How did we like our first chicken dinner?

It was WONDERFUL! We made sweet and sour chicken and the texture was not mushy like some store chicken is. It had a little firmness to it but not tough by any means. I still have not gotten all the info together but I will! We usually have chicken twice a week so I will let you know how the next meal goes. AND I will work on getting all the info together with cost. I can tell you the final cost of the butcher. It was 104.00 for 24 chickens. That was getting 1/2 quartered and 1/2 eighthed Plus we got extra bags for storage so that all brings up cost. Next time we will get a couple whole chickens.

Birds are done. End age...10 weeks

I didn't even keep any like I had planned. I was going to but they were just so weak in the legs I didn't want to try it and have them in pain and picked on by the others so I took them all. I got bit (the crowing roo got me good) and scratched but I managed to get them all in the cages one by one. Taking their food away 12 hours before helped becasue they were easy to catch.

We took them in yesterday. Lost one in transit, we know now that two cages about 1 1/2 foot by about 3 foot are not big enough. One was trampled on :( We feel really bad about that since it was needless and just went to waste. When we got there it went in a pile with another bird that had not made the trip from another flock that was brought in.

A guy who was there told us that we should get cornish cross next time becasue they are plumper. We told him we were aware of that but we wanted "free" range birds who ate grass not just laid around. He said well move your cage around and they have no choice but to eat the grass. Ummmm...no, we want FREE range "ya know, birds that are FREE and can run around on 20 acres if they like" Not free range as in caged in a small cage and sitting in the grass. That to us is NOT free range but that's what they consider free range. It's a sad thing when people can label eggs and such as free range and THIS is what is considered free range. He told us any animal able to get to grass is considered free range no matter if it is caged or not.

Well he thought our birds were "small" Most were 6-7 lbs and that to me was quite large. There was a lot of fat and nice meat on those bones so we were very pleased with it. We let is sit in the fridge to rest last night and today and tonight I will transfer all of it to the freezer with the exception of one pack which I will stick in some brine and let soak for tomorrows meal. I have to say it's going to be very strange eating these chickens but I'm curious of the taste.

I'm tallying up all the totals for everything tonight and will post in an end post either tonight or tomorrow. Oh and I will let you know what we think of the taste of them also compared to store chicken which is pumped up with all sorts of chemicals and salt water before they are brought to sell at the store.

Their end weight at exactly 10 weeks old was Roos=6.5-8 lbs and hens=4.5-6.5

Tomorrow is P day.

Tomorrow we have to have the meat chickens at the processing plant at 10:30 am. I'm not looking forward to this but I know it has to be done. It will depend all on the taste and the total cost of everything (which I will figure out after we get the birds back from the Processor) whether or not we do this again. If we decide not to...well then I have another coop to use for something else :D We would however need to insulate it before we put anything in there over the winter. We did go through another bag of feed. I have to pull their food 12 hours before we bring them in so tonight I will grab the feeder out of their coop and in the morning they will get loaded onto the truck for their big trip. There are 25 of them total. I though I had 26 but upon recounting recently I counted 25. So either I miscounted earlier or one was ate by something. Which seems unlikely becasue I'm sure that thing would have been back for more if that were the case. I think it was just me miscounting them. I will update tomorrow on how everything went. OH by the way, weighed in one of my bigger roos and he weighed in at 7 lbs. The hens were weighing in at about 5 - 6 lbs. Not bad :D I will weigh them one last time tomorrow before we leave. I also go pics of them yesterday I will post here later when I get them uploaded.

Processing Date Made

Well, I did it. I made our date for next Wednesday. We have to travel about 30 - 45 min with them but shouldn't be to bad. Were sticking them all in the back of the truck in cages. Should be quite interesting to say the least. Only the one crowing so far and he's a big boy...prob THE biggest. It's raining out today so I did not let the meat chickens out yet today. They are not the brightest and would not stay in their home but instead get drenched. I need them to stay healthy so in they stay until it stops raining. It's cold here today too! Not even hitting 70 yet and prob won't today. Counting up bags of food today to get an estimated amount so far. Will weigh them in sometime today too and once again before they go on Wed.

The crowing has started!

Well yesterday while getting all the coops opened up I heard crowing coming from the meat chicken coop :/ I hope the time goes by fast as the neighbors prob would not appreciate another 15 crowing chickens next door LOL I am calling today to make the apt with the processor (was suppose to call on Friday). Their legs seem to really be getting sore with the bigger roos too so it may be a good thing even though it will be hard. Another 50 # bag of feed gone...although my laying hens seem to thing it is THEIR food as well. Each morning when letting them out the first thing they do is run to the meat chicken coop for a bite to eat. Their food is always full but they won't eat it.

Quick update

One of our roos is now 6 1/2 lbs. By the end of the two weeks they should be reaching close to 7 1/2 or 8 lbs which is good I think. They are still free ranging and loving it. We went through another 50 lb bag of feed and I have added another bag of pine shavings to their coop. It was starting to smell pretty bad. I was hoping that I would not have to add any but yup, really needed to. I could smell a tiny hint of ammonia which is not good for us or them. Now it smells nice and fresh to pine. The funny thing is they are beginning to roam pretty far and mingle with my laying hens. When my 83 yr old dad walks down to the coop they all follow him back up to the garage. Pretty funny watching a little ol man with 37 chickens following him! LOL 12 of them being my laying hens who always follow everyone around. We have found our place of slaughter and we are making the apt on Monday. Still undecided if I want to keep 2 or 3 of them. There is two that I have really got attached to. UGH it gets harder the closer to slaughter it gets :( Poor babies! I have to remember they had a great life here and they will have ONE bad day in their lives. And the journey continues....

loving it outdoors!

Our meaties are loving it outdoors...they go in on their own now as long as we have the underside to the coop closed off where they cannot hide under there. They have been loving their freedom and eating lots of grass and lounging in the grass. I have noticed thought that they are not the best of runners. The larger roos have trouble with their legs. Not so weak that they cannot get around but not like the egg layers for sure. They have almost what looks to be a limp or something like that. They all still seem happy and content in the shaded grass. Just eating away! We went through yet another 50# bag and almost then next one since I posted. I have to go back and add up all the feed to get an estimated cost. Of course were not comparing cost to the store bought "roundy's" brands we are comparing to the grass fed organic brand chicken. No loses yet but we have some pretty cute girls going on. I'm still undecided if I want to keep a few or not seeing we are selling off our old flock next spring and the two black hens that were sharing their domain are now in with the bantams for the winter. I may not want to add any to the large flock because they will only be picked on and I will go crazy about that. And then try to place them some place else for the winter and hubby will NOT like that LOL. They can't stay in their current coop as it is not insulated and the winters here are crazy cold. I will think on that one.

ETA: Their weight is over 5 lbs now but will get an exact weight of one of our larger roos on Wed when I have the day off work.

Some growth

Well the meatiest of the freedom Rangers are just under 5 lbs now. We are planning on bringing them to the butchers at about 10-11 weeks old. That date is coming up. They are seven weeks old on Wednesday this week. So by August 26th they will be ready for the butcher. I'm wondering what the weights will be by that time. They have been gaining steady and now that they have unlimited food they will most likely be putting on more weight. I was taking the food away at night while they were young. Now I just let them have free eating rights. We did try to let them out to free range a few times and the first time was a disaster! They hid under the coop and it was close to impossible to catch them. We ended up using a fishing net and an hour later we finally caught the ONLY FOUR that come out LOL They are MUCH faster then my big fat laying hens I can tell ya that. Who ever said meat chickens were slow and lazy were NOT correct HAHA.
The next time we let them out we blocked the under side of the coop so they could not hide under it. It worked much better. We still had to chase them a little...most did not go in on their own...but when we left the big door open they would get scared enough to go back in on their own. Wasn't to bad. So on the days that I am home we will let them out to free range to get them some nice vitamins before we butcher. We went through another 50 lb bag of food and on a new one now. I believe this is the sixth bag? I have to look back but on my last entry for THIS set of birds I will add the totals of everything...food, weight, length of time, and dressed weight when we get them back.