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  1. CommonRookie

    Cornish X Journal

    I'd have to run the numbers again, it's been a while but financially I think a small run is better on the budget unless you can access a large amount of feed. Feed mills near me sell it by the ton. I would have saved hundreds if I had a way to buy and store a ton. My birds were dirt cheap when...
  2. CommonRookie

    Cornish X Journal

    No, your birds should be just fine. Lots of people freeze them right away. When you defrost just do it slow. Let them thaw out in the fridge for 2-3 days and they should be great. Brine them too if you can. There are tons of poultry brines on the web.
  3. CommonRookie

    Cornish X Journal

    We ate our first bird Tuesday, it was killed Saturday. It was excellent. I encouraged people who eat our chickens to to let the birds rest for a few days to let the meat relax. There are several ways to accomplish this. I try to keep the birds on ice for a day before packaging and freezing...
  4. CommonRookie

    Cornish X Journal

    blu: I never had to wait on the scalder so i can't say for sure what recovery time was like. It just did it's thing all day and I scalded as I needed. It did hold temp better when I replaced the lid after scalding but it was never more than a couple of degrees from my target of 148. And yes the...
  5. CommonRookie

    Cornish X Journal

    Best laid plans.... Butcher day didn't start off the way I had hoped. The scalder was at temperature when I went to bed but happened to be on the the same circuit as the dishwasher despite being on the opposite end of the house. My wife started the dishwasher before we turned in subsequently...
  6. CommonRookie

    Cornish X Journal

    We're in Greenville, sc area. Just got home from an old crow medicine show concert. The scalder is up to temp. The birds went all day without food. I made 4 kill cones out of 10" pots left over from a bunch of 1 gallon blueberry bushes we put in this spring. I'm really hopeful these work as kill...
  7. CommonRookie

    Cornish X Journal

    Those are great weights and big birds. 2.25 sounds like a good deal when you consider packaging for a few birds. Processing will cost me: $.32 per bird for bags and ties $50 for the plucker rental 10-15 birds in trade for friends to help One time costs: $95 Scalder build out $36...
  8. CommonRookie

    Cornish X Journal

    how much do you pay for processing?
  9. CommonRookie

    Cornish X Journal

    That week went fast, as did the feed. The birds really grew this week. I was feeling a little concerned about them being slightly smaller than I wanted come butcher day. That concern is gone as I'm having a hard time telling the big birds from the smaller ones now. It seems their body shape...
  10. CommonRookie

    Cornish X Journal

    You can just cover their eyes by holding your hand over their heads for a few seconds. You can also tuck their heads under the wings and spin 'em a bit if you need them calm for a longer period of time. Straight run might be better to wait a week or two extra so the hens get big enough but...
  11. CommonRookie

    Cornish X Journal

    The birds are looking good at 6 weeks. Starting to feather in more fully and eating like mad. It's been in the 70's and 80's most days here so the birds are a lot less active in the day now. One thing I failed to consider was the sizable increase in water consumption. I have a 55 gallon water...
  12. CommonRookie

    Cornish X Journal

    Blucoon pretty much said everything I would in response to your question. I'll add that these birds aren't really rocket science to raise and you can easily over think it. 18% feed is fine. It's short of the recommended protein by 3% but I raised a flock on 18% last year no problem. I only feed...
  13. CommonRookie

    Cornish X Journal

    I left them on free choice for 3 weeks and then they started emptying the feeders so now they get food from 8 am until they empty the feeders, usually about 1 or 2 in the afternoon and then I add what's left of a bag to feeders evening. so they get a meal before bedding down for the night. I'm...
  14. CommonRookie

    Cornish X Journal

    The chickens are 5 weeks old today and are growing rapidly now. We're still trailing the growth chart and are tracking at 84% of chart weight. If this continues, average bird live weight will be 7.4 lbs at butcher.
  15. CommonRookie

    Cornish X Journal

    It got down to 31 degrees last night and the birds were fine outside. I was a little worried they'd get too cold but they seemed to ride out the cold okay. Should be smooth sailing from here as far as temperature is concerned.
  16. CommonRookie

    Cornish X Journal

    In better news the chickens will be 4 weeks old tomorrow so I'm going to start weighing them every week. I pulled several birds that appeared average in size to get a small sample size of of what the majority of the flock looks like. Of course, i have some monsters and runts in the mix but...
  17. CommonRookie

    Cornish X Journal

    We had a thunderstorm here last night and lost 4 birds. The Cornish cross have a lot of fantastic traits for producing meat but they are one of the dumbest creatures I've encountered. I spent a week trying to round them up every night but they aren't learning. twice now i've had to go out in the...
  18. CommonRookie

    Thoughts? How will everyone prep for, part out & package the harvest?

    If you want better meat from your dual purpose roos you could always caponize. I've never done it but it i've got 2 barred rock roosters and 2 easter egger roosters. One of each will become a capon in a few weeks.
  19. CommonRookie

    Cornish X Journal

    I suspect our prices would be lower if we lived in in the midwest but most of our grain is all coming from elsewhere. It's hard to find many elevators here and mills are few and far between. All of my feed has been milled within 2 hours of my house but I'm certain most of the raw materials are...
  20. CommonRookie

    Cornish X Journal

    Seems to be whatever they want to put on the bag. All the starter/grower mixes down here are over 20% unless you buy the cheap stuff, which i did last year. It was $11 bag for 18% starter grower. I paid $15/bag for 20% this year. I'm about to buy 30 more bags this week so i'm going to a...
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