Posts by Paul Ewing

I always call my orders into the hatcheries.  That way I can ask if they have any other specials or if they can put me on a wait list for an earlier ship date if needed and such.  All the websites of the hatcheries seem...

This is a reveiw I wrote of my FF experiment in May and June:   I tried this with 32 of my last 120 CX broilers. We are on week 7 of the growout and I have some observations. I normally use 22% chick starter on my birds and...

Beekissed, what are your birds averaging at 6 weeks?  It sounds like you plan to take them to 10 weeks before processing to get 6 pound dressed weights.  I like the way my experimental group is doing so far on the FF and I am...

I just got in 130 CornishX Friday and put aside 32 of them for a FF experiment.  I am just using fermented 22% chick starter now, but got bags of oats, barley, cut corn, and milo to start them on in a few days.  The chicks...

This is why I no longer mess with dual purpose breeds for meat birds despite people believing the marketing about ho good heritage breed chickens are.  The following is part of an email from one of my mixed meat co-op/CSA...

Personally I like dual purpose cockerels processed at about 16-20 weeks.  They have a good flavor and if cooked right are not too tough.   That said, I do not do dual purpose birds for customers any more.  Despite...

Hard to say, we ordered chicks in 6-8 times last year and hatched out another 6-8 batches.  Not sure this year.  We have started with a hatch of around 65 Buff Orpingtions and Americunas and an order of 100 RIR pullets already...

I plan to make one this year and will vary the bulbs by the outside temp.  I will be putting two in a 4x4 hover for backup more than anything.  In temps like now (10-20s F) I would use 250W ones.  Moving into later I would...

We have two 4x4 box brooders like that "outside" now.  They are in a 12x8 hoop coop with the back, top, and half the front tarped.  this reduces the wind and maybe keeps the temp 5 degree warmer than outside but it is...

Any time my wife adds less that 25 to her order from Ideal I am happy.   It is the 50+ surprise hatches at the same time the 50 to 100 pullet orders come in that are the killer.