Small Flock # for meat birds???

madison174 · Post by **madison174** » Mon Mar 13, 2017 9:09 pm

My husband ordered some white rock chicks (I think that's what they were) from the local feed store to grow out for ourselves. We got a phone call from the store saying we needed a 'small flock number' because they were meat birds? So we switched them to dual purpose birds and have no issues with any numbers/id/anything. Is this a standard thing? We're new to meat birds, this is my husbands project (lord knows I"d name them and never eat them, so I'm not allowed to even look at them), but I'd never heard of this before. Is this the newbie in me coming out? We ordered 20...not 200?

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Mon Mar 13, 2017 9:55 pm

You will only need the number if you are having them processed, regardless of what breed they are.

LongCrow · Post by **LongCrow** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 6:05 pm

If you get them from a hatchery they provide the processing number with the chicks I believe. You have to keep this info. and number to show to processor. If you do it yourself you don't need one. At least that's how it worked for us a few years ago.

Maximus · Post by **Maximus** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 11:34 pm

Ok, you didn't hear from me, in fact I'm not even the one writing this.

Well. you know those chicken barns, the big steel ones and they always have a sign that say fresh eggs and the end of the driveway?

Well a friend bought an 18 pack of eggs to eat and has spring fever so she popped them in her incubator "just for fun."
Well. Get this. 14 chicks later, she has herself some white rock meat birds. Gawd they are hideous, clearly high production, fast growth birds with bald patches and very little feathering (part of their genetic modifications over the years). So she has a bunch of frankenbirds for $4 an 18 pack. Three more weeks and she's got herself 14, 7 week old ready to harvest BIG meaty birds.

Guess who went back and bought more eggs. Sheesh!

Maximus · Post by **Maximus** » Wed Mar 15, 2017 12:44 am

^^ I should add she does her own processing

KimChick · Post by **KimChick** » Wed Mar 15, 2017 12:48 pm

That would be less plucking during processing, wouldn't it? So she is, essentially, saving herself some work.

Post by **Killerbunny** » Wed Mar 15, 2017 1:26 pm

Smart lady!

Post by **Home Grown Poultry** » Wed Mar 15, 2017 1:38 pm

Iv tried hatching farm fresh eggs a few times, this was back before I knew how to tell if an egg was fertilized. It never worked cuz they wernt fertile, I asked the farmers if they kept roosters and they said no... LOL. But I tried!

I wonder if they keep meat birds in with their layers? Strange... meat birds are pigs and would consume so much of the layer feed that it would be cheaper to build a new coop in the long run. Or maybe this person has done this on purpose to supply their own meat birds, if that the case then they are smart!

Post by **Home Grown Poultry** » Wed Mar 15, 2017 1:39 pm

I thought that when you buy meat birds, that they come with this number?

windwalkingwolf · Post by **windwalkingwolf** » Thu Mar 16, 2017 6:08 am

thegawd wrote:QR_BBPOST
I wonder if they keep meat birds in with their layers?

No, it would have been a Cornish x breeder barn. The eggs would be extras that didn't make the cut for the incubator. Cornish x meaties from specially bred parents that happen to lay eggs :D