Peepers

Yes they are chicks, but we call them peepers while they are little because that is the sound they make.

1 week old peeper

As many of you know last year was our first year raising meat chickens and learning how to process them ourselves.  We got 5 chicks to start with from Tractor Supply to make sure we were able to do it.  We then ordered two sets of 25 meat chickens from McMurray Hatchery.  The ones we bought from TSC and the 1st batch from the hatchery were Jumbo Cornish Crosses, which grow quickly and are ready for butchering usually at 8 weeks.  The second set of 25 was Cornish Roasters, which actually was a mistake. We were suppose to get the Jumbo's again.  The roasters take a long time to grow. Ours from last year took over 4 months to grow to butcher size.  On behalf of McMurray hatchery, I did call and told them of the mistake and refunded my money less shipping right on the spot.

We actually still have some chicken left from those 50 birds in the freezer. Mostly legs and thighs and a few whole roasting chickens.  Last week was the first week that I had to buy store bought chicken breast.

Having raised our own chickens really makes me question what they do to store bought chicken.  The size difference is unbelievable.  I know that my chickens are fed very well everyday while growing and then once big enough to go outside they also get all the food they can find for themselves including their feed every morning.  My home grown chicken breast is half the size of store bought.  I've always known that store bought chicken had hormones in it but I never really understood it until raising my own. If I can avoid putting processed or hormone injected chicken in my families mouth then I will. So with that said we decided to get some more meat chicks this year.  We decided to only buy from Tractor Supply this year, as the birds we got from them last year grew very quickly and tasted great. 

Two weeks ago, I went into Tractor Supply and they had received some chicks. I went ahead and bought all of their Cornish Cross chicks, which were 13 of them.  This is all we will get since we will be having so much meat for the pig that is going to the butcher today.

1 week old peepers

Since we didn't get the chicks shipped directly from the hatchery, the chicks at TSC were already about a week old when we bought them.  They already had grown their little wing and tail feathers.

Hailey with a peeper

Of course Hailey loves having the little chicks.  Within a few days I caught her putting all of them in a different tote to bring outside.  She thought they needed some sunshine.  She is too sweet.  So now when Hailey has time she takes some of the chicks outside to play in the sun and grass.

The chicks are now 3 weeks and we have moved them to the big chicken brooder for some more room and they are loving it.  Spreading their wings and laying down stretching their legs out.

3 week old meat chicks relaxing

This chicks should have about another 5 to 6 weeks and they will be ready to be processed and go into the freezer.

Here are some pics that I took yesterday.  I think the chicks are funny looking right now. They still have some fluff on them but feathers also.

Meat chick, 3 weeks old, a little funny looking

Meat Chick, this one is pretty cute



Farm Fresh Meat Chickens

Meat Chickens - 4 weeks old

When we learned we would be moving to TN and have the farm we had been hoping for, the first thing I wanted to get was chickens.  I wanted to get layer hens for fresh eggs but I also wanted to raise meat chickens for our own consumption.  I learned as much as I could about raising meat chickens and got our first Cornish Rock X chicks in March. These type of chicks are very fast growing, it only takes 7-8 weeks for them to get to full size and be ready to butcher.  We waited until they were 7 weeks old and decided to butcher them.  I won't go into details but the butchering went well and we ended up with almost 21lbs of meat from 5 chickens. 

I do have to mention that we had chicken for dinner the night of butchering, not our own but store bought.  I had a little trouble eating it just from knowing that I now know the process that the chickens goes through to get to my table.

Meat Hen (girl) Chicken on butchering day

Meat Hen (girl) Chicken, cooked beer can style on the grill

The above chicken is the first of the meat that we ate.  We grilled it beer can style on the grill as we all love the chicken this way.  The skin was nice and crispy and the meat was juicy and moist.  This may sound funny but I expected it to taste different. I really don't know what type of different but just different.  Well it wasn't, it tasted just like the chicken I buy in stores.  Of course Jamie had no trouble eating it, neither did Hailey. Drew we weren't to sure about so we didn't tell him it was one of ours until he finished eating, surprisingly he was fine with it and said it was tasty.  Now me on the other hand, I had trouble eating it, less so than butchering day though, which was a good sign.  I just kept thinking about taking care of it for 7 weeks and then just killing it so I can eat. 

I have put a lot of thought into that chicken since Saturday and have realized since eating it that I would rather eat chicken from my own farm than from the store, to know that the food I am putting into my families body was raised by me in the most healthy way gives me satisfaction. By taking care of these chickens everyday, I know that they are eating the best food, drinking the cleanest water and living in the cleanest conditions because I feed, water and clean the coop everyday.  I also know that they are not crammed into tiny cages all day and night because I always make sure to let them out of the coop every morning to they can run around out in the chicken yard and pick and scratch till the sun goes down.  I also know that they are not suffering at butcher time because Jamie makes sure that they go as humanly and quickly as possible.

With all this said we will continue raising our own meat chickens for us to eat, plus I already have 22 more meat chicks in the coop already growing and another 25 more coming at the end of June, so I will just need to get over it. I'm sure I will, I like eating chicken more than I like not eating chicken.  I'm hoping that these 2 sets of chickens will get us through the winter and then we will do it all over again next year.