Podcasts about cornish cross

Mother Earth News and Friends

Play Episode Listen Later May 5, 2020 64:18

This episode has a downloadable worksheet to help you apply the concepts discussed in the podcast episode to your situation. Get it by email here. I assume that when it comes to choosing a breed of chicken for your pastured poultry flock, you will have a favorite breed. As you research birds, you'll make a list of potential options that would appear to be great birds. Finding information about chickens on the internet is easy; however, my goal is to give you a way to judge the economic impact on your pastured poultry business, not as a way to recommend one choice over another, but as way to set expectations and and calibrate your choice of chicken to your actual goals. Evaluating the Genetic Potential of Breeds Every single meat bird or laying hen you raise has a potential. As a manager, you either bring out that potential or you suppress it. We'll talk about how you can bring out the genetic potential of your flock in the following episodes. For now, know what the genetic potential of your chicken choices are. Every breeder has this information for meat birds and for layers, and if you're buying heritage breeds from someone, think twice about buying chickens from a breeder who cannot articulate important concepts such as feed conversion, carcass size, growout time, and lay rate. But don't rely on the book knowledge. At some point you need to do the work. You need to measure your actual results, compare it against the potential, and then use that information to make decisions about management, pricing, markets, etc. Choosing a Meat Bird for Your Pastured Poultry Flock Nobody can tell you what the perfect meat bird is for your flock. Instead you're going to need to research a breed, match up the breed to your business goals, raise the birds, and then evaluate your results. In the podcast episode, we dig deep into the genetic potential of several popular meat birds and extrapolate that information to get a price per pound for labor and feed. How much more does it cost you in feed to raise a Freedom Ranger compared to a Cornish Cross? How about the Robust White? How does the feed and labor of the Freedom Ranger compare the labor of the Delaware? I cover all those questions and more in the episode, and in the accompanying worksheet. The worksheet provides a reference for all the values and explains the calculations. Things to know when choosing and evaluating meat chickens. Expected growout time Expected carcass weight Feed Conversion Ratio Choosing a Layer Breed for Your Pastured Poultry Flock The layer specific analysis picks up at 42 minute. On the podcast episode, I run through similar comparisons as the meat bird and try to really hone in on the labor and feed cost of a dozen eggs. For layers, the golden metric is lay rate, which is a calculation of how many eggs a hen lays over a period of time. For example, ten hens with an 80% lay rate will produce eight eggs per day. Things to know when evaluating layers: Expected age of lay Expected lay rate The amount of feed to make one dozen eggs The plan for dealing with the boys In this episode: All breeds have genetic potential I'm not a cornish cross fan boy, but if you mame your birds you're at fault It's hard to change the birds. It's much easier to change how you manage them Compare production data for Cornish Cross, Freedom Ranger, SASSO, Robust White, and Delaware Evaluate cost per pound in terms of feed and labor Things to know when buying meat birds Compare production data for Layers (red sexlinks and heritage) (timestamp 42:02) The male problem How lay rate affects margin The "economy of scale" of chickens Listener question about managing a hybrid from two heritage birds I created an editable PDF worksheet to help you work through the concepts in this episode. Get it by email. This episode of Pastured Poultry Talk sponsored by Windy Meadows Hatchery. Windy Meadows Hatchery supplies day old broiler chicks from their family run hatchery. If you're looking for a supplier for your chicks, talk to the people who are directly responsible for hatching and shipping your birds. Tell them you heard about them from Pastured Poultry Talk. Contact Windy Meadows Hatchery. If you’re looking for fences that work from the people who use them everyday, contact Premier at 800-282-6631 or visit their website to request an informational catalog. Badger's Millside Farm is a distributor of Ready-to-Lay Pullets. Ask about full beak, non-gmo, certified organic, soy free, and more. Learn more.

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Pastured Poultry Alternatives to the Cornish Cross Chicken with Luke Groce (GFL144)

Grassfed Life

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 1, 2020 53:54

Farmer Luke Groce discusses some of the different breeds he has tried on his farm in his open cell pastured poultry system. Listen to more episodes with Luke Groce at https://grocefamilyfarm.com/pages/the-pasture-raised-podcast Not sure where to start? Want to take your farm to the next level? Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses or visit https://www.grassfedlife.co

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Pastured Poultry Alternatives to the Cornish Cross Chicken with Luke Groce (GFL144)

Permaculture Voices

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 1, 2020 53:54

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Broiler Chickens

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 26, 2020 44:37

Hank Will and Carla Tilghman chat about broilers. Learn more about Cornish Cross hens, how to raise, feed, house, and process these chickens.

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Might Be The Best Thing We've Ever Done With The Cornish Cross Chickens & It Wasn't On Purpose! Cogcast Podcast #48

Cog Hill Farm | Cogcast Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 21, 2019 22:03

In This Family Farm Episode of the Cogcast Podcast, I talk about how we recently started our cornish cross meat chickens in our free range system instead of the chick brooder that we normally start them out in, & this might be one of the best things we ever done! For the Best Gardening Tools & Premium Seeds on the Market, Check out the guys over at Hoss Tools: https://shrsl.com/11a6g For all your Cog Hill Farm Merchandise & shirts, go to https://www.thecoghillfarm.com Check out our MAIN YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/CogHillFarmJasonSmith Thanks for listening to the Cogcast Podcast, & have the Best Day Ever & Keep Dancing!!!

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Cornish Cross Meat Chickens - How & Why Do We Feed Ours This Way? #47 Cogcast Podcast

Cog Hill Farm | Cogcast Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 16, 2019 22:06

The Cogcast Podcast is BACK! I am so sorry to all the podcast fans out there, but I had to just take a break bc I was starting to get a little burned out, but I am refreshed & we are BACK, & today we are talking raising meat chickens & how & why I feed ours this way. For the Best Gardening Tools & Premium Seeds on the Market, Check out the guys over at Hoss Tools: https://shrsl.com/11a6g For all your Cog Hill Farm Merchandise & shirts, go to https://www.thecoghillfarm.com Check out our MAIN YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/CogHillFarmJasonSmith Thanks for listening to the Cogcast Podcast, & have the Best Day Ever & Keep Dancing!!!

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Feeding Cornish Cross Chickens: How Much Should They Eat?

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2019 32:49

Feeding Cornish Cross chickens the right way is so important. If you overfeed them, you will end up with leg issues, heart attacks, and early death. So how much food should they eat? What does it cost to raise a Cornish Cross from day old chick all the way to freezer camp? Let me share with you the stats and tips I've learned after seven years of raising them. (Listen to today’s podcast by clicking on the play button on the black player bar above, or find the Farmish Kind of Life podcast on your favorite podcast player!) Amy, hold up. If Cornish Cross need such special care, why raise them? Why not raise a bird with more room for error? We've tried other meat birds, but choose to raise Cornish Cross because when all is said and done, we get the most bang for our buck with this breed. Dollar in, dollar out, it's the most efficient bird to raise for the meat you get. If you're trying to figure out what kind of meat bird is right for your homestead—because Cornish Cross aren't always the best choice—you can check out my book Choosing the Right Meat Chicken for Your Homestead, which compares five different chicken breed options that are often suggested to raise for meat. New to feeding Cornish Cross chickens? If you are new to raising and feeding Cornish Cross chickens, you may not realize how different they are from other chicken breeds. Cornish Cross birds are bred to grow fast. If you don't feed them correctly, they will grow too quickly and that's when you start to see sloth like birds that do nothing but sit and wait at the food pan for their next meal—partly because they're lazy, but also because they can't walk due to leg issues. You will also have chickens die off early because their hearts can't keep up with the growth. The best way to explain Cornish Cross is by telling you about a dog we used to have when I was younger. He used to bring us his food bowl when he was hungry. We thought it was cute, so we'd refill it. Every. Single. Time. You can imagine what happened. Cornish Cross are like that dog because they will try to convince you every time they see you that they are hungry and need to eat and if you don't feed them right now, they are going to die. And so the first time you raise them (just like our first time raising them) you may find that you're going through a ton of food—and totally overfeeding them. Which means they grow too fast. They have lots of issues. They die early. So let's talk about a better way to feed them. Suggested stats for feeding Cornish Cross Let's be clear: you cannot free feed Cornish Cross. You have to pay attention to how much you are feeding them. According to the back of the 50 lb bag of meat bird feed that we purchase, it states that (in a perfect world) in 8 weeks, 10-12 pounds of food will raise a Cornish Cross to a 5 lb. dressed product. (Dressed means feathers gone, insides gone, cleaned, bagged, ready for the freezer. Basically, what you'd be buying at the store if you went to purchase a whole bird for supper.) So. 1 bird. 8 weeks. 10-12 pounds of feed = 5 lb dressed bird. Which means—using the 12 lb per bird amount—50 birds would require 600 pounds of food total over the course of 8 weeks, or 12 (50 lb) bags of feed total. Doing the math, if it is suggested that 12 bags of feed will raise up 50 Cornish Cross in 8 weeks, that means you're feeding a little more than a bag a week to a flock of 50 birds. But is this realistic? Well. Let's see what we did. Our stats for feeding Cornish Cross (CC) In full disclosure, our stats are from CC raised in a very (very) large coop. My commentary on free ranging/chicken tractoring CCs is at the end of this blog post. We started with 50 chicks. One died the day after shipping. It is not uncommon for this to happen. We raised 49 birds all the way to butcher day. I fed 900 pounds (or 18 bags) to 49 birds in 8 weeks and had an average dressed weight of 5 lbs. 900 pounds is 300 pounds above what the suggested feeding is for...

time single chicken feeding dollar cc dressed ccs cornish cross

Chicken Butchering Set Up: 7 Things You Need

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 5, 2019 31:54

Chicken butchering day is quite an event here at Clucky Dickens Farm. When we butcher, it's usually no less than 50 birds at a time. I'd like to share with you the open air chicken butchering set up that we've come to use after several years of chicken butchering experience. (Listen to today’s podcast by clicking on the play button on the black player bar above, or find the Farmish Kind of Life podcast on your favorite podcast player!) First of all -- if you aren't quite sure how to butcher a chicken, let me explain how to do that. If you already know how to -- let's take a look at all the items we use (in the order they are used) in the processing of our birds. Ready? Chicken Butchering Set Up Item #1: Kill Cones Also known as restraint cones, these are cones that the birds go into upside down, head first. The cone part keeps their wings from flapping, and you pull their head down through the hole in the bottom to cut their jugular. You can buy kill cones or you can make them yourself from heavy plastic or a similar material. If possible, it's nice to have adjustable cones (or make inserts that will go inside of them) so you can use the same cone for butchering different sized birds. Remember, there is a big difference in the size of an egg bird, a Cornish Cross, and a turkey. With a large cone, the egg birds might fall through into the bucket below. With a small cone, Cornish Cross birds will not fit to the bottom of the cone to pull their head through. Normally you would attach the kill cones to a wall or a fence post. We built this stand out of recycled materials around the farm and it has worked out well for us. It is sturdy and the ledge on the bottom holds the buckets at just the right height to catch the blood with minimal mess. You may also like: 10 Tips for Home Butchering Chicken Butchering Set Up Item #2: Propane cooker and large stockpot (aka turkey fryer kit) After a bird is dispatched but before you pluck it, you have to scald the bird in hot water (145-160 degrees) to help release their feathers for plucking. A turkey fryer kit is the perfect set up to get this done. In the photo, you can see a green stake to the side of the fryer with a wire coming from it. That green stake is to hold the display from a digital thermometer (and the wire is from the display to the actual thermometer in the water). It is very helpful to have a thermometer so you can monitor the temp of the water. It will be obvious the water is cooling down if the feathers aren't plucking as easily...but it's nice to know the water is cooling down before the chicken plucker informs you there are issues. ;) Pro tip: Know that if you're doing a lot of birds, you may have to add water as your chicken butchering event goes on. All the dunking and swirling of the birds usually means there will be some water lost. If too much water is lost, the thermometer will no longer sit below the water level, and your birds won't be able to be dunked as completely. Pro tip: Also, remember if you add water, you'll have to wait for the water in the fryer to get back up to temp—especially if you are filling from a cold hose. This is okay, though. It gives people a chance to catch up on their chicken butchering job or take a swig or two of coffee. Chicken Butchering Set Up Item #3: Chicken Plucker Here at Clucky Dickens Farm, I've never hand plucked a chicken. I give props to those of you who have. We have used many kinds of chicken pluckers since we began our chicken butchering adventures: everything from a small drill style chicken plucker to this large drum style plucker my husband built. It's similar to a Whizbang...but with a few modifications like a chute out the bottom for the feathers to collect into the tote. It keeps the mess in one area instead of having feathers spread all over the yard. A somewhat similar chicken plucker would be the Yardbird. If you're looking to build your own drum style chi...

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PPT088: Selecting a chicken breed and the value of community

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 4, 2019 13:23

In episode 87 of Pastured Poultry Talk, I talked with Erin Angulo about her Delaware chicken breeding success and the formation of a new association designed to help breeders learn. I'm taking this opportunity to follow up with my own thoughts on Erin's interview. [caption id="attachment_1848" align="alignright" width="284"] SASSO Naked Neck meat birds growing on pasture at Badger's Millside Farm.[/caption] Erin mentioned the need to evaluate your needs in terms of selecting the right bird for your circumstances, and that's a really basic need for pastured poultry producers of any type. The chicken you choose dictates what type of pastured poultry farm you will be. If your intent is to scale up and be a production farm focused on reaching the maximum number of people as possible, the Cornish Cross is your primary choice. That's just the way it is. In episode 44 of The Fighting Farmer podcast, Spence talked about the choice between production capacity, market demand, and what that meant for heritage versus hybrid. He's all in on the Cornish cross, much like other scaled up, full-time pastured producers. However, that doesn't mean he hates standard breeds like the Delaware. Too often people go into heritage breeds without a full grasp on the reality of their situations. If you go the heritage chicken route, you have a different market, different experience, and a much small smaller scale. As I share in this episode, I think heritage poultry fills a specific need inside the pastured poultry community, but we need breeders like Erin to make improvements that give growers an advantage. That's why I wanted to showcase Erin's work. She's an example of a heritage meat chicken producer who is going in the right direction, and the question I always ask when I share her progress is, "are you willing to put forth that effort in your own breeding program?" For my part in the breed selection, I've largely left the Cornish Cross behind. I'm not opposed to them. I think most of the problems growers face with the CX could be solved with a mirror. But I've crossed over to a slower growing hybrid. I'm sweet on the SASSO Naked Neck from So Big Farms. Though I'm not sure how long those birds will be around. John needs demand to keep his breeding program current. It's not easy importing breeding stock from France. In episode 87, Erin touched on the fickle demand. On one hand we need heritage poultry breeders to be able to supply some scale to their growers; on the other, we need growers to demand reliable supply from the breeders. Erin told me off interview that she's charging $10 per chick. That's nearly 7x the price of a hybrid chick. Price in chickens is always affected by scale, and it's clear we don't have enough demand to bring the per chick price down. As a grower, I find that initial investment tough to be competitive if all I want to do is raise chickens for a consumer market. That's where I think Heritage Poultry Breeders come in. This group is founded by people I personally trust, and I believe their commitment to help people become better breeders is an important step. By making breeding information more widely available, we can get more people improving their poultry lines in documented ways quicker. Even though this association is separate from SPN, I don't want to lose sight of Jim Adkin's work. Two of the earliest and popular episodes on this podcast feature Jim. He's clear in his enthusiasm for his work, and I personally think he disrupted the heritage poultry space enough to refocus the heritage poultry community. I think HPB offers a great entry point for breeders in a way that other organizations don't. I'd like to see all these related associations ultimately unite their niches through friendly relationships and collaboration to create a broad and deep community to disrupt the current approach to chicken. There's room for hybrids, heritage, educators, advocates, mentors, missionaries, and pastured producers. Resources from the Episode The Fighting Farmer Episode Heritage Poultry Breeders SPN So Big Farms in Van, TX These Pastured Poultry Talk episodes were mentioned: https://pasturedpoultrytalk.com/2019/07/04/breeding-delaware-chickens/ https://pasturedpoultrytalk.com/2015/07/24/ppt013-not-a-backyard-chicken-club-jim-adkins-interview-part-1-2/ https://pasturedpoultrytalk.com/2015/07/31/ppt0014-coaching-time-with-jim-adkins-2/

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PPT087: Breeding Delaware chickens for performance and utility: an introduction to Heritage Poultry Breeders Educational Foundation

The Fighting Farmer Podcast with Terrell Spencer

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 4, 2019 30:12

Heritage chickens have a stereotype of being slow to grow and low yield, making them a difficult choice for production-based pastured poultry farms. Ok, maybe the stereotype has strong roots in reality. That's why Erin Angulo (Dawnridge Farm) is on the podcast discussing the improvements she has made with her line of Delaware chickens in addition to her work with the Heritage Poultry Breeders Educational Foundation. Breeding Delaware Chickens for Weight Gain As we discuss in the podcast episode, the Delaware has strong roots as an American chicken prior to the development of the faster growing Cornish Cross. The Cornish Cross dislodged the Delaware's popularity. Ultimately that development of the faster chicken growth turned chicken into a common food and sent heritage breeds, such as the Delaware, on a fast track to neglect. Seventy years removed from the Delaware chicken's popularity, breeders like Erin are trying to restore their potential. Just how far has she come? Her first batch of chickens yielded a 3.5 lb carcass in 16 weeks. That's very common of heritage chickens, and probably above average for most people who try the heritage chickens today. Five years later, Erin has selected her cockerels to achieve a 3.5 lb. to 4.5 lb. carcass in 12 to 13 weeks. The variance in slaughter time is due to processing availability. That improvement is not going to put the Delaware back into mainstream production, but it's true to historical breed standards, and it's the kind of improvement that would make Delaware meat chickens a potential option for more farms. As a comparison, many of the slow growing hybrids are bred for 12 week grow outs with average yields a couple pounds heavier. Heritage Chicken Breeding Strategies In the episode, Erin shares her basic approach to breeding Delawares, and it's not complicated. She doesn't use any specially formulated feed. Instead, she weighs birds twice a month to track the weight gain of each developing bird. When she makes final selections in September, she has already handled each bird for eight months and is knowledgeable about what she's looking for and familiar with the birds. Her success is hands on. When selecting breeders, Erin only selects the birds that are as good or better than the father. In a recent season, that meant she kept 3 cockerels out of 75. Heritage Poultry Breeders Educational Foundation Erin discovered heritage chickens through Sustainable Poultry Network (SPN) and was an active member of that association. As SPN restructured and different community needs arose, she was a founding member of the Heritage Poultry Breeders Educational Foundation (HPB). HPB became a separate organization with it's own mission to create a community of poultry breeders and enable sharing, educating and developing a knowledge base needed to improve and restore standard breeds to their original purpose. HPB's niche is declared in the name of the organization, and it aims to make deep breeding knowledge accessible to a wider audience. As a startup organization, there is untapped potential waiting for new breeders to jump in and engage the community. Check them out - I'm a member. Contact for Erin and Heritage Poultry Breeders Heritage Poultry Breeders Educational Foundation: website | Facebook | Instagram Dawnridge Farm: Facebook | info@dawnridgefarm.com Resources from the Episode The Fighting Farmer Episode 44 American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Livestock Conservancy Smokey Buttes Ranch Peak Poultry The Fertrell Company Sustainable Poultry Network Topic Timestamps [mm:ss] 01:02 Introduction to heritage birds through SPN 05:12 Delaware breeding improvements 06:30 Feeding and and selection process 10:12 Egg laying capabilities of Erin's Delaware chickens 11:39 Biggest problems: predators and color pattern on males 13:21 Advice to new heritage poultry breeders: choose correctly 18:33 Introduction to Heritage Poultry Breeders Educational Foundation 19:00 Goal of Heritage Poultry Breeders is to reach anyone raising heritage poultry https://pasturedpoultrytalk.com/2015/07/24/ppt013-not-a-backyard-chicken-club-jim-adkins-interview-part-1-2/

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FF 044 - Q&A - Cornish Cross vs Heritage Breeds & The Dynamics of Freezing Meat

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 22, 2019 39:28

Time to answer some listener questions! Also, Mike is planting some pumpkins...or should we say punkins. Probably! Got a farming question for Spence - email him at fightingfarmerspence@gmail.com. If you dig the show, feel free to leave us a review.

time meat dynamics spence freezing heritage breeds cornish cross

S2E5: Say Goodbye to the Pasture Pen

Wild Oak Family Farm Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 14, 2019 46:32

In this episode we go over farm updates and the projects that have been taking up most of our time. We finally put our Cornish Cross chicks on pasture and have decided the chickshaw is superior to the pasture pen. Our food forest survived the weird hail storm in May and we continued to add […] The post S2E5: Say Goodbye to the Pasture Pen appeared first on Wild Oak Family Farm.

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S02E04: Happy Mother’s Day

Wild Oak Family Farm Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2019 39:30

This week we give a quick update on our Cornish Cross chicks, the food forest, and how the rain has been affecting everything. We then have our first homesteading segment all about Mother’s Day and everything Miriam does for us. We finish it off with an in-depth review of the chicken butchering class Dan went […] The post S02E04: Happy Mother’s Day appeared first on Wild Oak Family Farm.

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Why You Should Keep a Farm Journal

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 11, 2018 17:30

I have a farm journal that sits next to my chair in our living room, and I try to write a little something in it every night. It's full of important things about our farm life and is affectionately referred to as The Almighty Pink Book. Reading through it will unlock the secrets of years past: How much rain we got. What the temp was. What seed we used. What we spent at the feed store. When we started the wood stove for the year. Who we got wood from. How much a bale of hay cost. When the pheasants started laying eggs. But why should you write all this down? (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) A farm journal is completely practical: I can't tell you how many times I have said, "we're planting so late this year!" and then look in the book and find out, no, it's actually a week earlier than the year before. In the grand scheme of things, it's hard to remember what happens from year to year. You might think that this year it was hotter/colder/wetter/drier than last year, but your journal might say differently. To be honest, I don't even remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, so I know there is no way I'm going to remember when I started the wood stove last year or how long we ran it or how much extra wood we ended up needing. With my farm journal I can make notes like plant more tomatoes next year or find better tomato cages. I can write down how long it took to butcher 50 Cornish Cross meat birds and if we need to make any changes to our chicken butchering set-up. I never seemed to be able to remember what time of year the raspberries would be ready for picking. It used to take me by surprise, and then I was unprepared to deal with them. With my farm journal, I can just peek back at my entries from last year and know when that giant explosion of berries is coming. Keeping a farm journal forces you to sit down and reflect on the day: Let's face it - life on the homestead is busy. There is always something to do, and it's easy to feel guilty for taking a break. You can think of a ton of things you should be doing. Well, let's make sitting down for ten minutes to reflect on your day and what's going on as one those things you should be doing. Take a breather. Have a cup of coffee or a glass of water and jot down what's happening today on the farm. It doesn't have to be fancy. You don't even have to use complete sentences. Just take some time to reflect. You will be so thankful later! A farm journal is fun to go back and read: Lots of times I will page through the journal and spout off to whoever is within earshot, "Hey, did you know time last year, we were replanting the corn field because of all the rain?" It's almost like the handwritten equivalent of the On This Day app for Facebook. It's fun to see things we've tried that worked...and laugh about things we tried that didn't. And who knows? Some day in the future—when handwritten journals are really rare—someone else might want to read what we were doing in our earliest days at Clucky Dickens Farm in the handwriting of the gal who lived here. Isn't a farm journal just the same thing as keeping a blog?: Some people ask why I keep a journal if I have my lovely website/blog full of information. Can't you just look back at posts and figure things out? Well. While it is true that A Farmish Kind of Life is intended to share experiences with my readers, the fact that on April 16th of 2014 we got a foot of snow, or that we fired up the wood stove two days before Halloween later that same year probably doesn't help you with anything you're doing at your homestead. So to keep you from snoozing through my articles, I tend to keep those items in my journal. Of course, if you want to be fancy, you can go ahead and write all this stuff on the computer—blog or not—but I don't.

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Cornish Cross vs. Red Rangers: Our Meat Bird Experiment

Homesteady - Stories of homesteading farming hunting and fishing

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 26, 2018 29:20

After several years of raising Cornish Cross chickens as our meat birds, we decided it was time to compare them to another meat bird we'd been hearing a lot about: Red Rangers. So we did an experiment. I bet you're here because you want to know who won the mighty battle between Cornish Cross vs. Red Rangers at our farm. Well. About that... Note: this is simply one farmgirl's experience regarding two breeds of meat birds. Your experience may be different. If you'd like further thoughts on choosing a meat bird, check out my ebook Choosing the Best Meat Chicken for Your Homestead. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Cornish Cross vs. Red Rangers: the actual purpose of our experiment The original purpose of our experiment was to see if the Red Rangers would: a) work decently as a meat bird, in which case we would... b) save a rooster and several hens to provide us with fertile eggs, which we would... c) incubate and hopefully hatch out more Red Rangers! It would be a closed system! We would no longer have to buy Cornish Cross chicks every year! Our plan could not fail! In my excitement, however, I failed to see something that seems rather obvious now: if it was such a perfect plan, why wasn't everyone doing it? Good question. Our dream to keep some Red Rangers, collect their eggs, incubate them, and hatch them out so we could have a closed system for meat birds quickly crashed and burned when someone hinted to us a wee bit into our experiment that Red Rangers don't "breed true". Meaning that even if a mommy and a daddy Red Ranger love each other very much, their babies aren't necessarily going to have the traits of Red Rangers that we would be looking for. Well, then. Must have missed that little nugget in my original research. Cornish Cross vs Red Rangers: the plan...and how it failed. Now knowing that the Reds didn't breed true, and being fully aware that the Reds grew slower than the Cornish Cross, our plan was to keep all the meat chickens for 9 weeks and butcher them all at the same time. We knew the Cornish would be on the larger end of things and the Reds would be a little smaller than they could have been, but we didn't want to set up another butcher day—we already had 3 big butcher events planned at our farm for the year! By butchering both the Cornish and the Reds at 9 weeks, we knew we we'd be looking at something "a little" smaller with the Reds. Well. Over the weekend that our meat birds reached 8 weeks old, we had our first Cornish Cross die—as well as another Red Ranger (the 4th since we'd started the experiment). As is our usual practice when a chicken dies from an unknown cause, we decided to breast the chickens out for our dog. Below is the comparison of breast meat from two 8 week old birds - Red Ranger on the left, Cornish X on the right. I called my husband over and said "So, then. Butchering these Reds at 9 weeks is pretty pointless." He agreed. When Cornish Cross butcher day arrived, however, we did butcher the largest Red Ranger rooster. I wanted another comparison—this time a full bird. I mean, the chicken breast comparison a week earlier had to be a fluke, right? Well. Not a fluke. So, let's discuss how much these chickens eat while we punt through this experiment some more, yes? Cornish Cross vs. Red Rangers: how much do they eat? I raised our Cornish Cross and Red Rangers together so obviously they were all eating the same food at the same time. (They also shared their coop with 9 turkey friends!) We feed twice a day; once in the morning and once at night. Since our experiment wasn't intended to figure out who ate what food, I don't have an exact division of numbers. But I've got a pretty solid idea, and you can take my observations for what it's worth.

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We Were Going to Quit Homesteading... Then This Happened...

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 11, 2017 69:59

On this episode of Homesteady, Aunt, Kendra, and the family update us on the changes on the farm throughout 2017. A year ago, Aust and Kendra were going to sell the farm and go on a road trip. Instead, they have had the most productive year on the homestead yet! They updated with major infrastructure improvements and even got a cow (check out our family cow episode here- you may be convinced to get one a well.) What happened? With small children who don't travel well, and a re-discovered appreciation for their home in Connecticut, Aust and Kendra decided staying at their current homestead was the best choice. Kendra set a goal for the homestead to be NEAT and ORDERLY. 2017 was the year of form and function. Every change, every innovation, had a purpose. Improving the infrastructure on the farm was the number one priority. Our YouTube Video shows the giant machine that made a road to the barn in just one day! An improved, more accessible barn opens many possibilities for Aust and Kendra, and increased efficiency for all barn related tasks. Have a new barn? How about getting pigs earlier, as they can be easily cared for and sheltered in the new barn? Aust and Kendra were able to buy their pigs in April, a whole month earlier than they usually do. The combination of an early start, mild weather, and Stone House Grain led to pigs that were 100 pounds heavier than their previous heaviest batch of pigs. Heavier pigs allowed Aust and Kendra to create more flavors of bacon and sausages with their pigs. Who doesn't like sausages? This year, the farm raised 50 Cornish Cross and 25 Ranger Chickens, plus seventeen new egg layers. This was the first year of raising two different types of chickens, and Just was very impressed with the rangers. Pro Tip from Kendra: Keep the two breeds separate, as the rangers were found to be aggressive towards the Cornish Cross! Raising turkeys seemed like an excellent idea for the oldest Martin child to expand his existing egg selling farm business. However, a shipment of turkeys arrived in very poor health. The two surviving turkeys imprinted on the family as their own flock. With some adventures in turkey behavior notwithstanding, the turkeys have survived the holiday season (so far). Stay tuned... Raising ducks is something that has been done on the homestead before. However, during the at-home butchering process, a few things went awry... SHOUT OUT TO NATHAN: In 2016, Nathan let us know that he had an allergy to duck eggs. Aust does too, and was able to recognize the symptoms thanks to his letter. Between the egg allergy and not wanting to butcher ducks on the homestead, ducks are going to be a "decoration animal" on the farm from this point forward. The biggest adventure? Dairy Cows! Kendra shares her journey exploring which cow is best, taking care of a cow, and birthing her first calf. Spoiler Alert: A cow is EASIER than goats. Throughout this episode, we refer to many of our past podcasts and YouTube videos. You can find all of our past episodes here, and search through all of our YouTube Videos and subscribe to our channel so you don't miss any updates. The Biggest Update of all: Aust is going to be doing Homesteady FULL TIME. This means more of everything: videos, classes, and bonus podcasts. Plus: We will be opening a new Homesteady Pioneers Forum. Want a sneak peak? Email us at Aust@thisishomesteady.com if you'd like to be a tester. Wait, are you not yet a Pioneer? For $5 a month YOU can be a homsteady pioneer. You get bonus episodes of the podcast through the Pioneer Library, plus access to our new "one click" feature that will allow you to download 20 episodes of Homesteady WITH JUST ONE CLICK. Thank you to Freight farm for sponsoring this episode. Their innovative hydroponics systems allow you to grow farm fresh food year-round. Check them out on our hydroponics episode. Do you want to support the podcast? Are you doing some online shopping? Use our Amazon affiliate link and a portion of your spending supports the show. www.amsteady.com. 2018 promises to be an exciting year. Stay Tuned! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Raising Meat Chickens - Pastured Poultry... Is it Profitable?

Homesteady - Stories of homesteading farming hunting and fishing

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 12, 2017 60:26

Meat Chickens are a great gateway animal into raising your own meat and becoming, overall, more sustainable. On this episode of Homesteady, we revisit chicken ownership. As we examine homestead chickens closer, we have to wonder: are chickens a "gateway animal?" Does buying chickens lead to more chickens, then to pigs, goats, sheep, and even (perhaps) a cow? John Suscovich from the Growings Farms Podcast and Farm Marketing Solutions became a full-time farmer. But First: We've got some changes happening on Homesteady! We are going weekly! For the next two months, we are going to broadcast weekly. We are hosting a LIVE SHOW at 9:00 PM EST, every week, live with Accountant Mike. Watch us on YouTube, on the Homesteady Channel, or on Prepperbroadcasting.com. Today is our first time using our YouTube live-stream from last Tuesday evening! Did you know we will be live AGAIN this and EVERY Thursday event at 9:00 PM EST Cornish Crosses' were Aust's first meat bird. Purchased at Tractor Supply Co, and treated more as pets, it was a very different experience at the beginning. Aust is able to reflect by re-reading an old Homesteady blog post on how his perception of raising chickens for meat has changed with experience. Now, Aust raises pastured pork along with meat chickens, and that pork is one of the most profitable of his homestead endeavors. For Aust and Kendra, meat chickens were a gateway to raising pastured pigs; for John, chickens were the gateway into a career. John and his wife both wanted to farm; but they didn't own any land. Not only that, they had been homeless for two years, embarking on a cross-country bike trip across the United States. After touring farms and craft breweries, they knew that living on the farm was the life for them. But, John had a fascination with chickens, and knew how to process meat birds. Becoming a pastured poultry farmer seemed the next logical step. NO money, NO job, NO land; John saw only opportunities. The broad decision of going into agriculture was passion-based...but it had to work on a spreadsheet before it was going to work on the field. John went door to door until he had accumulated several offers from landowners with hay fields he could use to begin his chicken business. He used chicken tractors to develop a mobile pastured chicken business. John started with Joel Salatin's chicken tractor design, and then...innovated. He designed a custom chicken tractor to meet his own needs. With a background in technical theater design, John was able to parlay his skills into his ideal chicken tractor. (See! EVEN THEATER can help on your homestead journey!) As John was selling chickens, people started to ask, "Where did you get those chicken tractors?" and another arm to his business was born. Chickens for meat are great for a homesteader. Their infrastructure is mobile, they are affordable, they only take eight weeks to mature to processing if you use Cornish Cross chickens, and they are a very manageable animal. Running two or three groups of ten chickens will fertilize your lawn and fill your freezer. John has progressed from leasing open land to now running Camps Road Farm. He has diversified to not only raise chickens, but grows hops for his on-farm brewery and an apple orchard for his off-farm distillery. There are two great resources John shares with us. The pastured poultry packet breaks down the process from purchase to processing. And of course the plans for his chicken tractor. If you'd like to build a John Suscovich chicken tractor, you can buy his book here. Homesteady Pioneers get ten percent off! Log into the discount section of the pioneer library. You can see the extended version of this podcast- an hour and a half long video- in the pioneer library. You can do this. But what will you need to make the leap? And what about the butchering? You know, when the time comes to "process" the bird. While it is possible to process the chickens yourself, you are looking at a significant time commitment. At the very least, get a Power Plucker to help you pluck the feathers off the chickens. What does Accountant Mike have to say? Is there a large enough profit margin? Does it get a thumbs up? Listen to find out. With this being the THIRD Homesteady chicken episode, there is lots of material in our pioneer library about egg laying chickens, and now meat birds. Inspired after this episode to start with meat birds? John's books, the power plucker, and so much more have discount codes available in the Pioneer portal. We are a growing internet community! You can follow Aust on Instagram at @homesteadyshow and Alexia, The Suburban Escapee, at @suburbanescapee. Tag your homesteading posts with #iamhomesteady and we will find you and see what you are up to, as well as connect with other homesteaders and fans of the show. Do your Amazon shopping through the www.amsteady.com link and benefit the podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Hatching Eggs Without a Shell – Perdue Rethinks Meat Birds – Helping Hens Be Less Broody

Online Chicken School Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 10, 2016 46:20

Episode 64. In this episode, Suzy tells a story about Gordo going after the chickens, we talk about a Japanese class who has cooler science projects than we did in school, we share the story of Perdue rethinking the use of the Cornish Cross, and we give some advice for helping a hen be less broody.

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Raising your first batch of chicks - What should you focus on? [GFL15]

Grassfed Life

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 11, 2016 52:38

To start the show we'll go to an email that I recently received from one of you listening to the show... "Hi Diego I hope everything is going good for you in sunny California! I ordered 110 Cornish Cross chicks today. I am so excited to finally get my feet wet and stop analysis paralysis. I have made two hoop house style tractors out of cattle panels. I have located a non-GMO organic feed supplier. And I have set a date with a state inspected processor! Thank you so much for all your inspiration. Please pass on my thanks to Darby as well." Given that this person is just starting out, what should they focus on their first year? READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM? The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod

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A Close Up Look at Poultry Processing Day - The Steps and the Process [GFL12]

Grassfed Life

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 20, 2016 52:15

We will start by going back in time by 8 weeks to April 22. That will be our starting point, Day 0 for the new chicks arriving on the farm. Delivered via mail, the newborn chicks start out their life on the farm in the comfort of the brooder. There they enjoy the warmth of an electric light as the play in wood shavings all day while they eat, gain weight and feather out. As we move ahead to Day 20, the chicks aren't as fragile as they once were, and they are now started to get crowded in their brooder. That means that it's time to move out, and the chicks head out to pasture where they touch grass for the first time, spending their first night in the open air under the protection of a chicken tractor. The chicks will spend the next 35 days here, each day getting moved to a fresh patch of pasture, leaving their nutrient rich manure behind. It's now late spring or summer, and despite their growth some will die along the way from the damp, the heat or the raccoon that got a little too close. The others will grow bigger and bigger eating bugs, grass, and the grain that you the farmer provides them each day. When the chicks are around 8 and half weeks old they will have converted all that food into body mass and each bird will weigh around 6.5 lbs. It's a pretty fast weight gain, in a pretty short amount of time - it's what the Cornish Cross were breed for. Now at just over 2 months old, the chickens live in the field, and their life in general, is almost over. Because that day has arrived; it's now time to process the birds - taking that living breathing chicken, and converting it into food for humans. When the birds reach this stage of their life you as the farmer have a couple options for processing them. One is to process the birds on farm. The other is taking the birds to a local processor. That's how Darby processes his birds, and today we'll pick our story right here at this stage. We'll zoom in on the day before, the day of, and the day after processing his birds. You'll get an inside look at everything that takes place between the chickens last hours on pasture to their return back to the farm as sellable meat in shrink wrapped bags. READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM? The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod

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GFP058: What type of chickens to raise for meat?

Growing Farms Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 10, 2015 64:23

The are SO many farming operations to choose from when starting a farm. The one I chose to start with, and that has become the cornerstone of my farming operation is pastured poultry. That specifically means in this instance raising chickens on pasture with the intention of selling them for meat. When raising meat chickens there are a number of factors that you have to take into account when you are choosing a breed. Any option can be a good option as long as it works for you. There are three options in my eyes for which direction you can go. At least in the United States there is. There's the Cornish Cross which is the production breed used in most larger scale poultry operations. There are Freedom Rangers which are quickly becoming a favorite with small-scale farmers. Then there are dual purpose egg laying/meat birds. Each breed has its' positives and negatives. To determine which breed is going to be best for you and your farm start by asking a few of these questions: Is pastured poultry going to be a main focus of your farm? Do profits matter to you? What kind of production system do you think your land can support? (Can you test it small first?) What type of chickens are readily available in your area? Can you handle the physical labor of the different types of production systems? Thoroughly answering these questions will help you get started in choosing a breed. The other thing to try is, well, to try it. Start with 25-50 birds of any given kind. Raise them, take notes, and then try another breed. You will find what works for you and what you think you will be able to scale up and sell. It is not like a cow that can take 2 years to see a result. You will have a case-study in two months time. Right click here to download the MP3 In this farm podcast you will learn: What the main differences in the different types of broiler chickens are Typical systems for raising meat chickens on pasture Farm business advice on how to get started in agriculture Interview with Joel Slezak of Free Union Grass Farm Joel was born and raised on the farm in Free Union. When he was young, his father David milked Jersey dairy cows and “gave away” raw milk to all the neighbors, and also kept a flock of laying hens for eggs. He home-schooled Joel and his siblings, which gave them plenty of time to help out on the farm. Joel took an early interest in the animals and would often help with milking and chicken chores, which laid a foundation for his future as a farmer. He attended high school at Tandem Friends School and received a political science degree at Guilford College in North Carolina. Various adventures on sailboats and yachts followed, but Joel returned home to Free Union and spent a couple years working as a cheesemonger at Feast! in Charlottesville. Selling artisan cheeses and finely cured meats to the masses gave rise to an obsession with quality food and reawakened his life-long love for farming. While working on an organic farm in Scottsville, Joel came across the now ubiquitous “Pastured Poultry Profits” by Joel Salatin. He kicked off his career as a farmer by raising and processing several hundred chickens of his own. Items Mentioned in this farm podcast include: Free Union Grass Farm Free Union Grass Farm on Instagram Polyface Farm Forest Pritchard Camps Road Farm Take aways: If you're thinking about adding poultry into your operation, what breed do you think would best suit you? How can the mentality of "whatever works for my situation" be applied to your farm in the choices that you've made? Explain in the comments below. Farm quote of the episode: "The cost of being wrong is less than the cost of doing nothing." - Seth Godin -- Thanks for taking the time to listen in, and let me know what you think. You can leave a comment below, send me an e-mail, reach me on Facebook , or leave a 5 star rating in iTunes if you liked the show. Click to subscrible to iTunes Support the podcast with $1 a month Past Episodes

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PPT016: Listener Q&A with Grady and Mike

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 15, 2015 39:56

After several solo shows, Mike and Grady come together to kick around some listener questions and issues. We dig deep into the following: A listener asks if 8 week old Cornish Cross cockerels are touigh. We kick that answer around and use the occasion to talk about the differences between raising straight run, all pullets, and all cockerels. Another question asked us to expand on the role of feeding free choice wheat for broilers and turkeys. As a followup to episode 14 with Susan Beal, we cover the common sense packaging suggestions for freezing raw parts being used for pet food. Got a question? Send it to pasturedpoultrytalk@gmail.com. And if you like the show, give us a review on iTunes.

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0147 Capturing a honeybee swarm, annoying broiler chickens and a pre-farrowing pig

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2015 48:22

This week we walk arounf the farm and update you on all the things going on. We captured a wild honeybee swarm and talk about what the process was and how we managed things. We discuss the Cornish Cross chickens that are not being liek regualr chickens of past years. Then we talk a bit about the pig we are expecting to farrow any day now. Then we finish up in the vegetable garden discussing some of what's been going on there! Busy time of year and a lot going on.

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0116 Chicken Processing Preps, Processing Review, Cornish Cross Chickens (again)

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 16, 2014 59:50

This episode discusses the setup and work that goes into chicken processng BEFORE the actual chicken processing event. There's a lot more than just catching and plucking involved on a well run chicken processing event and we thought it might be worth while sharing those stories and preps as well. We then share a bit of a retrospective on the actual events of the chicken rocessing day and how we run the event. Finally we have a Farmers Choice segment that answers so many of the continual questions and misinformation out there about the Cornish Cross chickens we raise.

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009 General livestock updates, local feed and grains for animals, Cornish Cross chickens on pasture (part 2)

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2012 46:55

On this coopcast: Kelli managing the farm and Andy's business trip, Crazy weather (really, it never ends), General animal updates (pregnant pig and broody hen). In our Listener Feedback/Questions discussion: Great feedback and reviews this week, Questions about feed, Other discussions. And in this episodes Farm U segment: Second part of our Cornish Cross (Cornish X) chicken discussion including; Where to get the chicks (hatcheries and strains), Food, feed and feed restrictions for Cornish Cross chickens, Managing the chicks in the brooder.

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008 Raising Cornish X Chickens, water for livestock (chickens), eating a Bourbon Red turkey