Raising Chickens for Meat: Do-it-yourself Pastured Poultry
(Page 3 of 6)
June/July 2009
By Gwen Roland
Chicks and Balances
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Even though I raised the broilers for humane reasons, I kept records to see how much they cost. Stepping on the bathroom scales on the way to the freezer, I found that a rooster carcass added about 8 pounds to my weight, while the two hens added between 5 and 6 pounds. These aren’t scales certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but it seems fair to estimate that the nine birds translated into about 60 pounds of chicken in my freezer. The chicks and their feed cost $62. That means the total cost was about $1 per pound — a bargain in my opinion.
While you might think that allowing birds to forage in pasture would save on the feed bill while increasing their weight gain, research shows that calories used when foraging, compensating for cooler outdoor temperatures, scratching in the dirt and simply enjoying a natural chicken life are not necessarily made up for by the extra nutrition derived from foraging. Some pastured poultry enthusiasts report that their birds consume 10 to 30 percent less feed when on pasture, but according to researchers Andrew Walker and Sue Gordon, who presented their findings at the University of Leeds in 2002, the reduction in feed is actually closer to 5 percent or less. This is because poultry have short guts, and they would simply fill up before they could obtain enough nutrition to survive on grass. In fact, Walker and Gordon’s research found that most of the protein available to pastured chickens comes from worms, beetles, crickets, grasshoppers and other critters.
What I Learned
Broilers vs. layers. The biggest difference is the quick return on the investment of time and money when raising meat chickens instead of layers. Fast-growing broiler breeds can be on the table in less than two months; even gourmet meat breeds only take 12 weeks. In contrast, layers need about five months to produce their first eggs, and they require roosts, nest boxes and winter housing. Meat birds just need protection from weather and predators.
Emotional stress. I was surprised by how much it bothered me to kill the females in the first flock. The cockerels seemed to be just mindless eating machines lubricated with testosterone. Of the two females in my first flock, one was a nervous wreck who was convinced from day one that I planned to kill her. The other one used to peck at my foot until I sat down on the grass, then she would sit in my lap. If there had been any future for her, I would have kept her alive. But not only would my layers pick on her without a mother hen’s protection, her white feathers would have made her an easy-to-spot meal for predators. I still think about her.
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