I may be no pro, but I'm at least somewhat an old(er…ish) hat at raising meat chickens this go round. This past weekend, we welcomed our fourth batch of meat birds to the homestead. Because Mama's gotta have her chicken, man.
I won't say that I particularly love raising meat chickens. Fine. I'll say it. Meat chickens, even raised in the best of conditions, are still pretty gross. They're all fat… and feathery… and poopy and stuff.
It's just the way meat chickens roll.
I've learned a few important lessons in raising these birds, primarily (as these homesteading things go…) from my mistakes. Mistakes are, horribly so, the best teachers. And lest you think I'm all high-and-mighty, I'm still making plenty of mistakes, let's all be clear about that.
I've said goodbye to way too many animals over the past few weeks.
But – we're still learning, we're still here.
Meat Chickens
What You Need To Know Before You Raise Them
1. They're stupid.
Seriously. Like really, really, really stupid. Like that little bowl of fresh milk you put in as a treat that's, like, .192 of an inch deep? They'll drown in that.
That flake of hay you're using as their bedding? They'll get stuck under that and die.
That feeder with an open top? One will fall in and get stuck.
That extra feed bucket you left by their pen? One will flip it over, get stuck underneath it, and become your pet meat chicken named Leonard because you feel so guilty for letting him be stuck under that bucket for 2 days.
When one is raising meat chickens, one most ask themselves: If I was really, really, really stupid, what could I possible do to kill myself? … and then remedy those problems.
This includes, but is not limited to: bedding, waterers, feeders, doors, fencing, bowls, and the like. Expect them to blow your mind with their stupidness, and plan for that.
2. They have no natural defenses.
Ah, the poor domesticated chicken. Practically flightless. Practically fightless. It's got no goods, man. (That's not to say a pecking chicken couldn't cause ahem, someone, to drop a bucket of eggs when it scared her.) But really, unless you're a field mouse or an insect that moves less than .0000001 miles per hour, you're probably pretty safe from an immature meat chicken.
This sort of plays on number one above, but it's still important to note. Last year, we lost over half of our chicken flock to one owl in one night. Even though our pen was completely closed in, the owl tore the netting at a weak point and was able to break the neck of over twenty birds (they're ruthless hunters, those owls). All that to say, you've got to protect the birds because they can't do it for themselves.
Over protect. Protect to the max. Utilize every protection method you can… and then some. If anything gets into the meat chicken pen or tractor (weasels, snakes, raccoons, dogs, owls, etc.) your birds are done for. The only protection is prevention.
3. Chickens are pretty inefficient.
That is, it takes them a lot of food to gain. And the bugger about meat birds is that they grow primarily off of protein. Unlike ruminants (such as cows) that can fatten on grass, chickens require a much “richer” diet. This, my friends, is why chicken has never historically been peasant food. At least not fattened chicken (an old laying hen or rouge rooster, perhaps). Yes, chickens are quite expensive to fatten because protein is expensive. At least when you're talking about commercial feeds. The higher the protein, the higher the dollar point.
That being said, there are creative ways around those higher protein feeds which are worth the time to explore. This includes worm farms, soldier fly larva, compost piles, and meat/feed scraps. Though we're still working on developing a sustainable and permanent solution on our farm, last year, we were able to cut our feed bill significantly by supplementing our meat birds with a few gallons of raw milk each day. Our cow, Sally, was giving us 5 gallons/day last summer and it was more than we could possibly drink. The extra or old milk was given to the meat birds in a regular ‘ol waterer (Remember, no bowls! They'll drown!) and they loved it. Sal's milk is over 30% cream. Who wouldn't?
Point being, get creative and fattened chicken can be on the menu without breakin' the bank, man.
4. You should utilize the entire harvest.
One of the best ways to raise meat chickens in a cost-effective way is to utilize the entire bird. When we butcher (you can read how we do it here), we use every last scrap of 'em.
The feet and necks are kept for making stock (read why we use the feet here).
The gizzard, kidneys, heart, and lungs are given to the dogs (we feed our dogs a natural, raw meat diet as much as possible.)
The intestines are composted and picked over by the laying hens.
The feathers and blood are utilized in the garden as compost.
The livers are saved for pรกtรจ.
And of course, after we've eaten the bird, the carcass is saved for homemade chicken broth.
If you're planning to raise meat birds, I'd strongly encourage you to make a plan for utilizing all the various pieces of the bird. Not only will it help to justify the cost, but it's fun. I love learning how to utilize old bits that we never see commercially.
But that's just me. And I'm a bit of a freak. So take it with the grain of salt.
So… what say you? Think it's time to raise a few meat birds yourself? I'd say yes. Because there's few things better in the world than a perfectly roasted chicken.
…and because I love to eat that crispy skin and lick the fat from my fingers like a glutton, I suppose I'll need to keep raising 'em. Freaky feathers and all.
It's worth it.
For further reading on raising meat chickens:
- Homemade Chicken Feed
- Pastured Chicken Stats
- How to Butcher a Chicken
- Using Chicken Feet
- Building a Chicken Run
- Trimming Chicken Wings
Melissa
Great tips! We’re looking at raising our first batch of meat birds this year and are very excited about it! What is your favorite breed to raise?
Amy j
what do you do with bones after making stock? Compost or grind up for bone meal in the garden?
Shaye Elliott
The bones go to compose or dogs primarily. We’ve never done meal but have thought about it. What do you do with them?
Barb Kupkee
If you make bone broth and simmer the chicken for 12hrs plus, all of the bones turn to mush. I make sure that the largest of them are soft then mix in with my dog food. ๐
Life With The Crew
Perhaps a heritage breed of meat bird might be a bit better able to fend for itself? I know that most turkeys raised for meat have had their natural survival skills bred out of them in the quest for a meat bird that produces more meat in a shorter amount of time. Some breeds cannot even reproduce naturally!
Alicia
We’ve done both Cornish X Rocks and Freedom Rangers. The Freedom Rangers were much smarter and much less gross…but they do take a bit longer to get to butcher weight. They are also pretty good foragers. And yes, meat turkeys are REALLY stupid too. They will stand out in the rain, just a few feet from shelter and look up with their mouths wide open until they drown…ask me how I know. ๐
T
I’ve heard this, but haven’t had it happen. We raised heritage turkeys.
Brooke
I’m raising my fourth batch of Cornish X. You definitely hit all the high points—even with a fresh patch of grass every 24 hours, they are still stinky little heathens. But, they are friendly! Non-GMO feed from a local mill costs me $11.55 per 50# bag, and these bad boys eat like there’s no tomorrow. I’m excited to try some of your suggestions to supplement that painful bill!
Karalee
Have you ever tried putting some adult chickens in with the chicks. The first year we got chicks, we had ridiculous mortality rates because they were so stupid. But when we got a few chicks a few years later, and put an old hen in there to show them how to be chickens, they all lived. I think having adults showing them the ropes helps a lot.
Shaye Elliott
We’ve never tried that and I’m not sure if it would be a good idea. They can get aggressive when establishing a pecking order.
Karo s
Yup i use turkeys as the gurdian keeps the preds back…
Of course a gurdain dog and a 12 gauge helps.
Allison
And expect the craziest things to happen. On thanksgiving we had a water line to the chicken nipples break, spraying water like a fire hydrant all over our three week old chicks that had just been introduced to the outside. It was 45 degrees outside. We rushed them all into our bathroom tub and blow dried them, praying our guts out, they were drenched. Somehow we didn’t lose a one!
Mandi
I love this! We just started our first laying flock of 6 hens this year, and I’m hoping next year to keep some meat birds. I laughed out loud at your description of their stupidity … but seriously, it’s good to know!
Karen Haynes
#1 WITH A BULLET! Don’t name them! Once you get attached
you have more pets and less meat! And, I find them slightly less stupid than turkeys – turkeys will bunch up and suffocate!
Bonnie
I raised 15 Red Rangers last summer – first time in my life I raised ANY chickens (and I’m 74), and didn’t lose any – kept them in the house in a HUGE cardboard box for a long time, then in a small chicken house, and built a pen out of conduit and chicken-wire for a run. But, they were SO beautiful that I couldn’t bear to kill them, and let them get too old – when finally butchered (a neighbor did the dispatching for me – I did the rest), they were tough. Don’t know if I’ll do it again….
Kathy
I am 64 and thinking of raising some meat chickens. We have about 15 laying chickens now but need to get some cornish hens. They are specifically made for meat chickens. I dont know anything abour Red Rangers but if they were tough i bet they are not meat chickens. We butchered some roosters that i hatched out because they were starting ti fight wirh each other and attacking us. Well they were really tough wven pressured cooked. So the only kind i will get are the cornish hens for butchering if i do that again. I jyst cant decide if i want to deal with all the extra work. I have 25 goats on top of the hens i have for laying and they all keep me busy. I want ti mame some cheese from my goat milk and need to find the time to do that.
Kathy in Texas
Ali
The reason you birds were tough is likely due to their age. If butchered after they reach sexual maturity they are much tougher. If your roosters were fighting each other and attacking you, they were most likely already sexually mature and trying to establish dominance. I’ve read it has something to do with all that testosterone coursing through them. Same goes for hens after they start laying.
Dani Brown
As a busy mom of 4 who also does daycare and is starting to homeschool, I rarely have time to read any entire blog post, except your’s. Your post speak to me and one of your posts is why I have frozen chicken feet in my freezer, chicken feet that scared me today because the roosters had black skin and it looked like frozen snake in the bag, instead of something “normal” like chicken feet. Thanks for sharing.
Brenda
Chicken feet in your slow cooker will make an incredible flavorful broth !
My mom taught me this ๐๐๐
Emi
Gizzards are especially delicious, hearts too!
Susan
What breed of chicken is that in your pictures?
Shaye Elliott
Not sure which pictures you mean. Maybe freedom rangers, but we have lots of different kinds
Mary N.
Bonnies comments brought back memories. I’m 75 now but back in my younger days on the farm, I used to raise 150 to 250 chickens every year for butchering and I had about 50 laying hens. When they got old, i cleaned them and then cooked them until I could get the meat off the bones, then put them in canning jars along with the broth and pressured them in the pressure canner. That makes for good instant meat for chicken & noodles, or chicken salad and a variety of other uses. I feel your pain, Shaye, with raising chickens. I sometimes thought I needed my head examined for raising chickens, but with a growing family of 4 at the time, it was a necessity as well as a huge garden and canning and freezing everything. Those were the days!!! But I wouldn’t change it for anything. I still garden some but I let one of my daughters do the chickens & beef, etc. and she shares eggs, milk etc. with me. I buy what chickiens I use now from some Amish people North of me. I admire you “youngsters” for wanting good nourishment for your families. Keep it up gals, it’s well worth it.
Lian Peet
We tried our first batch of meat chickens recently. Raised them n the stable until they were old enough to go out on pasture…whaddya know? Very first night all eaten by a fox!
Shelby
Shaye,
Thank you so much for your blog! We are making the big move 2 miles from the city to the country on 5 acres next week! I have been planning, praying, planning, reading your blog, praying, preparing…. I’m so thankful for all of your tips and wisdom. So excited for the journey! So far we just have bees and will be getting chicks next week. I am converting an old 58 shasta vintage trailer into a chicken coop- “The Coop DeVille” we will call her. Anywho- keep up the amazing work and thanks again!
Shelby
Michelle
Have you tried yellow peas? They make great protein without breaking the bank. This year I had feed custom mixed for my birds with peas/wheat/barley. We’ll clabber raw milk too. Great article.
Shaye Elliott
I’ve never tried those. Is there a variety that you like to use?
Candi
I agree with you. I love eating those meat chickens.
But keeping them alive (so you can kill them) is another story!
Jen
All 100% true! I made the mistake of trying to raise 18 meat birds in town, thinking they would be like our sweet, smart layers. Not! What a poopy, fly infested mess! I thought my neighbors were going to show up at my door some night with torches and snow shovels! I will never do them in town again-we raise them with a friend out in the country and are counting the days to butchering day. I fully understand the struggle to keep them alive and healthy until we help them meet their end. Enjoy your posts!
Giovanna
Hi Shaye. In my homeland, we grill chicken hearts and cook the gizzard. Gizzard is actually quite tasty. There is also a traditional dish called “frango ao molho pardo” that uses the blood. It’s quite a famous there. And blood is a nutrient dense food worth feeding your family. Let me know if you’d like the recipies.
Wesley Thiessen
Hi Giovanna, I’d love to have the recipe for what to do with the blood from the chicken. This is very interesting! We are butchering tomorrow and so I’m hopeful you might get this in time to reply!
Thanks,
Wes (in Canada)
Ali
We love gizzards and hearts too! My hubby made them for me when we were first married and I was very reluctant but man, were they good. He boils them for a good while so they are not so tough, then drains them, shakes em in a baggie with flour, salt and pepper, then fries em up. YUM!!!
Nancy
LOVE YOUR HONESTY! So true. We raise about 400-500 CornishX a year and Rangers in the winter (they are so much hardier). I love keeping up with your correspondence. Ive been raising chickens for 20+ years and always learn something new. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Becca
I love how you write—we are living the same truth! We currently have 20+ cornish X in a pasture pen. I loathe them and love them for 8+ weeks. I have been known to accidentally run some over when moving the pen because I get so frustrated with their inability to move along with the pen. The pvc just bounces right over them and they are still laying there when I get them to put back in the pen. The amount they poop is astonishing and I was seeing the grains coming out fully intact. I finally added grit to their feed and this is our 4th or 5th go at them—Dumb!!! ๐ We consider freedom rangers each time…and then get re-enticed by the shortened lives of these stinkers. We also raise Delawares for meat and when I can give up my preference of only white meat, we will stop raising these frankenbirds. But I’m not holding my breath, except any time I go near the beasts.
Sylvia wionzek
I though it was just my inexperience with chickens, but mine too also seemed to be trying to die! The laying hens are much smarter.
Terry Doyle
In my opinion thee only way to raise cornish cross birds is in a chicken tractor and move them everyday, sometimes twice. It is also very easy to kill them from feeding them too much. After 2 weeks of non stop food I cut them back to 12 hours on 12 hour as off.
isobial l jackson
Has anyone tried sprouting the feed or fermenting? We do this for our layers and its cut our food bill heaps.
Planning meat chickens soon but unsure of breed to try, in Australia not USA so difference in breeds plus we’ll have to hatch as chicks are like $10 ea.
Jessie
We started homesteading with goats and just got into chickens in June. We already have over 150 chicks! Some will be for eggs (dual-purpose really) and some will be meat. I was raised on a farm but its a different ballgame when you are doing it as an adult, especially in your 40s.
We ordered several different heritage breeds, so that we can decide which we want to breed next year as our primary meet breed and so far I’ve found them to all be pretty good foragers but they are not as quick to put the meat on. Thank you for your suggestions on how to add more protein to their diet. We’re going to start raising meal worms, black soldier fly larvae, and feeding them all the milk we can’t possibly drink.
Lynda Bryan
Not on the farm anymore and bought 50 Cornish cross for meet. They had no trouble eating drinking running around the yard but they didn’t scratch even though we tossed food out on the ground. Then my son gave me for adult Roosters and they actually taught the chicks to scratch. All our chicks have been free range with a nighttime shelter. I appreciate all the information on feeding. We live in Alaska and feed is a real consideration to raising chickens. Thank you everyone for the information