Ideal Poultry - Shipping Wednesday *06/27/12* - Anyone Else??

[debir1966]

FuzzyMugz: He is an awesome person, I am blessed to be his Mom. We named some of our butcher animals when I was a kid, just depended on if it struck our fancy, etc. I don't remember ever having a problem eating them (though I did raise rabbits for a few years as a teenager and my Dad would do the hard part and I would butcher them. I didn't mind butchering them at all, but I never did develop a taste for rabbit meat - not sure if it was associated or not for sure).

My 5 year old is having the most problems, so we talk about it frequently, that we raise them with care and humanity and give them a good and contented life, but that we will be eating them when the time comes. I was raised with it from the time I was born, but this is new for my kids since we have always lived in town since they were born until this year.

CAjerseychick: Sorry to hear about the chick! I have been paranoid about something happening to even one of ours, though I know in reality it would be normal to have a few die of various causes. We were gone alll day Saturday with appointments and shopping and I was pretty much a nervous wreck by the time we got home - from worrying about the cat somehow getting under a twenty pound screen lid to them having run out of water even though I made sure they had enough before we left and finally to one of the turkeys getting too rough with one of the little chicks and coming home to a bloody mess! Thankfully, none of that happened! But even with adult chickens, things can and do happen, it is a part of life.

We also realllllly need to get our chicken coop or at the very least the bigger brooder done. The chicks are rapidly outgrowing the box I have them in already. Hoping to get a couple big appliances boxes tomorrow or Tuesday from our local appliance guy. They were supposed to be in Friday but are late from the holiday.

I did finally get some organic apple cider vinegar! Gave it to the chicks for the first time this morning. I am going to put some in the chicken bucket, but I don't know how much the chickens will be drinking it since they are out free-ranging except at night.

My husband also remembered to get a flashlight while we were shopping and I candled the turkey eggs I had in the 'bator - ONE, yes only ONE out of 20 eggs looked viable (I actually saw movement inside). Over half of them were not even fertilized and the rest had stopped developing at all different stages. I am pretty sure it was caused by uneven temps. So I took the last turkey egg out and put it under the broody and removed the golf balls she had been sitting on. I guess I should have left a couple of the golf balls because this evening she had changed nests again (after not doing so for 3 days straight) and was sitting on a new egg in another nest! So, we will see if that poor little turkey even hatches. I stuck 2 of the golf balls back under her with the turkey egg hoping that having more than just one egg will keep her in the same nest box.
　

Here are a couple of pictures of my daughter giving the brood a clover bud. We LOVE watching them play chicken keep-away and throw several different things in on occassion for them to peck at and play with.




I think we have a tom LOL - this poult has had a funky wing feathers since they came in - he started posing and herding today! We call him "Drumstick" as apposed to all the other poults being called Crazy Cranberry. He is the biggest of the poults also and I am thinking he might be the only tom.


Hope everyone is staying as cool as possible! It was 102 here today - thank goodness we got an AC unit when we went shopping on Saturday!

 

[debir1966]

I had noticed when I picked up the EcoGlow the first time that the little bolts that hold on the black heating side seemed VERY hot (made me move my fingers pretty darn quick let me tell ya!), but I figured that it was normal since they were metal and the rest was plastic. Well I gave it a good cleaning the other day and was feeling around the heating side and was surprised at how hot parts of it felt... hot enough it was uncomfortable holding my hand on it for the first few seconds (like putting your hands in hot dishwater and needing to take them in and out until you adjust to how hot it is). So I took my incubator thermometer and turned the EcoGlow upside down and laid the thermometer on the hottest spot. After about 5 minutes it was already reading 107.5. I called Brinsea this morning and they are shipping me a new EcoGlow and when it gets here then I will send them back the other one.

I have to say I LOVE the EcoGlow. The chicks are not under constant light but were acclimated from day one to the natural day-night pattern, I am not worried about it exploding or falling and causing a fire (even if it is getting warmer than it should, it is not hot enough to cause combustion), no pasty butt, no overheated brooder, they get a more natural experience of snuggling in under something for warmth, etc. I am definitely getting the smaller one later so that I have two incase I want to seperate chicks or have different aged groups.

On that note, I am totally not into incubating LOL. My decision may have been different if I had a turner and less issues with stable temps, but I don't think I will be incubating eggs in the future... for me it is much easier and straight-to-the-fun-part just ordering chicks instead of incubating eggs. If, and that is a big IF, I ever do get my knickers in a twist to incubate eggs in the future, I am going to just buy a new incubator, one that keeps a steady temp, humidity control is easy and you don't to slave yourself to the 'bator by turning eggs 3-5 times a day!

I am also going to get some heritage turkeys next year to keep as breeders so we can raise our own turkeys. The kids just absolutely adore these poults and I would be tempted to keep their favorite but they are the broad-breasted kind and would probably have terrible health problems if not butchered by a certain age. I have read that you can't use them for breeding either, but not sure if that is both the hen and the tom or just the tom because his breast gets too big for natural breeding. I guess we will wait and see what happens. I actually only want about 3 turkeys a year to eat, but ordered 5 because I heard they have a high mortality rate.

I will try and get some pics of the cornish-rock meaties next to a laying chick. They are about 3 times bigger already! The meaties are as big as the turkey poults but the turkey poults are taller because they have longer legs. The black broilers are inbetween the laying chicks and the cornish rocks for size, definitely slower growing than the cornish rocks. Still hoping to save out a black broiler roo to keep for breeding my own meaties next year, but if not, or as well as, I am thinking of getting a cornish roo for that purpose - not a cornish rock or cornish cross, but a straight cornish.

Hope everyone can give an update soon

 

[Jakoda]

such cute babies !!! Mine are 5 weeks today, they grow so fast!

I got the brinsea and at first, I thought it wouldn't be hot enough! Talked to others that had it, and said it's a different kind of heat , just go with it.

I did and I am GLAD I stuck with it,,no heat lamp, no having to worry about a fire, the chickies loved it..Mine would only register about 85 if I laid a thermometer on it. I raised it up the second week, and by the end of that week, they weren't even using it for any heat other than roosting on it.

Love mine, glad I got it, glad you are getting a new one, mine was never "hot" to the touch anywhere on it.

 

[CAjerseychick]

Didn't get the broody hen moved tonight, and she changed nests again.. not sure if we can fix that or not. We put all the golf balls in the nest she is in and we will see in a couple days before I stick any turkey eggs under her, provided, of course, that they have any poults in them!

Can't believe our chicks from Ideal will be a week old tomorrow! And to celebrate the occassion, and because I was going through a couple rolls of paper towels a day, we put them on shavings tonight. They seemed fascinated with the new flooring and went right to eating and being chickens.



I went ahead and turned their light out at 10:30 like normal and oh my gosh, I have never heard so much noise! They let me know, in no uncertain terms, that they were NOT happy with going to bed in a new environment after only 5 minutes... so, since it is 4th of July eve (LOL), I am letting them stay up a little late tonight.. ok, ok, I did it so I didn't have to listen to them make so much noise LOL. I will turn out the light at 11:00 tonight and hope for the best!

We put a board in to elevate their water but all we had tonight was one long board and immediately, of course, they poo'd on it, so I went ahead and covered it with paper towels in hopes to make cleanup a bit easier. We will have to try and find something better tomorrow or this coming weekend.



The little piggies gathered around the food bowl!

OMGosh your little piggies are so absolutely adorable! They look so healthy and happy!

 

[debir1966]

Jakoda: I love the EcoGlow also, and I have already received the shipping notification on the replacement they are sending. My chicks are rarely going under it now also (they will be two weeks old tomorrow). The top is a MESS! I have tried taping paper towels to it, but they just scratch them up and poo away... yuck!


CAjerseychick: When are your chicks due in? Pretty soon I think? They are piggies and messy! I think they waste as much food as they eat

I am sure hoping my new boxes are here today! They are really getting way too big for the space we have them in, and I am thinking one more set of boxes and then they are out of the door, so we better get our rumps busy on either the chicken house or the outside brooder! LOL Unfortunately, our hay is also ready LOL... so we have all this to squeeze in to the next two weeks, but I gotta get them out before the new chicks arrive on the 27th! They will be 4 weeks old by then and shouldn't require any heat even at night. We are only getting down into the 70's at night!

Here is a pic of one of the Rhode Island Red pullets and a cornish rock chick.


And the same cornish rock chick with Drumstick the turkey!


I thought the chicks would be alot more excited about the strawberries than they were LOL.


Hope everyone is having a great day!

 

[CAjerseychick]

My Babies are here! Arrived this am 26 hours after hatching! (Hatch time was on the shipping box- WoW)....All arrived happy and healthy I hand watered them and put them on trays of crumbles they are now pecking away on their own....They are sooo small though I guess I thought Jersey Giants would be a little bigger... so fragile... I am still nervous bout raising these tiny little birds....
I have them in an old tub so they can find the food and water easily... Its 96 degrees so I have them outside under a shade tree covered by a window screen(its in direct line of sight from my window so I can see the tub at all times)-- am working on the brood box.... The one I had ready is really big and I wanted to have maybe a smaller set up for indoors under the heatlamp to be easier to move around (ie keep in the main part of the house that is OFF limits to the dogs-- still debating on this...

 

[CAjerseychick]

Jakoda: I love the EcoGlow also, and I have already received the shipping notification on the replacement they are sending. My chicks are rarely going under it now also (they will be two weeks old tomorrow). The top is a MESS! I have tried taping paper towels to it, but they just scratch them up and poo away... yuck!


CAjerseychick: When are your chicks due in? Pretty soon I think? They are piggies and messy! I think they waste as much food as they eat

I am sure hoping my new boxes are here today! They are really getting way too big for the space we have them in, and I am thinking one more set of boxes and then they are out of the door, so we better get our rumps busy on either the chicken house or the outside brooder! LOL Unfortunately, our hay is also ready LOL... so we have all this to squeeze in to the next two weeks, but I gotta get them out before the new chicks arrive on the 27th! They will be 4 weeks old by then and shouldn't require any heat even at night. We are only getting down into the 70's at night!

Here is a pic of one of the Rhode Island Red pullets and a cornish rock chick.


And the same cornish rock chick with Drumstick the turkey!


I thought the chicks would be alot more excited about the strawberries than they were LOL.


Hope everyone is having a great day!

So cute-- try an ear of corn on the cob-- mine (the older chicks) love it! They were 2 weeks old when they got their first...

 

[Jakoda]

mine were/are not crazy about strawberries at all ! I even cut them up a little , nope..They LOVE watermelon tho,,I keep the rind with some melon it and give them the rind to peck at..Mine don't like blueberries either, but LOVE rasberries.

Something I give them everyday is mash, I take their crumble and add water to make a mash, the go crazy for it. Now, since they are outside, I give them a plate in the morning, and one at nite ..The first couple of nites they weren't "getting" that to "get" the mash the had to go in their coop..Well now, I just head for the coop, they see the aluminum dish its in, and RUN for the coop, waiting for their mash. So THAT worked great getting them in at nite (and even before dark!)

The brinsea, yep, poop all over it...I did put a bird roost in their cage when they were little and used that, To clean the brinsea I'd take it out and wipe it down with clorox wipes, then wash it off with clean water, dry it down..seemed to work well.
And YES mine LOVE corn cobs to..

CAJERSEYCHICK congrats on your new babies, I was nervous at first to, but they are so much fun))

 

[Janie1968]

debir 1966 - we started out by raising double breasted bronze turkeys, we had a tom and a hen. Nice birds and they tasted great! Our birds are free range. I thought about breeding them and found out from the Internet that they are physically incapable of doing the deed (the boys are too big to mate with the girls). Our tom dressed out at 50 pounds and the hen at 35. My DH had to remove ALL the racks out of our oven so the tom could roast for Xmas dinner.

We wanted to have turkeys that could reproduce (so we wouldn't have to keep paying for poults) and chose the Narragansett. We bought 10 poults at $8/poult spring 2011. We were also given a trio of Midget White turkeys January 2011. The Midget Whites were adults when we got them and they produced poults that they raised that spring... it was very nice to have a hen do all the hard work.

Last Xmas DH gave me an incubator with a turner and circulating fan... I wanted to start my turkeys earlier in the year so they would be larger by Thanksgiving (our heritage birds which hatched out early May were around 14 pounds last year). So I hatched and raised a bunch of turkeys this year. I meant to sell the extras on Craigslist, but DH hasn't gotten around to creating an ad yet. So waaaay too many birds in the backyard. I've had great success this year with the incubator, which was great because for one reason or another none of the eggs and poults raised by the turkeys survived to adulthood.

I don't think that the heritage birds taste better then the broad breasted bronze. We had a Midget White and Narragansett for Thanksgiving and they tasted the same to me, so I think it all comes down to what the bird is eating. With this said, our free range birds are hands down the BEST tasting turkey we have ever had on the table. My DH finds olive pits in their crop... so the birds eat a variety of food in addition to their Flock Raiser feed.

One last observation, I've raised turkeys and chickens together for 3 years now with no problems. Good luck with your birds they are so fun and I love the sound the turkeys make... so pretty.

p.s. My Freedom Ranger meat birds just arrived in the mail today. So excited to raise chickens for the table... this is a first for us.

 

[debir1966]

CAjerseychick: YAY! Grats on your new chickies!

I didn't even look for the hatch time on the box LOL, I will be sure to next time though. Can you post pics hmmm?

Jakoda: We have a watermelon we will be eating tonight, I will for sure give them some! We don't use crumble, but a local grain mill mix. It probably wouldn't make mash very well LOL. I do love the idea of them getting excited and coming running though, so I may have to do something to make a mash or figure out a favorite treat (not into meal worms though LOL - maybe BOSS) - especially since we will be eventually free-ranging them, it would be a good way to gather them up when/if needed. I saw a video on someone free-ranging some meaties and when they came out the door with their food pans, the chickens acted more like dogs... or goats LOL our goats do that when we get their grain pan LOL.

Janie1968: Thank you for the information! This is my very first time raising turkeys. My Mom had a few turkeys when I was a kid, but not for long (I think she got them as semi-adults and they went to freezer camp pretty quick). How old were your turkeys that dressed out so big?!?

I am hoping at least one of mine will be big enough by T-day. We usually buy a 20-25 pounder in the store, so that is the weight I am hoping to get (or bigger! LOL, I love turkey leftovers!!!). I am also thinking about getting some heritage turkeys next year to keep as breeders to raise poults to eat. I know they will take longer than the BB variety but I would like to give it a try and see how it goes. We can always go back to ordering some BB turkeys to put in the oven, I just would prefer to raise my own.
I am very interested in learning how your free rangers turn out! I am wanting to get a batch next year for comparison. Some of my family want us to raise some meat for them, but when I added up the cost based on figures I could find online (BYC and other sources

), to me the cost would be hugely prohibitive! So I told them I would track my own costs this year and then we would know for sure.
I only have 10 meaties this round (5 cornish rocks and 5 black broilers) but I can't keep an accurate cost because of having them with the 19 laying chicks. I am going to get 25 cornish all by themselves later this year and then I will be able to track cost better. The only reason I got the black broilers was that I want to raise some of my own meat chickens and was hoping I could keep one of the black broiler roosters as a breeder. We will see how that goes. I may get a cornish rooster as well (not a cornish cross) and to see which would produce the results I am hoping for.

All is going well. I didn't get my new boxes from the appliance store!

They were damaged during shipping and he had to ship the appliances back. My brooder is getting WAY over-crowded and I am worried that is going to lead to pecking. We are going to just rig-up a bigger brooder this weekend and get busy on the chicken coop! Personally, I would like to get the outside brooder worked on but my husband prefers to just put them in the new coop... ok, ok, whatever, but we need to hustle... I want them out at 3 weeks (soooo not going to happen if we are waiting on the coop vs the outside brooder) but they HAVE to be out by the 25th when the new chicks ship. So yeah, we basically have 2 weekends. I'm thinking big discussion tonight and working on outside brooder tomorrow!