Here at Ridgetop Farm & Garden we process our own birds. This post is about how we do it. So, if you’re squeamish or not interested in how the live chicken ends up on your dinner table you might want to skip this post.

THE CHICKENS

Sometimes we purchase Cornish Cross chicks for our meat production. Other times we process cockerels that we hatched a few months prior. The advantage to raising Cornish Cross is that they are bred for meat, so they have a nice, big breast come butchering day. Ironically, that is the same reason people choose not to go with Cornish Cross. They grow too big, too quickly.

Our broilers live in a chicken tractor that gets moved around every couple days. They eat grass, weeds & bugs. We also give them a gmo free, high quality feed that we get from Buxton Feed.

PROCESSING DAY

When they grow to a good size we have a processing day.

The chickens are placed head down in a cone. Farmer John slits their neck & they bleed out. It’s quick & there’s very little thrashing around using this method.

Next, they are dunked in 140° water. If the water gets over 150° the chicken skin tears.

We use a Whizbang Chicken Plucker to pluck off the feathers. It is a huge time saver.

The chicken is placed in the Whizbang Plucker.

The Plucker is turned on and the chicken gets spun around while the rubber fingers catch & pull off the feathers. Spraying water while the plucker is spinning rinses off the feathers. It’s messy, but it works great.

In about 30 seconds your bird is feather free.

Next step is cleaning the bird. The feet, head & neck are cut off and the innards removed.

A typical Cornish Cross will weigh a little over 4 pounds when all clean.

We put the bird in a shrink bag, dip it in hot water, let it rest a few minutes & put it in the freezer.

It is a lot more work & more expensive to raise & process your own chickens than to buy them from the store. But, it is much more rewarding to be self sufficient. Since we started butchering our own chickens I haven’t once wanted to buy chicken from the store. I haven’t needed to – our chicken is delicious!

The post Processing Chickens appeared first on .

In the Spring of 2012, we decided to raise turkeys for the first time. It was a great experience, but cost more than we expected. Here’s the run down on our expenses.

PURCHASE COST

We ordered 3 different turkey breeds:
6 Giant White = $42
5 Bronze Breasted Bronze = $35
4 Rio Grande = $40
Shipping = $20
Purchase Total = $137

FEED COST

May = $90 (13 turkeys)
June = $95 (13 turkeys)
July = $140 (12 turkeys)
August = $150 (12 turkeys)
September = $105 (9 turkeys)
October = $70 (6 turkeys)
Total Feed Cost = $650

TOTAL COST(ISH)

Purchase Total = $137
Total Feed Cost = $650
Total for 9 Turkeys = $787
Total for 1 Turkey = $87.40

The Giant White & Bronze Breasted Bronze Turkeys ended up being around 26 pounds when butchered. That meant they were about $3.36/pound.

It’s personal preference whether the turkey is worth that amount of money. But, I can say everybody who’s tried the turkey has thought it was the best they’ve ever had.

THE REALITY IS IT COST MORE THAN THAT TO RAISE OUR TURKEYS

The $87.40 was easy math. It’s really more complicated than that. That cost didn’t include housing, feeding supplies or butchering costs. Our cost on those items was about $800. I’m not sure the best way to include these expenses. Although, we paid for these things, they will be with us longer than the turkeys.

Farmer John built a Turkey Hut to house the turkeys, which cost around $275.

He also bought a waterer, which he thinks is the best type for turkeys. It was around $30.

We didn’t have to pay anyone to butcher the turkeys because we have the Whiz Bang Chicken Plucker. But, we paid $500 for this best invention ever.
To make the monetary matters even more complicated, the 2 Rio Grande turkeys weren’t processed that first fall. They take another year to mature & get to butchering weight. So, we kept them around & ended up getting babies from them. That’s got to be worth something on the positive side, right?

HOW WE LIKE TO COOK THE TURKEY

Our favorite way to cook the turkey is in my mom’s electric roaster.

Well, that was confusing. Plus, I’m not sure I really want to know the exact cost. It’s an expensive hobby/way of life. But, our kids are learning a ton & we’re showing them the benefits of good, homegrown food.

The post The Cost of Raising Turkeys appeared first on .