One of the best presents we've ever received is a Whiz-Bang Plucker built by my DH's wonderful mechanical engineer father. It has been fantastic! He made a few improvements to the design and fixed complaints that were discussed in the plans turning out a trouble free home built plucker! You can see it in the foreground of the picture below.
It's been interesting processing (in my mind it's butchering but processing is a more PC term I suppose) this year. We hadn't done much in the meat bird realm since moving here due to the difficulty of brooding off-grid.
Now, with a propane heat lamp, we have the usual brooding issues.
So our goal now is to start hatching our own meat birds. The Rainbows from S&H Poultry supposedly breed true.. we'll see, but whatever the case we've been pretty pleased with the birds we get from them. We started buying our meatbird chicks from them and continue to do so along with a couple other places.
My favorite meat breeds, in order:
Rainbows
Red Rangers
Freedom Rangers
Though I have a dislike for Freedom Rangers as they are the most apt to cannibalism if they get a little bit of stress. The Ranger roosters can be pretty mean. And thus far the Rainbows have had more breast blisters but in all breeds the blisters tend to only be on the roosters. Carcass wise, the Rangers seem to be a good all around bird and the Rainbows favor a higher weight for a better carcass. They all get to the size of small turkeys when full grown. Carcass weight being 8-10# for the roosters and 7-8# for the hens. When full size they have gorgeous fat deposits and a lot of it! I am most fond of the Rainbows because they are just plain pretty. They have no standardization of feather color. I sell feathers in a small amount and the variety of colors is rather helpful for diversity.
We're looking at trying S&G's Heritage White's this fall for a final batch for the year. They have a shorter grow time, which isn't normally ideal for us but they should be done before our winter really hits in January and February.
So why slow growers? Because they have better flavor and health! I don't have the issues I would otherwise raising Cornish X. Nor are they as dirty. I've talked with many producers who dislike how lazy and dirty Cornish X are so I'm not making crazy claims! If you disagree please comment! Help me find some redeeming qualities in the Cornish X!
