Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!!

April 12: 4 days old

Yes, I did raise another batch of (26) Cornish Cross meat birds again this Spring. I'm not going to break it down play-by-play... you can read my blog from last year (Chick to Traeger in 8 Weeks) to get all the details, but I will give a few pointers from what I learned this year.

I was a bit disappointed this year as the birds overall ate 25# more food, but weighed over a pound less per bird! I'm not exactly sure why that was but they still taste awesome and Traeger up nicely... YUMMM!!!!

I will tell you that I found it much easier to raise them last year (February-April), than this year (April-June). With the colder weather earlier in the year, it definitely keeps the smell down, and I think - even though I keep heat lamps on them - they eat more because its colder and they need that extra energy.

April 19: 11 days old

This year I went thru 475 lbs of feed, and 11 (eleven) 40# bags of bedding pellets.

Feed companies cut back quite a bit on issuing mfg coupons and didn't run any feed specials at the "Chick Workshops" this year, so I had to really watch for good deals. The best deal I found was when Wilco ran an in-store coupon for $4off/bag of Purina feed (limit 5 bags). I had to hold the feed a couple months longer than I would've liked, but $20 bucks is $20 bucks! The best "non-sale" feed prices I found were at Clackamas Feed & Pet Supply - plus they are a local family business and really awesome people!!

April 20: 12 days old

April 25: 14 days

This year, instead of giving antibiotics when they starting sneezing, I started diffusing Young Living Essential Oils. When they were a couple weeks old, a few started sneezing, then a few more... tho they were probably just clearing their sinuses of debris (mostly chicken-dust), I was not going to take any chances. I diffused Purification, Theives, and Ravantsara (not all at once) at least 1 hr a day. It seemed to help and after 1 week, there was hardly a sneeze to mention.

May 1: 19 days old

They enjoyed time outside and got more plump by the day. 2 days before slaughter, I heard this crazy noise coming from the greenhouse... I'll be damned if one of those birds didn't stroke out!!!  What a waste of good meat - he was a big bird, too! I Googled to see if I would be able to somehow save the meat. I was not able to locate that kind of info in a timely manner (not sure i was searching correctly), but what I did find was a bit of info stating that once the birds heart stops, it's hard to drain. Plus I was NOT prepared for that kind of event, nor will I ever be.. I leave it to the professionals - Scott & his team over at Harrington's Poultry Processing in Boring, OR.  Thanks again!!!

May 10: 31 days old

Anyway, I ended up with 18 birds in my freezer this year ranging from 3-6 pounds (the other 7 went to a friend). One nice thing I found with having smaller birds this year, is that the 3-4 lb birds fit nicely in my crockpot! Just add seasoning and go!  : )

May 14: 35 days old

I already have plans in the works for a new home for next year's birds... they will have a new dedicated 36sqft home off the greenhouse (I refuse to vacuum chicken-dust out of my greenhouse ever again!) with an easy-to-clean concrete pad (like the greenhouse floor), and easy access to the lawn (no more packing them in my Trug-Tub!). I will post updates when construction gets underway later this Fall.

Again if you're thinking about raising your own birds, do you research, read my blog (Chick to Traeger in 8 Weeks), and/or post a comment on my blog as I would be happy to answer any questions!

PEAS OUT!

~GP