. No real interactions with the adults. The cockerels mate the pullets and they are left alone.

Sometimes the rooster sees the cockerels mating the pullets and chases the cockerels off. He does not want to see them mating in front of him. That is a challenge to his flock dominance.

Sometimes the cockerels try to mate the mature hens. They just crossed a line. My hens typically run to the mature rooster when that happens and the rooster scares them off. It is not really that violent. But if the cockerel doesn't run away fast enough it can be a serious fight.

Rarely I see a cockerel try to take over the flock. Mine generally don't live long enough to mature to that point or I'd probably see that a lot more.


Some people get really upset over this but I've never had a pullet injured from this. I think having a lot of room helps with this a lot. Some people have seen behaviors that I don't see, like cockerels ganging up on a pullet. Some of these people are the ones that I trust to know what they are seeing so I fully believe it can happen.

Some people have had pullets injured from over-mating. It is violent so it can happen. Read my previous post where I sometimes isolate the cockerels for this reason.


No. Chickens do not give live birth like rabbits, where the risk is that the doe is too young to safely have kits. Chickens are going to lay eggs whether they are fertile or not. The eggs are no different whether they are fertile or not. Mating makes no difference in that regard.

Awesome, thanks again.

By self-sustaining flock I mean breeds and husbandry that will allow me to incubate my own eggs for replacement, with a minimum of outside purchasing required for new birds or new DNA.

I will also be working to increase our on-farm feed supply, but mostly it is the breeds and husbandry practices that work best for this sort of smallholding flock.

This seems like one of those things that a book from 1920 would explain very clearly. And I bet there are ton of threads here about this but I need to learn the vocabulary that is used to describe it.

Cheers

 

[Ridgerunner]

Not that it is needed for your questions yet, but where in the world are you located? I suspect that could become important for some of your questions down the road. If you modify your profile to show that information it will always be available.

Awesome, thanks again.

By self-sustaining flock I mean breeds and husbandry that will allow me to incubate my own eggs for replacement, with a minimum of outside purchasing required for new birds or new DNA.

There are many different techniques genetically to address that. What you are talking about is inbreeding. The problems with losing genetic diversity involve defects showing up, being susceptible to diseases, losing productivity, and losing fertility. The stock that you start with has a lot to do with how fast these issues can start showing up.

One method used for thousands of years is that you keep one rooster with your flock and save your own replacements. As long as you have reasonable genetic diversity and no really bad genes to start with you can go several generations before you have to bring in new blood. Dad used that method and went four or five generations before bringing in a new rooster to restore the genetic diversity. The more hens and roosters you have the longer you can go.

Most major hatcheries use the pen breeding method. They may have 20 roosters in a pen with 200 hens just for an example. With the random nature of mating and the random nature of which chicks they keep for their breeding program they can go decades before bringing in new blood.

To develop a new breed or to develop a championship show bird, breeders use the spiral breeding method. The typical set-up is three different flocks. The daughters always stay with their mother's flock. The males rotate in a standard method. Call your flocks A, B, and C. A male bred in flock A is used to breed the hens in flock B, a flock B male is used for flock C and such on a permanent rotation. Good breeders can sustain a flock for decades using this method.

One key to any of these working is that you breed the ones you want to eat and eat the ones you do not want to eat. Know your goals and choose your breeding stock from the ones to enhance your goals. Do not breed any that have defects. Choose your breeders carefully.

I will also be working to increase our on-farm feed supply, but mostly it is the breeds and husbandry practices that work best for
this sort of smallholding flock.

Breeds. Your location plays into that. Do you want heat tolerant or cold tolerant birds? Do you plan to let them free range and forage for a lot of their food or do you plan on providing most of not all of what they eat? Do you want the hens to go broody and raise their own chicks or will you use an incubator? Are you mainly interested in eggs or meat? How important is the size of the bird to you? Mom could feed a family with five kids on a fairly small hen while some people have trouble coping without a cockerel the size of a small turkey.

Whatever your criteria, there are a lot of different breeds that would work. I don't know which ones might be available wherever you are. We all have our preferences but that doesn't mean it is right for you. One of my standard suggestions is to try different breeds or techniques and see what works best for you.

This seems like one of those things that a book from 1920 would explain very clearly. And I bet there are ton of threads here about this but I need to learn the vocabulary that is used to describe it.

I'm sure there are many books out there that can help but I don't know which ones there are. Again I'll suggest looking through the "Articles" tab to see what interests you.

Another option might be to contact your government's Agricultural Ministry and see if they can offer help. Many have help for small holdings, not just the huge corporate businesses.

If you can find your country thread in the "Where am I? Where are you!" section of this forum you can chat with your neighbors. You may get a lot of help there.

Good luck! It can be a fun adventure.