Pollos.

Raising chickens for meat is simple. The ones here are a few days old. In three weeks they'll be the size of "Cornish game hens" and in another three weeks, they'll be the size of the roasters that you can buy at the grocery store. And for your trouble, at six weeks they'll have cost you about three bucks each.

"Isn't that what I pay for them at the store?" you say. I say, "Sure. But what are you buying?"

My chickens aren't given hormones or antibiotics or kept in cages the size of a shoebox. I know what they're eating and where they came from and how they were handled, slaughtered, and stored. And it's easy to do. Give it a try.

Cornish-cross chickens are a cross between a White Rock and a Dark Cornish. The result is a broad-breasted broiler-type chicken that reaches 3-4# in around 5 weeks and 5-7# around 8 weeks. They offer excellent feed conversion and, despite claims to the contrary, are quite easy to raise without health problems. For an individual that has the time and prefers a more traditional bird, there are a few dozen standardbreeds that will be table-ready in around 12 weeks. I like the Cornish because they're inexpensive to buy as chicks (about 99 cents) and because I like to load my freezer up a few times a year and the faster growing birds keep me from having to have so many at any one time.



Everything you need to get started, minus the brooder pen and chicks.

To get started you need a brooder lamp & bulb, a brooder, a feeder, a waterer, bedding material, and feed. You can use almost anything for a brooder for a half dozen birds- larger rubbermaid containers, a stock tank, or even a bathtub. For now, set the brooder lamp 20-30" from the floor to get a ground temp of about 95 degrees (a pet store thermometer may be helpful) and make sure that they have feed and clean water 24 hours a day. You'll need to change the bedding about once a week. Damp conditions can quickly cause disease in poultry.

In the case of Cornish-cross ONLY ALLOW THEM TO HAVE FOOD 12 HOURS PER DAY. Many people that lose a lot of Cornish to health problems lose them because they literally eat themselves beyond the carrying capacity of their bodies. By only feeding them 12 hours a day, you can largely eliminate those problems and end up with healthy, tasty birds.

After that first three weeks you can build a pasture-type enclosure, a chicken tractor, or a coop. I use a barn stall with chicken wire installed for security. What you're looking for is somewhere they'll have protection from the weather & predators, and have enough room to grow. Allowing a few square feet per bird is adequate. If you're growing standardbreeds, after six weeks or so you can turn them out on pasture. If you don't have predators around to bother them, they'll be fine to wander a bit and they'll eat every kind of bug within a hundred yards! If you garden, though, make sure and take a second to establish it as a no-fly zone or you'll be sadly short on produce.

Once established, they just need to be fed and watered regularly. Keep an eye on their progress and keep a slaughter date in mind. Cornish-cross grow so quickly that if you don't get them dressed on the weekend you planned, they may be in a different weight bracket by the time you get to it. You can always dress one out to see if you like the size, and if they're a bit small you can wait another week or so. In my experience, erring on the small size produces a juicier, more flavorful chicken.

As these grow to size, I'll provide more pictures.

Cheers,
B.