4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Lesley]

As requested......

 

We started with Ross/Cobbs as we couldn't face killing any pretty hens - we grew some of them for 9 months and they do have personalities so it was still difficult.

 

We've also had Hubbards - very similar to the Ross/Cobbs

 

We've grown some of our spare cockerels - anything with Cream Legbar in is not very meaty but the breast meat is good and the legs we use in casseroles. We skin them rather than take the time to pluck them.

 

We had some Coloryield and something else (? ) from Poulet on the River Cottage forum - similar in growth and habits to the Hubbard/Ross/Cobb type.

 

We grow our slowly for months rather than weeks and we put their food away from the sleeping quarters so that they have to move around. We have 9 months old birds thundering down the run for afternoon corn rations and hopping up onto straw bales....so they're quite fit. We've roasted birds of 9 months and they're still tender and tasty, not stringy.

 

We're going to have some Cotswold Gold ones next.

 

We've had most as day olds, some are our own hatchlings and we had some at 4 weeks old. Keeping hatchlings or day olds requires heat and indoor space - and the dust and dander has to be seen to be believed!

 

We used an outbuliding in the end......

[WitchHazel]

That's brilliant Lesley, thank you.

[carrie]

Thanks Lesley, it is something I would definately like to do in the future. After watching Hugh's chiken run, free range chicken doesn't quite live up to my idea of what a free range chicken is.

Keep us up to date on how you get on

[TAJ]

We had a mix of Colouryields and County Golds from Cotswold Chickens (that come from Poulet Anglaise) initially - they were meat birds and did actually move about and jump up to perch. I got them at 5 weeks and one had a cold and a foaming eye, which the others then caught. By the end (14 weeks) they were fine. I would have theses again, but would get from younger so I could ensure they all grew strong from the start.

 

Then I had a mix of males and females broiler type and free range commercial meat birds as day old chicks. These were healthy in comparison to the first lot BUT we found the commercial broilers just ate - they stayed sitting even to eat and would have a rest halfway along the run between the Eglu and the food/water. I would not have these broiler type birds again as they simply could not be slowed down in terms of eating - they were killed from about 8 weeks and were truely ready by then and it would have been cruel to keep them any longer. The two freeranger ones were called Cotswold Golds - they grew strong, grew well and at 13½ weeks the cockeral was 8lbs 'oven ready' weight - at only 90p each as day old chicks they were good value and had a lovely golden skin and tasted good. All these 2nd batch came from P.D.Hooks in Oxfordshire who have no minimum quantity for direct collection.

 

Tracy

[Peter S]

Hi,

 

We recently took the leap from hens to table birds, and got six Sassos from Smart Chicks (Somerset) back at the end of April. We dispatched the first on Thursday, weighing in at 8.5 lb "live" weight and a little over 6 lb oven-ready. In retrospect, I think we left it a little late, as he was about 18 weeks and had been crowing for several weeks, but other things got in the way. Anyway, we adapted Nigella Lawson's brining method and roasted him on Sunday - really tasty, not at all stringy, quite decent breast meat, but most of the meat on the legs, as expected. Fed four very greedy adults with enough leftovers for tonight's supper.

 

We (although, interestingly, not the bird!) got a little stressed by the method of dispatch (couldn't get to grips with wringing his neck, so had to use the axe), so we have bought a wall-mounted dispatcher from Ascott Smallholding for subsequent birds.

 

On Saturday, we also collected four 5-week old birds from Cotswold Chickens (County Gold, I think - 2 white, 2 brown - ?different strains/breeds?), so we now have a total of 9 table birds. Will be interesting to compare the Sasso and the County Gold's in terms of weight and flavour.

 

Peter

[WitchHazel]

Having tried Ross cobs, we've decided to hatch our own chicks for our next lot of table birds.

 

We're going to be hatching Dorkings, which we will be using to establish a self-perpetuating flock. At some point we'll get a cockerel from a different breed (eg Indian Game, not sure what else yet) to run with the Dorking girls so we can see what different crosses are like.

 

That's all going to take a while to get established, so we're also going to be hatching some Ixworths and some Sassos, to see what they are like. They will all be reared for Dinner.

[Redwing]

We have had birds from Cotswold Chickens too, the brown ones are faster growing than the white so if you get a mixed batch the differences between the two colour birds and the girls and boys mean they are not all ready at once which is very handy!

 

We recently hatched a Welsummer boy and a Wyandotte girl (we hope!) and are going to add those to one of our more lightly bult Country Golds and one other (poss Ixworth or Indian Game) to create a breeding pen to produce our own table birds long term

[Peter S]

We have had birds from Cotswold Chickens too, the brown ones are faster growing than the white so if you get a mixed batch the differences between the two colour birds and the girls and boys mean they are not all ready at once which is very handy!

 

That's very useful information - we got a cock and a hen of each colour, so with any luck we should see maturity at different times.

 

On a different note, what feed do people tend to use? Just growers pellets, just corn/wheat/maize, or a mixture? At the moment, we are using Dobson & Horrells' Poultry Growers pellets, although move onto layers pellets to finish. Anyone have any other suggestions?

 

Peter

[Aunty e]

I reared a couple of dorking crosses - did very well until they started crowing at about eight or nine months (my black rocks bullied them and kept them under the thumb), both fed four people with left overs and had lovely fat legs. They were a bit pretty though, made me very sad when I had to cull them

[Redwing]

I agree Aunty e, its harder to imagne culling the pretty ones

 

I feed my table birds growers with wheat and rolled barley mixed in, they don't have a big area to roam in as they are penned so I don't feed maize as I did this with the first few and they were very fatty

 

If you are able to free range them then maize is apparently very good

[Lesley]

On a different note, what feed do people tend to use? Just growers pellets, just corn/wheat/maize, or a mixture? At the moment, we are using Dobson & Horrells' Poultry Growers pellets, although move onto layers pellets to finish. Anyone have any other suggestions?

 

Peter

 

We feed Allen and Page organic growers pellets and then change to their organic finishers pellets mixed with organic mixed corn, 50:50.

[laurmurf]

We (although, interestingly, not the bird!) got a little stressed by the method of dispatch (couldn't get to grips with wringing his neck, so had to use the axe), so we have bought a wall-mounted dispatcher from Ascott Smallholding for subsequent birds.

Peter

 

Hi Peter,

I wondered whether you've seen recent advice about these wall-mounted despatchers? The advice is now not to use them, that the more humane method is by neck dislocation. Apparently the wall mounted despatchers crush more than dislocate ( i think there are a couple of articles in Practical Poultry and in Country Smallholding about this).

 

If you found wringing off-putting, then the broom handle method some of us learned on the despatching course was very straight forward, and calm for the bird.

[Peter S]

Hi Peter,

I wondered whether you've seen recent advice about these wall-mounted despatchers? The advice is now not to use them, that the more humane method is by neck dislocation. Apparently the wall mounted despatchers crush more than dislocate ( i think there are a couple of articles in Practical Poultry and in Country Smallholding about this).

 

If you found wringing off-putting, then the broom handle method some of us learned on the despatching course was very straight forward, and calm for the bird.

 

Hi Laurie,

 

Yes, I've just found out on another thread about the issues with the wall-mounted dispatcher - should have checked before buying! Will give it a go, and then see where we go from there.

 

Re food: I think we might follow others' examples and add some wheat into the mix.

 

Peter

[Lesley]

Peter, the course is being run locally some time soon as well - I'll look for the link for you.

 

We had to cancel our booking but Alison who runs the courses gave us a private course when we went down to see her, just covering the boning and gutting.

 

Here's the link...... viewtopic.php?f=21&t=47547 - well worth doing the course.

[bronze]

I had hubbards. Still have two happily living with my other girls

[Peter S]

HI Lesley. Thanks for the info - Jude at Cotswold Chickens mentioned this course when we were there on Saturday. Unfortunately, I think we have got our timings wrong! This course looks superb and well worth attending, only we will have killed all our meat birds before the course date! However, we will definately consider the course in any case, for future use.

 

Peter

[Lesley]

How old are your table birds now Peter? - we've grown Ross/Cobb/Hubbard types to 9 months!

we let them mature slowly and make sure they exersize quite a bit - we've only lost 1 to a heart attack.

[Peter S]

How old are your table birds now Peter? - we've grown Ross/Cobb/Hubbard types to 9 months!

 

Our problem is that we live in the middle of a row of terraced houses in Birmingham, and crowing cockerels would be a problem. Once a cock starts to crow, he's marked his dance card... If we could get hold of just females, then we wouldn't have the crowing problem, but then they would start to lay and we would probably find it hard to remind ourselves that they are table birds, not layers!

 

I think we need to up sticks and head into the country...!

[Redwing]

We live in the country and our cockerels mark their card when they crow too! blooming noisy things

 

We will have two cockerels long term though but will rig those up to play easy listening tunes

 

We have two girls left from our first batch and they are both laying somehow its much harder to contemplate culling the girls once they start to lay eggs, its like they are trying hard to oblige you when they produce an egg

[Lesley]

We found it hard to do as well

[Griffin]

See that's one of the reasons I've only done pure breeds so far, not proper meat birds, because I cannot get my head around killing the girls. I was a vegetarian for ten years so I've come a long way already. I know the girls I hatch can either stay or be sold. The boys serve no purpose whatsoever alive so I can do that, in my head it's easier. Mr Griffin wants to try some of the County Golds but unless he's prepared to kill the girls we'll carry on as we are with Sussex, Dorkings, Faverolles etc. Our Light Sussex lad is 19 weeks old now, not crowing yet and is becomming more and more 'part of the family' because he's so funny to watch but I know in my mind I can still kill him but it is getting harder.

[Lesley]

I was vegetarian for 25 years until we had some table birds......and then progressed to a smallholding and pigs/sheep/cows..........I've never eaten so much meat I still only eat our own though.

 

We actually found the table birds easier as they aren't as pretty as the layers - we wanted to have Sussexes so that we could either eat or keep as layers.......we just couldn't do it.

[Peter S]

I have to admit that I am getting more and more attached to the (one) female Sasso - the other five were males, and are begining to crow/fight/bully, although they are visually stunning. The hen, however, is really petite and pretty - secretly, I'm actually hoping that she begins to lay soon, as then I have an excuse to transfer her from the "meat" run to the "layers" run

[moochoo]

I've just placed my order for 6 day olds from PD Hook. We've decided to try three of their Cotswold White "freerangers" and three of their bronze "organics".

I ummed and ahh'd over trying a couple broiler birds which are a Ross Cobb type but I found it hard when one of my previous batch was getting too big for his legs and he was a slow grower!

There's only so much chasing around the garden to get them to move I can do. Although I'm already labelled a "nutter", might as well live up to it!

[Redwing]

There goes the crazy chicken lady chasing those chickens again!