Backyard Chickens – Raising Backyard Chickens For Meat

Raising backyard chickens for meat is just not what most people usually start off raising chickens for. The typical individual starts raising backyard chickens for eggs and pets. A buddy of mine never planned to consume any of her birds but she had too lots of roosters one spring because of a hen hiding a clutch of eggs, plus the rest is history. She keeps chickens for eggs but has expanded and now raises meat birds especially for her family. Get far more data about https://www.critterridge.net/raising-backyard-chickens/

Not absolutely everyone can raise, kill after which eat the chickens they raised in their backyard. But, if you are able to adjust your mind set and commence to consider your chickens as food sources, I assume it tends to make it much easier to make the transition to raising backyard chickens for meat.

You can find chickens that you simply raise for their egg production and chickens which you raise for their meat. Each and every form of chicken has different food requirements and taking care of backyard chickens as food sources essentially calls for careful planning in your part. Consequently, your technique for raising your egg laying flock may not be applicable to get a meat creating group.

There are many issues that you simply ought to consider if you contemplating raising backyard chickens for meat.

Deciding on a Breed:

When considering the chicken breeds obtainable you may pick egg layers, dual goal breeds, and / or meat birds. The egg layers are those which are able to lay good quality eggs, the meat birds are these which can be capable to be great sources of chicken meat, whilst the dual purpose breeds are those that will do an adequate job of each becoming a meat source or an egg supply.

But, should you are raising backyard chickens for meat, you must get meat birds. Breeds which might be classified as meat birds ordinarily develop particularly rapidly and have frames which can be significant and excellent for obtaining meat.

Some breeds that you just may perhaps want to think about involve: Cornish, Orpingtons, or Giants.

Acquiring A Rooster:

There are diverse approaches to having your meat birds. You could opt to get chicks from a hatchery which may very well be a lot more easy however they generally treat chicks with antibiotics which I never like if I’m going to consume a bird.

A more affordable approach to get your chicks is to have a rooster or two around to fertilize the eggs of your chickens. Then you definitely will know what your chicks have been fed. So long as they are raised from healthy stock and are fed properly, there is absolutely no have to feed your chicks antibiotics.

Just before you run out and get roosters, you might want to check your local laws to see if they basically let you to help keep roosters as part of your backyard chicken flock. That is because some states do not permit this perhaps on account of the fact that roosters can typically make many noise as in comparison to the hens. Roosters do not just crow within the morning! They tend to crow at frequent intervals all through the day which I uncover charming but your neighbors may not.

Equipment:

In case you try to raise your very own chicks, that you are in all probability going to locate that most meat birds are certainly not extremely broody. This implies that you just may have to pull the eggs you desire to hatch and place them within a brooder to hatch them. The brooder is definitely an crucial piece of equipment to have on hand to make sure that you could effectively raise your chicks.

Considering that I have egg layers at the same time, I have had good luck pulling eggs in the preferred hens and placing them under the broody hens that I’ve for egg production. I mark the meat bird eggs after which pull the undesirable eggs in the hen.

You might also require a protected spot to house your young meat birds to prevent them from getting taken by predators and also to control what they consume. I have a separate chicken run that I use to house only my meat birds. That way I know exactly what they may be finding fed and I can monitor them extra closely than their free variety counterparts.

Raising backyard chickens for meat isn’t as complicated as numerous make it sound. The hardest part for me is usually to not see them as pets because then I can not kill them and eat them. But, I know my birds are treated effectively and their meat is substantially fresher than anything that I can obtain inside a retailer.