Things I have learned from this experience:
1) Raising your own meat is a lot of work! I had to clean this chicken coop every 3 days after these chickens turned 2 weeks old because they constantly ate and pooped.
2) Meat chickens smell worse than laying chickens because they poop so much. I will now only try raising these in the winter time so that the neighbors are not forced to smell my stinky chickens through their open windows! (Note: Make sure your butcher butchers year round, before buying chickens in the winter...)
3) Elevate their food and water so that they have to stretch to reach it. This will insure that the breast of your chicken is nice and round, not pointed. (Special thanks to the girl at TSC for this tip!)
4) After having your chickens butchered, they must sit in your refrigerator for 48-72 hours BEFORE you freeze them. I had mentioned that I felt the meat was chewy/though here is why: After an animal is butchered the muscles go into a state of rigor (Ever heard of rigor mortis?) In order for the meat to soften up you have to allow time for the muscles to relax. If you take your birds home right from the butcher and throw them in your freezer then you are preserving them in that rigor mortis stage. Hence, chewy/tough meat....
5) Will I do this again? Yes I think I will.
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