The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Alex_ on July 15, 2016, 08:21:57 pm
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Hello Everyone,
Anybody got any ideas for a white meat bird that isnt a chicken? I can't keep cockrells here due to noise so i was looking for quieter alternatives.
Any suggestions would be great
:yum: :chook:
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Geese - Nope
Turkeys - Nope
White ducks - Maybe?
Peafowl - :roflanim:
However, if you buy in something like hubbard broiler chickens as day olds, they'll be ready for killing before the boys start making noise. Personally I'd try that and see how it goes first, before trying anything more exotic.
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What size animal were you thinking of?
Why white meat? Is it the flavour (I sooo dislike game whilst hubby loves it so chickens work for us as he gets the free rangers' legs ;)).
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what about grouse/pheasant?
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Hello Everyone,
Anybody got any ideas for a white meat bird that isnt a chicken? I can't keep cockrells here due to noise so i was looking for quieter alternatives.
Any suggestions would be great
:yum: :chook:
Turkeys have loads of meat on them and are SLIGHTLY less noisy, but take more space. Guinea fowl? Noisy as well but at least don't crow in the morning.
I personally think the best white meat, identical in taste to chicken is from... young rabbits! We have rabbits, ducks, muscovy ducks, geese and chickens.
Rabbits are the cheapest to feed - I feed them rabbit pellets, hay and brambles! In fact when I tried feeding them only brambles they actually put on weight! In summer I keep some on grass in a cage with wire floor which I move two- three times a day. They breed fast, take care of their young so no incubators or brooders and are ready for slaughter in 2 months. Also no plucking feathers, which makes butchering much easier.
But that's only if you can kill bunny rabbits - not everyone can - that's the only downfall.
And as I said - young rabbits taste exactly like chicken. When you let them grow older they taste more rabbity
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Thanks for the response everyone.
i was after white meat as we eat a lot of chicken. Rabbits sound like a good idea
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Guinea fowl are s nice light meat and very chicken like.
You can get meat hybrids as well.
Mine are not noisy at all as long as there happy, although they are still inside.
Another thing could be buying game from a local shoot after October, we give everyone a brace of birds then the rest goes to the game dealer.
But we only get 30p a pheasant from him and there real nice eating, if someone was to offer us more we would take it as it £££ for feeding the birds through the winter.
We get a bit more for Ducks , partridge, hares and the likes but not much more.
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Macro7, that's very interesting, how do you keep and despatch your rabbits? Do you keep a specific breed?
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Macro7, that's very interesting, how do you keep and despatch your rabbits? Do you keep a specific breed?
I'll take some pics today.
I bought a roll of 1x1/2 inch wire and made cages with wire bottom so all the poor falls down and I don't have to clean them!
Cages stand on a construction made of pallets, and poo gets composted right underneath. Chickens have access to it so they keep scratching and improving the compost.
Every doe gets a 2x3 foot cage to herself.
At the moment I have beveren, chinchilla and blue silver fox - all fairly large, fast growing meaty breeds. However I am looking for new zealand does and a buck as they have more meat on them and grow even faster than the ones I have.
Every doe can have a litter of 2-12 every 6-8 weeks. Babies are ready for slaughter at 8-10 weeks old, weighing around 2kg.
That's a lot of rabbit meat!
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:D That's a lot of meat indeed! How do you cull them - riffle?
I'll need to look into the care of them, we're lucky that we already have a 25sqm run that's rat proof inc the floor so no digging out :)
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Macro7, that's very interesting, how do you keep and despatch your rabbits? Do you keep a specific breed?
I'll take some pics today.
I bought a roll of 1x1/2 inch wire and made cages with wire bottom so all the poor falls down and I don't have to clean them!
Cages stand on a construction made of pallets, and poo gets composted right underneath. Chickens have access to it so they keep scratching and improving the compost.
Every doe gets a 2x3 foot cage to herself.
At the moment I have beveren, chinchilla and blue silver fox - all fairly large, fast growing meaty breeds. However I am looking for new zealand does and a buck as they have more meat on them and grow even faster than the ones I have.
Every doe can have a litter of 2-12 every 6-8 weeks. Babies are ready for slaughter at 8-10 weeks old, weighing around 2kg.
That's a lot of rabbit meat!
This is super interesting! I'd not thought about rabbit meat before. Going to investigate!
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I believe [member=29031]JulieWall[/member] keeps NZ rabbits for meat
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At 8-10 weeks old they should weigh about 2kg and around 50% of that should be edible.
Another fantastic fact about the bunnies is that they are much more efficient than other grass eating animals.
According to some sources (not sure how reliable though) rabbit can produce up to 6 times the amount of meat as cow would on the same amount of food and water.
That means rabbit are better for the environment, they are quiet, take very little space and you can sell excess stock to other breeders or for pets! No cph or any other documents needed. You are legally allowed to dispatch them at home, so no need to drive or pay the slaughter house.
I think they are brilliant lol
You can even have them in London in a terraced house and no one will know!
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I've often wondered about raising pheasants for meat, like chicken: ie no release and shooting bit. I imagine they'd be less gamey than the released, semi-wild types that gamekeepers produce.
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At 8-10 weeks old they should weigh about 2kg and around 50% of that should be edible.
Another fantastic fact about the bunnies is that they are much more efficient than other grass eating animals.
According to some sources (not sure how reliable though) rabbit can produce up to 6 times the amount of meat as cow would on the same amount of food and water.
That means rabbit are better for the environment, they are quiet, take very little space and you can sell excess stock to other breeders or for pets! No cph or any other documents needed. You are legally allowed to dispatch them at home, so no need to drive or pay the slaughter house.
I think they are brilliant lol
You can even have them in London in a terraced house and no one will know!
This is why I'm really interested. I'm in a terrace at the moment and have 30ish hens which are dual purpose. However, it'd be great to supplement the chicken with rabbit too.
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I've often wondered about raising pheasants for meat, like chicken: ie no release and shooting bit. I imagine they'd be less gamey than the released, semi-wild types that gamekeepers produce.
My friend did it last year. He bought and hatched pheasant eggs. Wanted to raise some for food and keep and trio for breeding.
The problem is they have to be closed in some sort of aviary so no free range. They are very wild. If you try to grab them they fly up so hard they can damage their heads.
After all he ate them all. They taste fantastic but you need to have a large enclosure for them.
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This is why I'm really interested. I'm in a terrace at the moment and have 30ish hens which are dual purpose. However, it'd be great to supplement the chicken with rabbit too.
I used to live in a terraced house... never again! Now I'm still in the city and do have close neighbours that's why I was reluctant to get a cockerel but my neighbours have one and everyone asks if it's my because... they love it!!!
Recently I got one too :thumbsup:
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I've often wondered about raising pheasants for meat, like chicken: ie no release and shooting bit. I imagine they'd be less gamey than the released, semi-wild types that gamekeepers produce.
My friend did it last year. He bought and hatched pheasant eggs. Wanted to raise some for food and keep and trio for breeding.
The problem is they have to be closed in some sort of aviary so no free range. They are very wild. If you try to grab them they fly up so hard they can damage their heads.
After all he ate them all. They taste fantastic but you need to have a large enclosure for them.
Sounds really good that, I have always wanted to breed pheseants for the table. I thought the reason why they were do gamey was because when they shoot them they leave them to hang and they don't bleed properly, which is what gives the gamey flavour? Plus the food which they eat during growing up and the fact they are very active birds
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No. The hanging makes the meat softer actually. They taste gamey because they live much longer than usual broiler chicken which means they actually use their muscles.
Guinea fowl tastes very much like a pheasant actually.
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No. The hanging makes the meat softer actually. They taste gamey because they live much longer than usual broiler chicken which means they actually use their muscles.
Guinea fowl tastes very much like a pheasant actually.
Ah right, well I learn something new every day :) How long from chicks to big birds roughly and how will you know when ready to kill out?
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That's what my friend said about his pheasants:
I slaughtered them at 18 wks although there generally ready at 16. Can't remember how much they weighed about 1.1-1.2kg
Hardly anything compared to a chicken
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Here's some pics of my bunnies.
Chinchilla:
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/content/type/61/id/7516689/width/200/height/400)
Beveren:
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/content/type/61/id/7516690/width/200/height/400)
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Partridge ?
Anyone keep them ? I imagine similar to keep to quail but bit more on them !
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Got 200 coming tomorrow along with 1000 pheasants.
Still not much on them.
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Partridge ?
Anyone keep them ? I imagine similar to keep to quail but bit more on them !
I was gonna get them. The problem is the grey partridge are monogamous so for every male only one female. They don't lay many eggs comparing to up to 300 by quails.
Another rating is they are VERY flighty. They jump so hard they break there heads on the ceiling...
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I still think rabbits are the most efficient meat producers. Just had one yesterday. Stewed with home grown veggies.
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Partridge ?
Anyone keep them ? I imagine similar to keep to quail but bit more on them !
On the Partridge pens on the shoot I put plastic mesh on the roof to stop them hurting themselves.
But you're right they are very flighty
I was gonna get them. The problem is the grey partridge are monogamous so for every male only one female. They don't lay many eggs comparing to up to 300 by quails.
Another rating is they are VERY flighty. They jump so hard they break there heads on the ceiling...