TBF 027 :: Raising Meat Chickens, Hot & Dry Farm Updates, and a Hard Lesson Learned

When it comes to raising meat and egg laying chickens on our farm I believe we have been fairly lucky. Other than a few predator problems (which we have mostly solved with our "Chicken Guardian Dog") we have not had to deal with any chicken ailments that I have read about other farmers having to deal with. I hope that some of that is because of the breeds we raise and they management style we have, but I also know that it helps that our farm is fairly isolated from other poultry and that we have just been blessed so far. On this weeks episode though I take some time to answer an e-mail question from Matthew about "Deep Pectoral Myopathy" and what our favorite meat chicken breed is.

To be completely honest I did not know what "Deep Pectoral Myopathy" (also called Green Muscle Disease or Oregon Disease) was, but a little research taught me that it was a problem that possibly cropped up because of genetic issues or lack of blood flow to that particular muscle issue. I also found that there was really no way to tell if a bird had the issue until after slaughter. I'm thankful that so far we haven't had any issues with this yet and I hope that we can stay away from it ... although I'm not sure there is much I can do to prevent it.

When it comes to our favorite meat chicken though I will admit that I do have plenty of thoughts on that! We are very excited with the success of our first hatching of chicks in our new incubator and hatcher (84% hatch rate!) and our ultimate goal is to raise our own meat chickens by keeping a breeding flock and hatching out our own chicks. With the help of a great farmer friend we will hopefully be raising our own French style Poulet Rouge Chickens next year. But, if we weren't able to do our own hatching I would feel comfortable raising a Freedom Ranger or Red Ranger type of bird from one of the hatcheries in our state.

Links Mentioned in This Episode

Deep Pectoral Myopathy from The Poultry Site Oregon Disease from The Poultry Site Deep Pectoral Myopathy from Poultry Science  Freedom Rangers Red Rangers

If you have an input on the topic be sure to leave a comment below or send us an e-mail.

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn. If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five start rating and review (by clicking the link or the image on the right). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show! I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with The Beginning Farmer and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...  Crooked Gap Farm Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter TBF Show 027 :: Play in a New Window | Right Click to Download

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(if you are interested in the music in this episode check out my brother's record label, Historic Records)