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Anyone ever raise meat chickens for food for themselves or is the hassle not worth it. Pitfalls and any other opinions welcome

My mom and dad did back in the 60s. They bough chicks and raised them to fryer size.
At butchering time, I cut their heads off, mom scalded them try dipping into very hot water. Then mom and grandmother plucked them. Finally they were gutted and cut into frying pieces. They would do 20 or so chickens at a time.

I can still smell the stench of those feathers on the scaled chickens. It was nasty.
Interesting question you pose, but I’m guessing that there’s little savings for a lot of work. If I had to scaled and pluck them, I’d never eat chicken.

I remember that smell. It was 50 years ago when I was at my grandparents and they were butchering chickens. Something you never forget.

My wife's family raised "meat chickens" for years but that was long ago so can't say if it is worth it today. The eggs might be worth the effort and better tasting too.

I've done it many times. Cornish Cross. I don't scald the birds, cut their heads off, hang them by their feet, and skin them. Those birds only take 6-7 weeks for butcher.

Do you find it easier to process without plucking? How many do you raise at a time, what advise do you have? I raised chickens as a kid, but that was years ago

To heck with cleaning chickens all day. Back around 1990, three of us raised 100 chickens and heard of this place about 45 minutes away.
Took the chickens and coolers to drop off and pick up the next day. They said it would take about 45 minutes, so we waited and took them home.

https://duncanspoultry.com/poultry-processing/

Totally worth it to know exactly where your food is coming from and what they were fed!

I have done chickens and rabbits , will never do a chicken again . rabbits are easy to raise /clean and taste better imop

Lotta work

Skinning a chicken isn't hard once you get the hang of it. It is a lot of work. I bought them from McMurry 25 at a time. But I break up the butchering in 2 or 3 settings. They are big birds, big breast meat. Their whole existence is eat and $h!t. If you leave them beyond 8 weeks they get so big their bones will break from their own weight. last batch I did was in 2020.

Back in 75 we had chickens that grew to the size of turkeys

Yes. Cornish jumbo meat birds. That’s the best fresh chicken you can eat. We only do 5 or 6 a year. We also have a dozen egg laying hens.

Thanks guys

I’ve raised, butchered, and eaten several hundred Cornish cross chickens. Will Never again have that breed. We call them freaks of nature. They grow so fast that we’ve had as high as 10% mortality before making weight. Their hearts can give out (consistency of pudding) because they can’t keep up with the demand on the heart. Likewise, some have the hip give out for the same rapid growth reason. The filthy animals only move to shift from feeder to waterer, just lying down otherwise. Chest and belly feathers become matted with dirt and chicken shít.

Now we raise a breed called Freedom Ranger. They’re straight run like CC. They act like real chickens, active and eating bugs, grass, etc. They grow a little slower than CC, but get every bit as big. Every year I brag about my 8-10 pound cock. We’ll raise 20 each summer and typically butcher them at about 9 weeks vs 7-8 weeks for the CC. Out of about 100-120 FR so far, I think mortality has been 2 or 3 birds prematurely dead.

We scald and pluck. Most of the birds are cooked on the grill. Skin-on helps avoid them drying out. It’s far easier to just buy chicken meat in the grocery, but home raised are far more flavorful and tender.

Mike, what does feed cost?

Don’t recall right now. Haven’t bought any since early July.

Seems most chicken feed runs around 20 bucks a bag now, for name brand feed.

Did you feed "organic" over regular and if so did it make a difference in taste

Once again, chickens will eat dead coons

I may try meat chickens this year. Like the idea of knowing what they were fed. Will augment a lot of deer and pheasants.