Meatbirds 2022

 I ordered 50 chicks from Sunnyside, arrived on July 27th.   Appears we got 55, which is more than normal, but one is deformed and not expected to survive.   Took it in the house where it has done okay and is stronger, but is tiny and we'll just have to see what happens. 

Lost one overnight on day 2.  It was chilly, so maybe smothered, otherwise not sure what happened.  Lost a second to smothering in the second week, as well as the tiny one that definitely wasn't right.

There was another one with neurological issues, which kept it small and unable to stand.  Babied it along, but at 6.5 weeks butchered it and another one that was basically drowned in the feed bin during 2 days of constant rain.  Skinned and wings taken off, but total weight for those two was 5 lbs, 3 oz.  Down to 50 birds.

 Chick cost: $104 for 50 cockerels

Also bought a large waterer ($30) and more poultry bags (47.70).

Feed costs:

$42.95/bag for first 2 bags of Organic Start and Grow from DeLongs (up $10/bag from last year!) 

Ordered 15 bags of non GMO feed from Jack and Dick's feed in Janesville (397.14+103.46). Added another 5 bags later.  Ended up having 1/2 bag of DeLongs feed and 3 bags of Jack and Dick's feed left($95).  Fed all food dry this year, as we were gone multiple times and just too busy to do the soaking.  They were in tractors and moved twice a day.  Total spent on feeding the meat birds is: $492.60

We butchered 50 birds all in ONE day!  They were 8 weeks, 5 days old. We started just before 8 on a cool fall day that was perfect.  One 10 year old hatcheting, with me assisting.  One 14 year old wrangling birds and eventually moved into being in charge of dunking them in the hot water.  One adult on the plucker (which was the slowest part until he got an assistant), and then the gutting table had a crew.  We had one 11 year old, one 12 year old, one adult and me at times all gutting.  We had a younger assistant and another adult doing oil glands and feet.  We did have a mom and 6 year old stop by to see and 'help' for a short time.  We started by 8 and were done and cleaned up before lunch.  After lunch it took a few hours to do the final cleaning, bagging and weighing.  The gizzards got cleaned before lunch, so the extras didn't take too long to get into the freezer.

One challenge was the freezer.  They all fit in the small freezer, but the problem was getting it to freeze them fast enough.  Better to split between two if doing so many in one day.

Total birds done: 50

Total cost for birds and food: $596.60

Total weight of 50: 352lbs   Plus early harvest: 357lbs, 3 oz

Hearts: 2lbs, 1 oz

Livers: 6lbs, 6 oz

Gizzards: 5lbs, 2 oz

Total weight with parts:  370lbs, 12 oz

Average weight of chicken at harvest day:just over 7 pounds

Cost/lb:$1.67/lb

Cost/lb including parts:$1.61/lb