I may end up butchering three of the seven in the next few days though. That way we'll get a (kinda biggish) Cornish Hen sized supper out of it and the rest of the food can go towards fattening the other Creepy birds for nice sized roasters. I am not going to be buying another $14.50 forty-pound bag of food (really? would it kill them to keep it in 50# bags? I'd pay the difference, just stop trying to make it look like I'm getting a good deal when in all honesty you're just skimping on the weight of the bags....ugh!!) so once that's up, their time is up.
I may also just keep them all until this bag of feed is gone. That way I can have an actual accounting of exactly what it cost in feed to get them to butchering size as well as a per pound of meat price. Several years ago I'm pretty sure I kept track of how many bags of chicken feed we went through, but I never did figure out how much per pound the chickens cost us. Although I DO know that it's a heck of a lot more expensive now. Two years ago chick feed used to be $9.65 a bag and it's now $11.95 per bag. Chicks were $1.08, now they're $1.69.
Rhiannon is still being pretty good at keeping care of them and she's past the "Oh, they're so cute! Can I pick one up?" and has moved on to "Get away from me!!" because as any grower of Cornish Cross birds knows, at a certain age they start to attack anything or anyone resembling a source of food. I figure it'll only be another week or so before she starts getting frightened and decides that they are much cuter on the supper plate.
Which is just fine with me.
Ugh. Just cannot even raise them. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteI love the term Creepy Meats. That's what I've been telling everyone I have. The hubby calls them that too, or, "The mutant Freaky Meat." This is my first year for them. I've only had them a couple days but I can already see a bit of a size difference between them and the little laying pullets I have. I'm going to try and be good and keep track of what it costs them up to butcher size. If I'm a good girl and remember, I'll post the results for you.
ReplyDeleteI will be interest in seeing what it costs you girls to raise these to butchering size. I am assuming at 6-8 weeks.
ReplyDeleteI still want to do it but will take mine down to Aurora, Mo. and have them dressed!
I hear ya' on the price of feed and the ever shrinking bag size. Oh, and did you notice that C&H sugar is now in a 4 lb bag instead of 5 lb?!? It will be interesting to see how much they end up costing per pound.
ReplyDeleteTell Rhiannon not to fall down while in the pen with them...
I sent the hubs for a bag of scratch and it was 40# instead of 50# and the same price. Chicken keeping is getting pricey :/
ReplyDeleteI haven't had meaties in awhile since I always have a plethora of extra roo's LOL!!! It will be interesting to see how much it costs you to raise your own chicken per pound.
Mary Ann, they are very poopy. And very messy. And eat & eat & eat. But they are very tasty!!
ReplyDeleteJacqueline, I actually raised both egg layers & meat birds side by side one year and the growth rate differences were amazing. I'll try to find that post & link it to you on your blog.
Oh, and by the way, I WISH I were so clever to come up with the term "Creepy Meats".....it was Ohio Farm Girl that I actually first heard it from. I'm thinking she could probably get royalties from me using that term!!
gld, I know we did the figuring once, but it was just "per bird". I'm going to do a per pound this time as it should be easier as there are only seven birds.
Candy, oh don't get me going about the incredible shrinking packaging! Sugar is now 4#, tuna shrank to 5 oz. .....at what point will EVERYTHING be sold in little "snack pack" sized containers? It's bad enough that the prices are going up, but the fast that the companies are saying to me "You're too stupid to figure out we're actually screwing you on the price by shrinking the contents" makes me fume.
Kelly, We don't have that many roosters around to make for a chicken dinner a week (we LOVE our chicken) so the cornish birds help fill the freeze, and our stomachs.
It's too bad the roasters have to be so creepy LOL! I'd be interested to know the final cost once they are butchered, hopefully they won't take any more feed.
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