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We lost 2 out of 26 (took them to 10 weeks) last year but one was deformed and doomed from the first day. We've lost none of our current 17 and they're around 4-5 weeks. We only feed a 2-3 times a day, let them forage and run around and find, much as you did, that we had healthy, strong birds...

I'm going to disagree here. :) I think that's normal for the breed only when they're raised a certain way. Now I realize I'm rather cocky here being as we're only halfway through our second batch of Cornish X's but my experience has been so different I think it disproves some of the common...

I also kept my 25 in dog pen last summer. W put hardware cloth around the bottom to keep the chicks in (they went outside at around 3-4 weeks) ad predators out. Then we just tarped it. During the day they free ranged on our lawn and at night we closed them up in the pen. We also only fed them a...

Quote: I inherited some beautiful flower gardens when I bought this house. I am NOT a gardener however. I know how to, I just don't enjoy it. I've watched the flower beds deteriortate over the last 2 years and felt extremely guilty about it. So when I got my layers and they attacked the...

Easy answer - Draft is low while ventilation is high. You need ventilation near the roof line because warm air rises. that's it. It's the warm air that will carry the moisture you need to exhaust from the coop so make sure you have holes high up in the coop to allow it to vent. Cold air is heavy...

I'm in Eastern Canada with a climate akin to Boston and our coop is not insulated. I think the key thing to remember is that it's not something essential. Regardless of whether we here insulate or not we all still seem to have happy, healthy chickens. Ventilation is the priority. Address that...

We had to do that this summer. I have four roos now but had to integrate two flocks, one with 3 roos and one ith one. Flock one had a dominant bantam cochin, and bantam brahma and silkie. Flock 2 had a big sex linked roo. I kept the two flocks apart for several weeks, locking F1 in the coop at...

Glad to see this. My experience this summer was good as well. I loved my meaties and won't hesitate to get more next year. I sometimes wonder how the people who hate them and have lots of issues are raising them.

Quote: As a processor, I have found that some Cornish stink to high heaven as they come in, and others smell like a normal layer hen. The birds that are cooped up and left to wallow in their feces are the smelly ones. The ones in moveable tractors smell more tolerable. : Since we knew...

We had one that grew much slower then the others. It finally died at about 6-7 weeks. It had a problems with it's vent and probably additional internal problems we couldn't see. It may be yours just doesn't have the drive to eat that the others do or it could be there's an internal issue...

My parents did but forgot a couple of night ago. 21 chickens died when the coyotes realized they finally had a way in. They only have one traumatized rooster left.

Thanks! They all went into the big coop tonight on their own! The three groups, heritage flock, mature layers and the Princesses all went to different corners but they all went and no fights broke out. The layers didn't seem stressed about the move either and gave us a pile of eggs! Hopefully...

The only chicken I worry about with rain is our little silky roo. He seems to get soaked see I'll put him in the coop. The other though don't seem to care. Our sex link chickens, which were never free-ranged before they came here, can't seem to get enough of the outside WHATEVER the weather. The...

We got a couple of flocks two weeks ago. One was fine because they came with the coop we bought so although the surrounding were different they essentially had their home. The other went from a coop they were always penned up in to free-ranging and a temporary home in a brooder box (BIG box) to...

Quote: The way I think of it is that up here we go well below freezing at times but yet there are pheasants and partridges roaming the woods that are no more feathered out then my chickens. They do absolutely fine. An open air coop would be no good for me due to snowstorms and wind but I'm...

And that's why I love my sex links! I know the heritage breeds are pretty but it's my sex links that produce consistently, always have BIG eggs and can charm the dickens out of me as easily as some of my fancier birds.

Hmmm...I should add that in each case we introduced them at dusk too, after the resident flock had settled down for the night. That probably helped too.

Quote: I agree. But, if you live somewhere that it IS legal to keep a rooster, keep him. It's not your fault that she is a light sleeper. Then again, I live in the country, so I'm used to hearing the neighbors animals. (And I know they hear mine.) I live in the country and I was sort of...

Whoo hoo! We had 6 8-week old, sex link layers a few weeks ago. Two weeks ago we bought an 8'x12' coop that came with 10 heritage breed chickens and my parents gave us 10 more sex link chickens (one was a roo) that a neighbour was getting rid of (they're only a year old. His son moved out and...

Quote: It's funny how people do that! I sold my first dozen to a friend and told her $2.50. She said that wasn't enough so I said $3. She wouldn't pay that either. She paid $4.50 a dozen for free range Omega 3 eggs at the farmer's market so she decided $4 would be a fair price. I stopped...