growing table birds?

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i am thinking of buying some chickens for the table and was wondering if anyone had done this before and could offer any advice as to what breeds would be best and if there is anything special i need to consider.

i have read an article about table birds saying you can buy them from comerical chicken farms,i don't think really what i want, because wouldn't the birds i have have the same problems like getting too heavy to fast and weak legs due to weight gain? and if i restricted the food so they grew slower wouldn't they just be hungery all the time if they are bred to eat and get fat?

is there such a thing as somewhere i could take them to be dispatched and gutted, becuase i don't think i would be strong enough to pull a chook neck pyshically although mentally i could deal with it?

sorry if this upsets anyone, but i would like any help.
kat
 
Yes, I have done this before.

I have tried fast growing Cobb varieties and slower traditional breeds like Light Sussex. The fast growing Cobb birds can be bought as day old chicks in reasonable numbers but you are right, you have to try to slow their growth down to stop having too many losses. These are the birds that can be table ready commercially in as little as 39 days and the sort you see on supermarket shelves. It's an eye opener to see how much they eat.... I raised mine free range and limited their feed and gave them a lot of greens to jump for in a net to keep them active. I fed them twice a day and used corn spread over a large area to keep them busy. They were killed at 12 weeks.

There's an article I put together on it and there is a contact number for Poulet Anglaise if this is the route you want to take: Grow your own chicken

The other route is a slower growing bird - I think Poulet Anglaise does have other varieties, or there's Sasso table birds. I tried utiltiy light sussex too and they were about 20 weeks old before they were ready but were smaller.

Other slow growers you could try are Cornish (White), Barred Plymouth Rock or Dorking.

For the slaughter, I can only think of a local farmer, gamekeeper or someone that has this experience. It's not hard to use the neck dislocation method over your knee but you really should be shown how to do it and ideally practice on a dead bird like shot pheasants first to give you the confidence. There are some people that feather, gut and pluck large numbers of pheasants from local shoots - maybe they would be a good line of enquiry for the preparation.
 
Hi kat,
with regards dispatching,how about the ones you can buy,that attach to a strong post or wall.They are metal and I think you place the bird with it's neck in the dispatcher and pull.I've seen them for sale on a few poultry sites like the Domestic fowl trust and one in glos called fosters poultry.
That might make it easier,and,you could still practise with a pheasant,especially if you don't know someone local to you that would be willing to show you or assist.
Fair play to you,home raised chicken will be far better and nicer than any you could buy,I think I would get attached and unable to dispatch them if I went this route.
 
I really don't like the hand pull despatchers - they crush the neck rather than dislocate and unless they are set up correctly can cause an awful lot of pain for the bird.

I spent some time researching these and ended up seeking the views of the humane slaughter association. I still think neck dislocation is the best method at home if done correctly.

I wrote a blog post about it when I was finding this out over the summer:

The correct method to dispatch a chicken?
 
thanks for explaining that Tim,I wasn't sure how they worked as I haven't used one.I did read an article on the humane slaughter association site regarding neck breaking.Would just be preferable for a lot of people who haven't done this method to be shown how to do it.
 
thank you for your advice i'm going to try and find some old table varities may rare breed types i know i'll pay more but were paying about £28 - £30 for an organic free range chicken. so it might save some money as well as stopping us buying the commeriacally grown ones.

where we live there is a big hunting shoot fishing fraturnity i shouldn't be hard to find some one to help.

kat
 
I've used Sassos in the past for table birds. 20 weeks, so slower growing but not as slow as a traditional pure breed. From cost of chick to finishing and having the bird plucked, bagged with giblets we worked out it was about £6 per bird.

Once ours were big enough they were totally free ranging and had organic pellets. The meat was lovely. Dark on the legs, tender elsewhere. And Sassos grow to a decent size and we had one for our Christmas dinner (cock bird as bit bigger)

If you are prepared to pay £30 per bird I would say thats somewhat ott. An organic free range chicken should not be that much.

Also I'd no go for rare breeds as again, cost wise its expensive. If you are trying to save money then look to a redily available bird that can easily be restocked. Light Sussex are good for this. 6 months total time for rearing to table. Compared to the compromise of the Sasso which is a bit less time wise. Sassos can be bought from commercial breeders all year round. I'd not get the fast growing table breeds as they are not even really designed to be outside.

Also consider its not so much the bird for the quality of the meat as they way they are raised. Birds kept confined without access to fresh grass, ranging and so on I always find poorer taste wise than those reared free ranging and with good varied diet. My belief is its not what you buy, but how you rear it.

We used to get 20 Sasso chicks at a time, spent 20 weeks rearing them and then have them professionally slaughtered loclally and finshed (at a cost of about £3 per bird). I could never argue the taste, texture and quality of the meat compared to even a free range supermarket/butchers bird. It was far better home reared.
 
i have been looking sasso's online and tring to find out where to get them locally, i think i might get light sussex easier, but only more research will tell.

as for the price of free range organic chicken from the local organic farm the last one i brought was £28.00 as much as three rib of beef, mad isn't it but i was a big chicken to feed about 7-8 people i normally get half for about £17.00 which can easily feed four.

i would definatly not want to be paying that to raise my own.

my birds are all free range and eat everything in my garden.
 
Try to avoid show strains of Light Sussex, it would be better to travel and get a good Utility Light Sussex, then hatch / raise your own from this stock maybe...?

Yes, it's surprising how much good Organic free range chicken costs.
 
i dont know why i'm a bit worries about hatching my own eggs, i think it kind of like, all that expectation and the chance that nothingwould hatch.

the lady i got my chooks from says that from the spring she is going to start selling hatching eggs and day old chicks - i'm not sure what breeds though - it might be worth asking her to get specific breeds for me.
 
hi Kat,good luck with your investigations.I'm sure you'll find some suitable and hopefully not far from you. Keep us posted as to how you get on.
With hatching your own,do you have a hen who goes broody who would hatch them for you? would save on the expense of buying an incubator and the stress of the hatching etc.
 
The thing is Kat, to keep the costs down, it would be cheaper to hatch your own - you could pay anything up to £4 - 5 for chicks from breeders. The companies that sell chicks commercially are hatching them by the thousand and they would be charging you around 70p to £1.00 for day old chicks.

I find I just keep the incubators running through the summer months and after a few hatches, the novelty dies down and once you get the hang of an incubator and know what works, you can have some pretty good success rates.

Just a thought anyway ;)
 
lydia,my hens are too young at the moment most don't lay yet so i don't know if there broody hens or not. not like the silkies we used to have 6 eggs each then broody then no eggs for ages.
i'll hav to wait and see.
tim,
we can't afford an incubator at the moment i don't fancy a second hand one so that'll have to wait - what i think i'm going to do is just buy some chicks for the first year and see what happens if all goes well then buy a breeding trio then get all the stages in house.
 
Incubators are expensive,probably a wise idea(if you had the money at the moment)too not buy one until you know that you have a definite need for one.
 
my thoughts exactly! apparently the school my sisters kids go to has one in the classroom i might be able to put some in there but who knows what will happen to them.
 
I have noticed that quite a few chicken sites do hire incubators,but if your sister's kids have one at the school you can find out if they have a good hatch rate and maybe see if they will hatch some for you.The school wont want to keep the chicks but may well appreciate the kids seeing chicks hatch.
 
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