HomeGrown Meat
Lately I have been posting pictures of dinner here at the Roost. Lots of homegrown food, that honestly, I am pretty proud of! We did not move here to be survivalists or preppers or even homesteaders. I just wanted more land because I needed more coop space! After tasting the difference in homegrown and a little garden has grown to a medium garden, I am convinced the food in the store is vastly different. For example, I did not care for pork chops until we had our own, the taste isn’t even close to store bought. So let’s dive in and talk a bit about it.
If you have just a little bit of space and want to start supplementing some homegrown meat for you and even for the dogs, quail is an easy choice. They can be grown vertical in a small footprint. They grow super fast so the turnover is quick. Harvesting is just a pair of scissors and a bucket, it can be done discreetly and quickly. Two people could easily grow the meat they want off of just a few breeders and a three level cage stack and have eggs to eat too!
Chickens are the next level and Cornish X would be the least time commitment. Purchased as chicks, they grow and are ready for harvest in just 8 weeks, similar to quail. They can be contained in a small yard tractor or really just let loose, they do not travel far. The cons to them are several but the payoff is alot of meat in the freezer. They stink and are “wet”, its hard to explain but you will understand when you see it. Harvesting chickens is more work than quail but CornishX are the easiest to process because of so little feathers. They do not lay eggs and you have very little leeway in processing dates, meaning no vacations at 6-9 weeks of age. They grow so fast, their bodies give out at a certain point and you have to process them quickly if you reach that point quicker than anticipated.
Heritage chickens would be next on the list. Easy to raise, they lay eggs and gain much flavor during their growth. The meat has much more depth of flavor, bone broth is richer and they reproduce. The cons would be longer time to harvest, more feathers to deal with at processing, the meat is not like store bought and can be stronger than some may prefer. Reproduction is easy and eating the extra males at a young age is the obvious choice.
Bresse Chicken will fall into this category, but they are much different. Just in the short time I have been raising them, they are the game changer! Shorter time from hatch to table. Easy to process. Meat has a Cornish X type texture but more flavor. They lay as early as 18 weeks and makes them reproducible. Tame temperment and selection towards faster growth is fairly easy. AS of writing this, I cannot find a con to raising them for meat and eggs.
Ducks and turkeys are on this list also. They take longer to grow as they are larger birds. However, especially the heritage turkey, only get bigger as time goes by, which means you do not have to harvest at a certain date and take up freezer space. I will typically let mine continue to grow and harvest as needed until breeding season. I do not want to keep several pens of turkeys, therefore I harvest what is left in February and only keep breeders. This gives me more options on breeder choices and more time to pack some meat on them. Harvesting turkeys is alot more work because of sheer size, so doing one or two at a time as needed, makes it more manageable. They are more difficult to harvest, but some little tips and tricks can help with that! Ducks are different because their feathers make them resistant to plucking easily. Dawn in the scalder is suppose to make it easier but in all honesty, I don’t care for duck meat and will usually trade my extra drakes to another farmer for other items. I keep ducks for mosquito control and entertainment purposes.
The point here is to get you to start with one small step towards fresh and self sufficiency. You can do it!