How To Raise Meat Chickens

Are you thinking about getting meat chickens for your homestead? Learning how to raise meat chickens is one of the best adventures we have done to help work towards sustainability.

We know where our chickens have been, what they have been fed, and just how ethical their lives have been. We raise freedom rangers here on our homestead and recommend them for yours.

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Choosing the Right Breed

The first step is to choose the right breed for you and your homestead. There are several breeds suitable for meat production, each with its own set of characteristics. Here are a few popular ones.

Cornish Cross

The industry standard for meat chickens, known for rapid growth and excellent feed conversion. These chickens tend to get far too heavy too quick leading to issues like broken legs. As long as you keep an eye on them, I think you’ll be fine.

Freedom Rangers

Developed in France, these birds grow at a slower pace than the Cornish Cross but are known for their ability to forage, making them a good choice for free-range systems. These are hearty breeds that can thrive when well cared for and tend to have an enjoyable life.

These are the birds we choose to raise because we get a great return on investment, can free range to reduce feed costs, and we can provide them with a great life.

They also are pretty gentle and social, making them easy to get your kids involved in the process and learn how to help tend to their care. As parents, we want to teach our boys how to be self-sufficient and these chickens have been a great asset in teaching them how to raise and process their own meat birds.

Jersey Giant

This is the largest breed of chicken, but they take longer to reach maturity. These chickens lay a good number of eggs making them a great dual-purpose chicken for your flock. If you are looking for birds that can be raised for eggs and then turn around and use them for meat after they stop laying, these are amazing options reaching up to 10 pounds each.

Bresse

Known as the finest (and most expensive) meat chicken in the world, the Bresse chicken is famous for its rich flavor. These pretty chickens are much slower to reach full size compared to cornish cross but make an amazing flavored addition to your dinner table.

Do Meat Chickens Need a Coop?

Chicken housing, or a coop, provides a safe place for your birds to eat, sleep, and grow. This can be done with some creativity. We started with our brooder inside our basement, known as our bunker. It is a versatile space where the temperature remains constant year-round.

Since our meat chickens are with us for such a short time, we start them in a brooder, then transition to a tent which gives them more room since they grow quickly. We are in the process of building a large indoor brooder for baby chicks and toddlers.

Once they begin to grow feathers and can regulate their own body temperature, we then move them outside. We have a coop specifically for our meat birds to keep them safe at night and out of the weather changes during the seasons. The seasons here in Ohio can keep you guessing most of the time.

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We like knowing they are inside our shelter so they are safe and secure. During the day, we have an amazing outdoor area set up for our meat chickens that is like a mini playground, honestly! They love it and the fresh air. We have this area protected to keep them safe at all times.

Many people keep meat birds in chicken tractors. These are portable structures to move the chickens from one foraging area to another. The chicken tractors are covered to keep the birds safe from predators while still allowing them to free range.

What to feed meat chickens

Feeding your meat chickens is the majority of their care. Meat chickens eat a lot and you should provide them with the best food you can to help ensure that they are healthy and you have the best return for your investment. The better quality of your feed, the better the meat will be for your family.

Start with a high-protein “starter” feed for the first few weeks, then switch to a “grower” feed. Many stores sell a starter grower combination feed you would keep them on until fully grown.

Since meat chickens eat a lot, you need to make sure they have constant access to feed. We give our birds access to feed 24/7.

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In my opinion, this truly does make a difference. If they are 12 hours off feed as some prefer to do it, I find this causes them stress which can lead to weight loss. A stressed chicken can also affect the taste and the tenderness of the meat.

Always provide clean, fresh water. Chickens drink more than you might expect. Adding apple cider vinegar to your chicken’s water can help give them beneficial probiotics that can help keep them healthy. You can also use a product called Hydro-Hen that helps keep your chickens, well, hydrated, especially in the warmer months. Speaking of hydrated, chickens will not drink water if the water is warmer than their body temperature. Change the water at least once a day, if not more, depending on the temperatures and keep the water in shade.

As your chickens grow, their dietary needs will change. Transition them from a starter to a grower feed at about 4 weeks of age. As they near harvesting age, some farmers choose to finish them on a higher-protein feed to promote muscle growth.

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When it is time to process your meat birds, we remove the feed 24-48 hours in advance to give the chickens time to pass all the feed through their system.

Chicken Care and Common Problems

With the government taking away many of the most common medications used for flocks and making them prescription only is mentally stressful. Especially when you have to travel sometimes hours just to find a veterinarian that will see chickens. For these reasons it is even more important than ever to keep up with the care of your meat chickens.

Checking each chicken over daily to look for issues and naturally treating them is the best way to ensure you have healthy chickens that will provide you with healthy meat.

Harvesting Your Meat Chickens

When your chickens reach the appropriate size (usually around 6-13 weeks, depending on the breed), it’s time for harvesting. Because we raise Freedom Rangers, my husband weighs the chickens. When the smallest of the bunch is about 5-7 pounds, we begin the process.

Equipment

You can use a killing cone if you want. Personally, we prefer the old method of hatchet and stump. My husband uses two different hatches and sharpens each hatchet after about 2-3 birds. You’ll need a sharp hatchet, a sharp knife, a scalding setup, and a plucker or a clean place to pluck by hand. Remember that in homesteading creativity goes a long way and most homesteaders make their pluckers and kill cone setups themselves.

Meat Chickens chicken plucker

Note: We used my Grandpa’s knives and hatchet which is over 100 years old. I grew up on a farm and processing chickens all the time with my Grandpa, so it is an honor to have his tools available to share with my own kids now.

Meat Chickens knives

Also, as the personal chicken plucker growing up, that mechanical chicken plucker we got is AMAZING!!! Worth every single penny!

Processing

Secure the bird upside down in the killing cone, then quickly and humanely sever the arteries without cutting the windpipe. After the bird has bled out, scald it in hot water to loosen the feathers, then pluck.

Note: We again did NOT process ours using a killing cone, we processed ours with a hatchet and stump. So to do this, we flip the chickens upside down while the blood rushes to their head and puts them in a state of “sleep”. Then swiftly and quickly we used the hatchet to cut off their heads. This is how I grew up doing it and how I prefer to do it.

Once the blood has drained, we scalded our chickens with the feathers in a huge scalding pot that was heated by propane. We swished the chickens in this pot for a few seconds because this cleans them and also loosens up feathers. We get the water to at least 160 degrees F and scald them for about about 10-15 seconds. My husband then tries to pull out the feathers by hand (while wearing gloves) from the legs. If the feathers easily pull out, they’re ready for the plucker. If not, he’ll scaled them again for 10 seconds at a time while repeating the process.

Did I mention the chicken plucker is amazing? Put the birds in, turn it on, spray with a water hose, and within 10-15 seconds, the feathers are gone.

Then we had coolers and big trash cans with water where the chickens waited until their turn to be cleaned.

Cleaning

Remove the internal organs, being careful not to rupture the intestines, which can contaminate the meat. Cleaning chickens is very important, and yes, even as a girl I could clean a chicken. My Grandpa made sure I learned this skill growing up and it came in handy this last time we processed chickens as I cleaned every single one of them myself! Girl Power!!! (Side note: my husband said his hands were too big to get into the cavities. I’m not buying it. Granted, he did try to help with everything else besides cleaning the chickens, so I guess I’ll give him a pass.)

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After you clean the chickens, it is very important to cool the carcass quickly in a cooler filled with ice water. We let ours sit for 24 hours to let the rigger get out of the chicken.

After harvesting, you want to store them properly to prevent freezer burn so your family can enjoy all of the amazing benefits of raising your own meat for the best quality at a fraction of the cost.

We did this by using bags that work with a scalding pot. Fill the scalding pot and heat the water. Make sure to heat to the specifications that come WITH your bags. Then I checked each chicken again, if I needed to clean up a touch here or there, I did it with knives, etc. Then I hosed the chicken off again, ensuring to hose out the cavity again.

Then I put the chicken into the bag and tied it. We dipped it into the scalding water, be careful not to burn yourself! Then scald for 20 seconds or so, and that is it.

Label your chicken and you can even weigh it if you want and write the weight on there. Then store it in the freezer.

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