Recent content by Mike Fronczak

  1. Mike Fronczak

    Ducks getting killed in the water

    Most of the summer the pond is covered in Duckweed so it is really a "mystery" area for us. We have baited lines out for turtles but it makes sence that a pike wouldn't have picked them up they are sitting on the bottom, pike tend to "feed above themselves". The previous owner son did say...
  2. Mike Fronczak

    Ducks getting killed in the water

    We do have pike in our area & that would truly make sence because it has plenty of food between the minnows, & frogs.
  3. Mike Fronczak

    Ducks getting killed in the water

    We got 10 ducklings this spring (early march), 6 Pekin & 4 Kacki. We grew them out for about a month in a brooder then another month in a field shelter, once I opened the field shelter door they never would go back in it, I had built it as a house for them, but they had other plans I guess. We...
  4. Mike Fronczak

    Summer Brooder for Cornish x chicks

    We are getting our second batch of Cornish X chicks in mid July. We typically get laying cchicks in winter keep in a stock tank with a heat lamp in one end & keep in our garage. The first batch of Cornish X we got in April seemed to get to hot useing this set up, so I'm sure that is not what to...
  5. Mike Fronczak

    1st batch chickens done advise for second

    I talked to my friend that help butcher this am, they had some of the thighs/legs & wings last night. Said it was great. I told him the local hatchery had gotten back to me and just wanted a count, I had told them 50 or 60... His response was order the 60, I'll pay for the added 10.
  6. Mike Fronczak

    My Cornish X's Have no Flavor

    Next batch I will try these methods or a combination of the two. There is a learning curve, with each new "adventure". I understand this with of Highlands we are still experimenting with hanging times with the butcher, to get the moisture content lower, the meat is so dense the moisture has...
  7. Mike Fronczak

    1st batch chickens done advise for second

    First batch of 25 done. With 2 rookies doing it it took us roughly 5 hours including set up & tear down, messing with plucking on a couple, etc. We ended up skining them instead of plucking, then broke the carcasses into breasts/tenders in one bag, legs & wings in other. I grilled one bag of...
  8. Mike Fronczak

    My Cornish X's Have no Flavor

    Thats an interesting method. We just did our first batch of Cornish X. I grilled some breasts up last night and have to say like the original poster...I was a little bit disappointed in the flavor, but we did soak them in water to cool, after skinning & again after braking them down.
  9. Mike Fronczak

    1st batch chickens done advise for second

    Thats funny I have all Joel Salatin's books just ordered his pig video we already had a deposit on the pigs then the video came out as I was getting ready to put up the field fencing. The field shelters I built are modeled after his but are smaller (4x12) & T11 on sides (I couldn't find where...
  10. Mike Fronczak

    1st batch chickens done advise for second

    We are nearly done with our first run (25) of Cornish X chickens, butchering scheduled for Saturday. Before this we have only done layers....this has been an experience, meat chickens definitly don't look like layers, grow differently, we lost 2 which we never lost any layers. As long as we...
  11. Mike Fronczak

    Can ducks and poults share a brooder?

    We did it for a week or two this spring. Problem I had is the ducks are messy brooder was constanly wet, I ended up seperating them before the chicks got sick. Moisture & heat lamp warmth seems like a good combination to breed issues.
  12. Mike Fronczak

    Duck pen

    They will have a "house" in or attached to the pen area. Winters here get cold so they need it. For fencing I still have some of what I refer to as "Ostrich fencing" the previous owns had Ostrichs, very HD 5' woven wire with cross crossed wires biggest gap is about 1-2".
  13. Mike Fronczak

    Duck pen

    As our adventure into ducks continues I will need to build a more permanent home for our 10 ducks. My thought is something similiar to our chicken area; they have a coop with about a 10x16 yard then we let them run the yard currently. That is all getting changed up a bit because they got...
  14. Mike Fronczak

    How much water ?

    We got our first ducklings about 4 weeks ago, 6 Pekin & 4 Kacki. How much water should they require a day, they seem to drink what they want then play & make a total mess once they are hydrated. I don't want them getting dehydrated but don't want the living in 6 inches of water constantly...
  15. Mike Fronczak

    Keeping a brooder clean with ducks

    This is our first experience with ducks, we have chickens already & more in a seperate brooder now, they were in same, but I was nervous it was to wet. First I understand ducks are ducks & like water. The problem I'm having is I change the litter, even if I only put a quart of water in the...
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