Chick to Traeger in 8 Weeks **WEEK 8** (The final days!)

April 18-22 (week 8)

This is the final week for the chickens - they have a slaughter date on the 22nd, just 2 days short of 8 weeks.
I ended up with 12 pullets and 16 cockerels.

On the 20th we took our last field trip outside for a few hours; I had to use the garden cart to haul them as they were now too big to fit in the blue tub! It was a lovely day and was enjoyed by all.

4/21: getting ready to go to "freezer camp"

I took their food away at 5pm (4/21) but they still had water. Best to do this 18-24 hrs prior to slaughter, this allows most of the food to pass thru the birds and reducing the risk of contamination at slaughter.

A primitive yet effective way to get a ballpark weight on some of my birds!

So now I was really curious as to how heavy some of these birds were! They had eaten nearly 450lbs of food - averaging 17.5lbs per bird!!  I have a small kitchen scale but couldn't keep the birds in the basket to weigh them, so I rigged this system with an old fish scale, a nylon strap and one of my small garden tubs. I weighed 6 birds, most of them coming in around 5-6 lbs - not bad!!

The butcher was right... I am taking 26 birds to him!!  : )

Sunday evening (4/21), I went over and picked up some poultry crates from Harrington Poultry Processing.
First thing Monday morning (4/22), I loaded the chickens in the crates, strapped them down in the truck, and dropped them off at Harrington Poultry Processing at 8am.

'Ol Betsy loaded with chickens! Off to Freezer Camp!

At 1pm I got a call - the birds were ready for pick up! When I got there, they had 5 boxes of chickens - dressed, bagged, chilled and ready for the freezer. Scott (butcher) couldn't believe this was the first time I'd raised birds and whatever I was doing, it was right! "Some of these are as big as turkeys!" he exclaimed.

5 boxes of bird!

When I got them home, I weighed them - yes, I did VERY well!  : )
5+ lbs: 8 birds
6+ lbs: 14 birds
7+ lbs: 4 birds (1 of these maxed out my scale at 7.5lbs, I think it was at least 8lbs!)

the 6 biggest birds - one in front is over 7.5lbs!

26 birds = 161.45 dressed weight
+ 5.41lbs of gibblets (heart, liver, gizzard)

We roasted 2 on the Traeger that night, rubbed with olive oil and fresh sage and rosemary, fresh ground pepper and sea salt... AMAZING!!!

It is definitely easier and much cheaper to go buy chicken at the store, but you don't know how it was raised and the horror stories you hear really make you think twice about visiting the meat department...
These birds were humanely raised with love and care, and as you can see I was rewarded for it! They have great texture and flavour and it only took 8 weeks!

Can't wait to do it again next Spring!
Count: 26 in the freezer... and all is well.

PEAS OUT!
~GP


PS...
Here is the cost breakdown in case you're thinking about raising your own birds for meat.
(Keep in mind that this was done in late winter/early spring in Estacada, Oregon - if you have the room (and are doing this later in the year when the weather is nicer), raising your birds outside where they can forage will cut down on your feed costs. And I couponed like hell for the feed! It's a good idea to hit as many of the "chick workshops" as you can - the hosting feed store will usually be running specials on feed and supplies so you can stock up!
I attended "chick workshops" at Coastal (Gresham & Oregon City), Wilco (Oregon City & Canby), and Burns Feed Store (Gresham). If a feed rep (like Purina or Nutrena) is on site, they will also usually have mfg coupons to use in conjunction with a sale. Bonus!!

As you may recall, my neighbor split the cost with me for 6 of the birds - her cost was $12 per bird.
My actual cost was much higher as I had expenses for feeders, founts, etc as noted in purple - I will be able to reuse these items in the future. My cost ended up being $18.33 per bird for my 20 birds (not including time & labor). I think it's worth every penny!!!

Chick to Traeger in 8 Weeks **WEEK 7**

April 10 - 16 (week 7)

I added a second 2gal fount to the pen; at this point they're eating 50lbs every 3 days, so that warrants additional water, too! I cannot stress the importance of FRESH WATER EVERY DAY.

With me working full-time and the weather not being cooperative, it hasn't been conducive to outdoor activities so the chickens have not been out in a couple weeks... too bad, I think they like being out on the grass! I keep the pen clean as they spend all their time on their bellies - they waddle to-and-fro, but I do make them stand to eat and drink, cause it's the only exercise they really get!

Contrary to what I've read, I also have not had any "pecking" with these birds. The radio has been on 24hrs/day from the start and I think it really does calm them and make them happy.  I have had no cannibalism of any sort and am glad to not have to deal with that!

Look at them - they are HUGE now!! From what I've researched, dressed birds (slaughtered) will weigh in at about 4 lbs. I think mine are about there!

Next week they will be in my freezer!

Week 7 complete and all is well.
Count: 26 birds

PEAS OUT!
~GP

Chick to Traeger in 8 Weeks **WEEK 6**

April 3 - 9 (week 6)

On the 3rd, we finished the 50# bag of 20% Flock Raiser and started the 50# bag of 18% Chick Feed - 4 days later we finished the 18% and started back on 20%.. they are eating like pigs!!! It's a crazy amount of food. I will tell you again, you have to experience it to believe it!

4/5: final pen size - 8'x4'   (32sf)

The pen was again expanded to 8'x4' on the 5th - this will be the final size of the pen. The research I found states you need aprox 1-1.5sf per bird. That's pretty accurate as they don't move around very much. The pen size is now 32sf which is plenty of room for the final weeks of growth.

The heat lamps are turned off during the day as the greenhouse warms up, and turned on at night to maintain a 65deg temperature.

Another nice thing about housing them in the greenhouse is it has a concrete floor... easy to clean! A straight edge shovel and my garden cart make quick work of cleaning up the pen, plus this is AWESOME compost for my garden!!

Even though they do not have free access outside, the pen is next to a 5'x6' south-facing window that lets in lots of light for them to enjoy.

4/6: getting fat and sassy!

I have now been picking up 1 or 2 birds every day to feel how much weight they've put on... they don't have much for feathers (bred that way), so the weight is all in the meat! Getting the Traeger warmed up!!!!

Week 6 complete, and all is well
Count: 26 birds

PEAS OUT!
~GP

Chick to Traeger in 8 Weeks **WEEK 5**

March 27 - April 2 (week 5)

March 28th was a big day!
It was the first time the chickens had been outside and the outdoors and green grass! They didn't seem that impressed with it all, but enjoyed being out on this beautiful Spring day, nibbling on the grass and waddeling around.

I fenced off an 6'x6' section and put water out for them - they wouldn't be out long enuf to need their feeders.
This was also a surprise event for me... how the hell was I going to get 26 chickens out of my greenhouse and onto the back lawn? AH-HA! I have a 15gal trug tub!! I packed 4 chickens in that tub - that would be 6 trips to get them out and 6 trips to get them back to the greenhouse... WHEW!! That was a workout! I never had the need to pick them up, but oof-da! they are HEAVY for only 5 weeks! At least a couple pounds each...

My other hens weren't sure what to make of this racket!

WR hen curious about what's going on in HER yard!

Our 2nd field trip out was on March 31st - which happened to be Easter. Once again I had to get out my blue tub and make 6 trips out and 6 trips back! It's worth it - I really enjoyed raising these birds so if makes them happy, I'm happy! Luckily we had a couple days of good weather that allowed the chickens some "turf time".

3/31: Realxing on a pleasant Easter day!

Hard to believe this journey is already half over... I called the butcher and made an appointment for April 22 (that is 2 days shy of 8 full weeks).  He was surprised that I still had all 26 of my birds. He said that usually you loose birds within the first 10 days and that if I still had all my birds now that I would most likely be bringing him 26 birds... We'll see!

Week 5 complete and all is well.
Count: 26 birds

PEAS OUT!
~GP

Chick to Traeger in 8 Weeks - continued...

Well, we're half way thru the process and I have dropped the ball getting my information out to you! I will be posting the remaining 4 weeks the next few day to get you caught up... after all, chick season is just around the corner and I'm doing it all again!


PEAS OUT!
~GP

Chick to Traeger in 8 Weeks **WEEK 4**

March 20 - 26 (week 4)

Boy are they growing fast!! Though the pen was enlarged to 4'x4' only a few days ago, it seems they outgrow their space so quickly! They appear to nearly double in size every week. I had no idea - and honestly wasn't expecting - the growth rate was this rapid! They are all feathered out now and you can tell which are pullets and which are cockerels - looks like I have pretty close to a 50/50 mix.

3/24: feeders are up off the ground to chickens have to stand to eat

3/24: aerial view of the pen

each chicken will eat 17.5lbs of food over the 8-week growing period

We started a 50# bag of 18% chick feed on 3/22 and finished it on 3/28.
A 2nd 30lb galvanized feeder was added to accommodate all the hungry mouths. I take up their food each night (so they can't gorge themselves), and when I come in the morning to feed, it's like a stampede! 26 chicken squawking and jockeying for a position at the feeder, it's hysterical!

As the chickens got bigger, I placed blocks under the lengths of unistrut to raise the height of the feeders; the fount is not hanging - I am using planter hooks to keep the fount stationary - the chickens are a bit rambunctious and tend to knock the fount off its base and soak the bedding!

I bought some crickets to see how they would like them - figured a little extra protein (and exercise) couldn't hurt.... they wanted NOTHING to do with those crickets! Those that I couldn't re-catch hung out in the coop or managed to escape by climbing up the wood walls, seeking shelter and safety in nooks and cranys of my greenhouse. Hey, at least the spiders had good eatin'!


Week 4 complete, and all is well.
Count: 26 birds

PEAS OUT!
~GP