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nybirdman
Super Member
I have had birds for close to forty years;my father before that.Like any hobby,if you break even you are doing well.
To Chicken or not to Chicken?
- Thread starter RjCorazza
- Start date
bigtiller
Super Member
Back in the 60's there was a chicken ranch on the edge of town. When I was 14 & 15, I road my bike out there to work for the summer. The layers were caged in seven 400' by 36' buildings. A conveyer belt brought the eggs into the processing room where they were washed, inspected, sorted and packaged buy a huge machine.
Every day a semi trailer of eggs was hauled out of there. The local grocery stores would pick up their eggs there. Quite often we bought eggs at the store that were laid that day.
Every day a semi trailer of eggs was hauled out of there. The local grocery stores would pick up their eggs there. Quite often we bought eggs at the store that were laid that day.
The chicken industry was big here when I was growing up, until energy costs sent them down south. When I was in 6th grade we would see tractor trailer loads of birds go by the school headed for their next home... packed into crates like sardines, some of them obviously dead. I've often wondered how many of those were processed anyways.
Doughknob
Veteran Member
Don’t even have to go that far. I’ll just tell them the ruskies are a bunch of snakes, and hens will attack.Yep. Strap a helmet on them, arm them to the beak, and you're good to go.
JethroB
Veteran Member
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Perhaps interesting. Dead (DOA’s) or certain diseased ones cannot be processed in a commercial plant. Every bird is counted or accounted for. Most all plants are monitored and inspected continuously by USDA with an on-site veterinarian in charge of the couple dozen inspectors. The remainder are state monitored but that’s rare. 250,000 head a day is typical.
Now those birds are flying past at 140-170 birds per minute on 2-4 lines. Profits are in volume so bigger and faster is better.
The chicken feed bought at retail is pretty much generic stuff and quite similar to commercial bulk feed. Corn, soybean meal, DDG, fat, maybe some wheat. Whatever is cheaper and available to the mills. Not that far from cheap dog food.
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JethroB
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- Kubota L4760 HST Open Station, Kubota L5460 HSTC Cab, MF 135 Diesel
Commercial chicken embryo development is 21 days. Inside a young chick is the remnants of the yolk.
jyoutz
Super Member
We keep laying hens, they produce a lot of eggs and don’t cost much. But that’s because I built the fencing and facilities years ago for the kid’s 4h projects. If we had to start from scratch, it’s questionable if it would be worthwhile.
cjoffutt
Silver Member
Hopefully Moss will come through with a picture of a commando chicken.
A bit on egg freshness. From this site... Understanding Dates on Egg Cartons - Egg Safety Center
Another way to tell how fresh they are, if you like to hardboil your eggs; it takes about 2 weeks for the egg to separate from the shell, so that they will peel without the white sticking to the shell. At two weeks I'm throwing them out as they are too old.
Note that it doesn't say anything about when they were collected.
Another way to tell how fresh they are, if you like to hardboil your eggs; it takes about 2 weeks for the egg to separate from the shell, so that they will peel without the white sticking to the shell. At two weeks I'm throwing them out as they are too old.