Future BBQ's

[ninnymary]

beekissed, all I've heard here is that meaties are ugly and smelly. Obviously I can't smell them but I don't think they're ugly at all. The look like regular chickens to me. I sure wish mine could free range. Yours are so lucky.

Mary

 

[Beekissed]

beekissed, all I've heard here is that meaties are ugly and smelly. Obviously I can't smell them but I don't think they're ugly at all. The look like regular chickens to me. I sure wish mine could free range. Yours are so lucky.

Mary

I found the trick to take the smell out of meaties....feeding fermented feed, free ranging and using deep litter. But mostly the fermented feed. Takes the smell right out of the poo, firms it up, they drink less because they squirt less and there is moisture in the feed, and they are healthier...way less likely to have heat stress. They also grow big on less feed consumption with the FF. Their guts don't even stink when feeding fermented feed and it cuts feed costs nearly in half.

Some of the strains will free range and some will not...it's the luck of the draw, I have found. If you get the slow growing kind they are more apt to range out and forage. I don't think they are ugly either...not when they are kept clean and can grow slower.

After a certain point I only feed them once a day in the evening so they have to forage for food all day. When they are little they get fed twice a day, portioned meals only. They get turned out on range at 2 wks...the earlier you can introduce them to foraging for food, the better.

I don't even think of processing mine until they are 10 wks or more.

 

[MontyJ]

How much did they weigh, average dressed?

They dressed out avg 5.5 lbs. I wish mine could free range, but the predator count is way too high. The future holds a dedicated meatie run though.

 

[Beekissed]

Monty, it helps if you have an old farm dog out on the land all the time. We have the same preds but they don't come in if they know the dog is out there day and night. I have him on a wireless electric containment system so he gets to move around quite a bit around the coop area.

 

[MontyJ]

The neighbors dogs would be the worst predators. Then there are the numerous hawks. Technically, the properties deed restrictions forbid farm animals, but someone would have to sue me to get rid of them. I only have three neighbors on the road and nobody complains. If the chickens were to start destroying flower beds...welll

 

[Beekissed]

Ah...I see. That's touchy. I'm blessed with no near neighbors and the nearest doesn't have any animals. Plenty of hawks, though.

 

[dewdropsinwv]

If they would ever destroy my flower beds that would not make me a happy person!!!! Then MontyJ would see a side of "Sassy Peach" he'd rather not see.

 

[bobm]

Monty, it helps if you have an old farm dog out on the land all the time. We have the same preds but they don't come in if they know the dog is out there day and night. I have him on a wireless electric containment system so he gets to move around quite a bit around the coop area.

I am gad that your dog can keep predators at bay. However at and all around our ranch in Cal. ... on our county road there are 7 - 20 acre parcels, 1- 300 acre and a 10, 000 acre cattle ranches. We have racoons, possums, foxes, cougars, bobcats, dumped dogs, dumped cats ( I haven't seen or heared of a feral cat in our area --- coyote snacks ) , red tailed hawks, bald eagles , a black bear or two now and then , feral hogs are starting to show up AND thick as theives COYOTES coming out of our ears. Cattle, horses , and sheep are raised out on pasture during the day but brought up into corrals and barns at night. The only chickens in the entire area are my Cornish X that I raise in a stall from day old chicks to 35 +/- day old Game hen size then placed into my freezer. The landowners here own good sized multiple guard dogs and cattle dogs ( Blue Healers crossed with Dingos ) ... in one year in our neighborhood a Rottweiler, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, a Australian Shepherd x Blue Healer and my 2 -90 and 95 lbs. of solid muscle Boxers were killed by packs of coyotes. As for the Rotty, all that was found was his head and hide, the rest eaten. An old farm dog wouldn't have a chance. Such is life in our neighborhood.

 

[MontyJ]

We have raccoons, possum, foxes, bobcats, weasels, dumped dogs, dumped cats, neighbors dogs, red tailed hawks, bald eagles, owls, a rare black bear or two now and then, AND thick as thieves COYOTES coming out of our ears.

Sounds like our predator problems are similar, minus the big cats. Was surprised to learn of a bobcat killed by a car just a couple of miles from the house last year. Black bear are very rare here, but there have been confirmed sightings in the county. I would almost rather deal with big cats and black bears than dang weasels. A weasel will get in a hole no bigger than a mouse hole and wreak havoc. Red tail hawks are everywhere here, and bald eagles are making a strong come back. I have seen them myself several times. Last year I killed 14 'coons around the chicken coop. The population wasn't even dented, as they are back in force already. I'll be setting the traps again this weekend.

Strange that the coyotes attacked dogs. I grew up in deep south Texas where coyotes are a common as chicken in a Chinese restaurant. I've come up on packs and ran them off with a stick. Unless the dog gives pursuit and challenges them, they would rather not fight. In fact, they wouldn't even take down a steer. They had a brilliant way of cutting one out, then running it over an arroyo to its death. I found many cattle skulls in the bottom of arroyos and sold them to the winter Texans as a kid. I had my dog with me many times (pit bull/akita) and the coyotes had no interest in tangling. They just wanted to be away.

 

[seedcorn]

Our coyotes hunt down, kill, and eat dogs here.

Pack sent a female out to entice my male dog out. He went for her, out leaped a pack hiding behind elm tree in dark. He couldn't turn fast enough to come back. Lucky for him, I came around corner and yelled. Pack took off thinking I had a gun.

Here coyotes are hunted as vermin they are.