I have recently become the proud owner of 36 Rock Cornish Game Hens. You may be thinking, why bother raising my own chickens for meat? $1.99/lb. at the grocery store is easier, right?
The reason we are growing our own meat chickens is
- I want to know what’s going into my chickens so I know what is going in to my family. After all, we are what we eat.
- We want to live sustainably. We don’t want to be dependent on getting meat at the store.
Best Breed
Rock Cornish Game Hens are the best breed to get for meat chickens. They grow really fast and grow large breasts. They are a hybrid breed crossed between a Cornish Game and White Rock Chicken.
3 reasons to wait to buy your chicks in May
- Most people buy their chicks in April for $1.39. By May the store hasn’t sold all of them and want to get rid of them. They sell them for just $.99 each.
- The store has been feeding them for 3 to 5 weeks. Chicks go through a lot of feed. In less than a week I have gone through a 50 lb $20 bag of chick starter feed. These guys eat a ton. On feed I saved $60-$100.
- Usually in the first couple of weeks the weak chicks will die and the stronger ones will survive. Waiting to buy my chicks in May decreases my chances of losing any little runts. Also, I asked the store employee if I didn’t use the chick starter how many would die. He said probably none because of how old these chicks were by May.
Getting started
Feed- Get a big automatic chicken feeder so you can just pour the feed in the top. This makes it a lot easier to feed them and they can eat all they want. It is recommended that you use the medicated chick starter feed for the first 16 weeks of the chicks’ life. In my opinion, that is a little over kill, six weeks should be plenty. If you don’t want to use medicated feed, buy extra chicks because some will die without using the special feed. Gradually introduce the new feed into their diet. My dad and I are making our own feed from home grown corn and wheat.
Pen- I built them a 4’ x 4’ pen out of plywood I had lying around. I needed it that large because I bought so many chicks. If you only buy 5-10 chicks, you could just use a big cardboard box. Once they have out grown that box, you can move them into a cage outside. Put them in a chicken coop if you have one. Another option is making an A-frame chicken tractor.
Water- Buy a large automatic chicken waterer. The best ones are the ones you can unscrew and pour water in at the top. All these chickens do is eat and drink. They will go though water really fast. My 36 chicks go through almost 3 gallons of water per day.
Heat lamp- While they are in their first box, make sure you put a heat lamp on them to keep them warm. You can use a 100-watt bulb. However, it would be best to buy a heat lamp bulb.
Raising chicks is pretty easy. Make sure they are getting all the water and feed they need. In 6 to 12 weeks (depending on the size you want them) they will be ready to butcher. A rule of thumb to follow is after being butchered they will weigh 1/3 less. If you let them get to 9 lbs they will be a 6 lb dressed chicken. There is nothing like homegrown chicken where you know 100% what it has been fed.
Authored by Steven Cooper Google
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