S15 E9: My Half-Baked Plan to Never Buy Chickens Again
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- Опубликовано: 11 сен 2024
- For several years, I’ve been asking myself… how can we close our chicken loop? And by that, I mean how can I reduce the outside inputs in our home food production. It's easier said than done when it comes to livestock, BUT I've hatched a new plan for our chicken operation and I'm excited to share it with you.
Listen in to hear me answer the question: "What is the BEST dual-purpose breed?" along with the breed I decided upon and how I plan to close our chicken loop once and for all (maybe).
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An interesting podcast. Everyone wants their birds ready in 8 weeks because that is what they are used to. They are used to big breasts. They want more white meat. Well no matter what heritage breed you raise, you will not get that. I have been trying to answer this question you talked about for years. And although there is some success, it is varied. But bottom line I will offer this thought - Sure it may take a long while to raise them up, but look at it this way - you have a freezer on a hoof as it were. No freezers needed to keep them. Hatching is a different ball game. I primarily raise layers and so I need to hatch out double what I need to keep the layers in production. But what to do with the roosters - it''s simple, raise them for meat. However, folks won't buy them and I don't need 200 roosters as I also can my old layers. So for me, it hasn't happened but only on a smaller scale. But for a small flock, it is totally doable. I did keep some of the more common breed roosters I have and raised them for meat - slow grown, no special treatment. I raised Columbian Rock, barred rock, orpington, leghorn and then butchered them at 1.5 to 2 year mark just to see. The Buff's were around 5 1/2 pounds, the Rhode island was around 6 pounds, the Columbian Rock was 6 1/2 pounds and everything else was around 4 - 5 pounds, pre plucking and evisceration. Once cleaned, they were chilled for 5 hours and then cleaned and put into the fridge to rest for 48 hours (always 24 - 48 hours). This is the biggest mistake that folks make! They forget to long chill their birds. It's like hanging a beef and makes all birds more tender. I then slow cooked legs and thighs from each breed at 325 with a little water in the pan. I can tell you that the meat cut with a fork and the flavor was as I remember - like a chicken! Soooo good. I will finish this by saying your opening and closing remarks were bang on - people have to adjust their expectations, both in time and what they consume. Good discussion.
It's funny that you are talking about closing the chicken loop while wearing your Murray McMurray Hatchery shirt.
I've been raising American Bresse for 7 years now. They fit all of that. And they hatched their own babies as well as being very easily hatched. In an incubator they're great mamas to introduce some out of the incubator to raise them for you..
Thank you, Jill, for always being so honest and real!
I used one of my broody chickens to hatch out 11 eggs. But in the end only had 3 successful hatches. Would have been 6 but 3 stopped growing and never hatched. But still was happy to get 3 out. It was so much fun watching it happen.
As always, great information presented in easy to understand manner.
Jill, I have five 15 week old American Breese roosters. Friday, I started feeding the cracked corn whey/milk soaked to the roosters. I have two hens who have not started laying yet. I believe they will start laying around 20-22 weeks. I also have 11 five week old American Breese. My backyard flock is being replaced with this breed of chickens.
So far, I like their temperament. I did try to free-range them, but when I lost a 3rd chicken, I no longer let them free range. I do plan on building a chicken tractor to move them about.
Living Traditions Homestead seems to have successfully started the reproductive cycle of the American Breese chicken. They do keep egg layers as well.
I love this. I watched your video this morning at 4 am and watching it again now. I've been wondering if you got to the place that you can raise your own dual production chickens. Fingers crossed it is works. It is nice to have such a well rounded young man on your as well side Jill! Good on you and your husband for raising your children with such enthusiasm! You are both good mentors. Thank you
Closed our loop over 10 yrs
We havent dobe the cost conversion, we grow black australorp X rhode island X light brahma
4 month rooster grow out, 5 1/2 month hen production. roos have dressed 5lb carcass
Fed cracked corn, oats, barley, Milk
I had settled on the American Bresse chicken prior to buying my farm this year. A local vendor at the farmers market was selling AB meat. She does not finish them out on milk or any special diet. The meat is fantastic. A little over a month ago I bought eight hens and a rooster. I just hatched 15 a couple days ago and I have another 55 in the incubators. Out of the 85 eggs that I’ve put in the incubators only one was not fertile. That rooster is getting the job done. My flock came out of Florida, so I’ll probably be swapping some roosters with the farmers market vendor.
Very interesting this one, thanks for sharing your journey :)
On the breed Bielefelder I'd like to add something. It's a little more known where I live (Netherlands), so I've experience with it. I bought eggs to breed myself and they're beautiful. The autosexing is very convenient as well. Though they come with one problem: they breed very hard, somehow the roosters are not really well capable to fertilize the chicks, so many eggs that went into the incubator didn't hatch. This might be interesting to take into consideration :) I had a cross Bielefelder-Marans rooster which was't bad in weight though, he weighed almost 4,4kg at about a years age (alive).
I've been on the same search lately, although I add different egg-colours to my wishlist of features, so now my coop excists of many differend breeds and crosses. I've made a list of possible good chickenbreeds and keep adding those (by breeding eggs in my incubator) until I kind-of reach a point I'm happy with for eggs and meat production, and I cycle my roosters. From experience I agree on Marans as a good breed as well, together with Australorps they grow fastest in my opinion. I also like to cross in 'Noord Hollands Blauwe', an old autosexing meatbird which is supposed to still lay about 160 eggs. The New-Hampshire also grows pretty fast, and supposed to lay about 220 eggs a year. From not much experience (but maybe worth mentioning since it might be better available where you live): the Rhode Island Red, fast growing with about 230 eggs a year, but I haven't had the experience really since sadly that batch of chicks became sick and didn't survive.
To conclude, I agree it's very subjective what breeds one likes and what not. For example I was told Jersey Giants, although big, don't grow that fast. Orpingtons are nice but always become so dirty with me. And so on :)
We got rid of our Bresse chickens. Mainly for 3 reasons
First. They don't taste very good UNLESS you feed them like the French ie feed them milk. Secondly, they eat a ton - they are a very expensive bird to maintain. Third, and honestly the deal breaker, they are at best a fair egg layer. We averaged about 180 eggs a year.
We decided we are getting out of chickens altogether. But we had been planning on trying a cross of our own: Light Sussex X Standard Cornish. The Sussex is a truly good dual purpose, they lay tons of eggs and do get to a decent size in about 4 months. The Standard Cornish is a good layer although not as much as the Sussex; but they actually have that breast development we are used to seeing in the hatchery meat birds. This year's feed regimen was red spring wheat (no, it is not sprayed with roundup for harvest here) and black oil sunflower. They refused to eat the protein supplement from the store, both our layers and the younger ones for meat.
We tried Bresse but they certainly did not grow faster than the other breeds. They do taste good, and the skin is actually slightly thinner than other breeds. We found they weren't as hardy as other breeds. Beilefelder was on our list but almost nobody has them in Saskatchewan; in fact, Sussex and Standard Cornish are also very hard to find but they were within reach where we are.
i'm so glad you're doing this----so i don't have to! really looking forward to hear your conclusions as you proceed
Broodiness is why we’re considering raising buff Orpington for meat instead of Cornish x. Ours have always been great mamas and I’d rather chicks be hen raised than have them inside. Haven’t started incubating myself yet.
Zero doubt, the feed conversion rate, extra weight, and short time it takes to raise a cc makes them an obvious good choice. You get double the amount you pay for the triple cross process it takes for a cc chick.
I’m an all the above type, and I do both.
I have 3 sapphire gems and 3 Easter Eggers ( 2 years now) and is perfect for hubby and I so far 😊 sapphire gems are dual-purpose ( in case we need them for meat someday)
Thanks for this video! It's been a subject on my mind for awhile. We're still new, so I'm not done figuring out what not to do! 😂😂
Buff brahma good all around also good in winter calm gals ,, the light brahma are different all around
I have raised several breeds for meat and eggs and I have recently gotten into the American Bresse and I am sooo happy with them also in the temperament and ease of care. They are hard to find.
Northstar is a good breeder but they are pretty far south from you.
Can’t wait to hear your review!
We just got American Bresse chickens this year. So far they are the most relaxed chickens we have. It’s amazing how chill they are. We have culled one due to injury but it wasn’t quite ready. We didn’t give it the special diet but it still tasted really good. We can’t wait to try one that full grown
Thank you
Barred Rocks have been known to be pretty good duel purpose chickens. I am sure there are newer breeds out there now though.
we had a freedom ranger hen from jenks hatchery in oregon that was really not big enough to butcher at the time, two years later we got a free rooster which was leghorn and maybee austrolorp mix. the chckens from those two are pretty massive, good enough that i will be trying again. we had to butcher the freedom ranger because she was 10 plus pounds and didnt want her heart attacking. i would be interested in crossing a biefelder or a breese with a freedom ranger someday. I think there is alot of potential in the freedom ranger for breeding with a higher egg production bird.
I am intrigued by the Icelandic chickens. I've never raised them, but have heard Harvey Ullery speak about them. I'm intrigued because they are supposed to be so hardy, good mothers, and good foragers. In the absence, or shortage of, outside feed or chick sourcing, they would be a great resource.
Soooo, if feeding the other breeds of chickens like the breeze breed ( milk) maybe they will have a better tasting meat also ?🤷🏼♀️. Great information on this topic! Thanks
I’ve never raised cornish cross. I just do not like the concept. I am one that likes to hatch and raise my own chickens. I have had Bielefelders. Not impressed at all. I have had Orpingtons. Not impressed at all. They aren’t hardy enough for my program. I have had Barred Rocks. They are ok. I love my Australorps, but I am having trouble getting them to hatch and rise up to adulthood. Some of them will go broody. They forage super well. The breed that is outstanding right now is the Brahmas. They are hatching really well in the incubator and they also hatch them themselves and raise them. And the chicks survive really well. They take the normal amount of time to raise out, around 4-6 months. I haven’t tried the Breese yet. I may not ever try them because the Brahmas were free. People didn’t want them because they kept going broody. I have been impressed with them. I tried the White Jersey Giant. I wasn’t impressed. I think the Brahma do better. For broodiness, I got some Silkies. I hadn’t gotten a good system yet for them to hatch chicks. As far as the sustainability, as in hard times, I have decided that chickens are a luxury. People think that chickens are the cheap food. They are only cheap in a time of cheap grain. Back when grain wasn’t cheap, people ate other vegetarian animals such as what they could hunt, or they’d raise rabbits or sheep or goats. Sheep are my favorite. I love them so much. They can survive really well on grass, although I also feed mine. I’ve heard all my life about how delicate they are, but this breed is pretty hardy. I’ve also heard people that tried them, but didn’t know how to protect them and raise them. Every animal has its drawbacks. You have to figure out what works for you.
Thank you, great information.
The MACS have done a video on the American Bresse
I really appreciate your review of chicken breeds. My big issue is finding organic chicken feed so I dont contaminate my property through their feed. Do you have any recommendations?
If you live near an Azure Standard drop point, they sell organic feed. I’ve also seen some organic feeds on Chewy, but I don’t know how the price is.
Costco also has some too! Good price point also!
I have Wyandotte hens who will hatch out anything that's in their favorite nest box.. its how I'm hoping to keep my numbers up for dual purpose use.
Thanks for breaking down the information on your top five possible dual purpose breeds. I have come across a lot of info on the “Delaware” and am very curious about it. I am wondering if you came across this breed in your research and what your thoughts are on it?
I believe the Delaware is a Barred Rock crossed with something else. There is a very good reason they are so hard to find. They aren't hardy at all.
Mike Rowe did an episode on the French Bresse. They feed them milk, bread, veg scraps for the most tender meat.
Kevin and Sarah on the Living Traditions Homestead channel went down this road (American Bresse) a couple of years back for the same reasons. You might check their channel/reach out to them regarding their experience 🤗
It also depends on where you live.
I like my bresse but I feel they are not good at forging. I think they are kinda lazy.
The chicken breeds of today are not the breeds of yesterday. The breeders today breed more for an egg chicken because that is what is in demand. You will need to upbreed your chickens for decent meat.
It can be done. I have had to cross breed up my chickens to get a good dual purpose breed
Wyandot
I got some Bresse this spring. We didn’t feed them specially like you were talking about. We have processed the extra roosters at 16 weeks and they were small but like you said - nothing compares to CC. We haven’t tried them yet. We do want to breed them ourselves so we are interested in what you do and think!
I have a cornish cross rooster thats 2 and still doing his job excellently
Black Australorp
Brinsea automatic incubator
Brinsea infrared chick warmer