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  1. Agricola

    Jersey Giants thread for pictures and discussion

    I just saw this thread after I posted some JG questions in a new thread. I found answers to some of my questions in this thread, but I still have a couple more: Do the roosters start crowing at the same age as other breeds? As far as when they reach a decent table size, some sources say nine...
  2. Agricola

    Jersey Giant Questions

    I am thinking of getting some Jersey Giants but I have a few questions for those of you who have raised them. I know they take longer than other breeds to reach their full size, but do the hens start laying around the same time as others (20 weeks or so)? Do the roosters start crowing as early...
  3. Agricola

    Set 12 eggs under a broody yesterday

    If your hen is a good mother, I think the chicks will be fine. By mid to late September they should have their feathers, and until then their mother will keep them warm. We just had some hatch a few days ago, its a lot of fun! Best of luck.
  4. Agricola

    Nesting Boxes

    Quote: No, they will share nest boxes. Probably at least three for four chickens per box. I have twenty hens and they usually only use three or four of the six boxes I have.
  5. Agricola

    Greens or no greens?

    Quote: That's what mine do. In fact I am trying to find more greens for my hens.
  6. Agricola

    Ok, that didn't go quite as well as i had hoped.

    Sounds like you did a lot better than I did with my first chicken (or second for that matter). I felt bad for the chicken for too, but we are all doing our best here. For the last few I have done I just used a hatchet I got from Lowes, sharpened with a grinding wheel to very sharp edge. I...
  7. Agricola

    Second time around

    Quote: Thanks! It went a little faster this time, but I wasted a lot of time hemming and hawing about how to actually kill it before I just gave it the axe. Thanks for the description of how you cut the throat, I might try that next time. I have four left to do and I would like to get them...
  8. Agricola

    Second time around

    I finally got around to processing another chicken today. (Thanks again to everyone who posted on my thread after I did the first one, the advice helped). Overall the process went a little better. My main question now is about bleeding the chicken out. I was going to try cutting the throat...
  9. Agricola

    Processed my first chicken

    Thanks you all for your replies. This will be helpful for next time. teach1rus: I raise the meat birds for most of the reasons you mentioned. I like being more self-sufficient. I like knowing my food was raised and produced in sanitary conditions. I like putting meat on the table without...
  10. Agricola

    Processed my first chicken

    Last week I processed a chicken for the first time! I have (had) six RIR roosters who are all for meat. I did the first one last week and it was pretty much a disaster. I did end up with a pretty tasty bird, so all's well that ends well, but it was quite an ordeal to get this thing on the...
  11. Agricola

    FROZEN water and NO electricity!

    I have similar temperatures and my water usually freezes over night, but not the whole way through. I bring out a gallon or two of hot tap water in the morning and melt the ice with it, and add the rest to water can. Usually it does not refreeze during the day, and they don't drink at night so...
  12. Agricola

    I knew they would crow but…

    Quote: That’s what mine does too unless the others chime in and egg him on. Quote: Yeah, I have twenty hens in there with them. You would think they would take matters into their own hands. But who knows, maybe to them it sounds like Pavarotti. Quote: Well, the roosters have a date...
  13. Agricola

    I knew they would crow but…

    It just seems excessive. There are six roosters about 19 weeks old. They all get along reasonably well (so far). I expect them to crow when the sun starts to rise at about 6:30, but one of them starts around 5:00 every day. I mean its still pitch black out, but he crows every morning at...
  14. Agricola

    How Much Food Should My Flock Be Eating?

    Mine free range a lot, and they go through about a pound per chicken per week. Maybe a little more lately since it has been cold. So five pounds a month sounds about right to me.
  15. Agricola

    How much does feed cost to raise Hens?

    I estimate that my Rhode Island Reds are going through about one pound of feed per week each. But they are only 11 weeks old, so I expect that to go up a bit over the next few weeks. They do also get some scraps and free range most of the day.
  16. Agricola

    whats so good about Buckeyes?

    I don’t have any buckeyes yet, but I am considering getting some in the Spring. From what I have read, they are good dual purpose chickens (I think the roosters will get up to around 9 or 10 lbs, and the hens will lay around 200 eggs per year). They are friendly with people, and the hens are...
  17. Agricola

    How many chickens do we all have? 60,083 and counting.

    We have nice flock of 25, so that makes 13,297.
  18. Agricola

    Dual-Purpose Flock Owners UNITE!

    This is a great thread! I am new to chicken raising but my goal is to eventually have a self sustaining dual purpose flock. Right now I have 25 RIRs that are about four weeks old. I may try to keep a rooster from this flock and hope that at least one of the hens goes broody, but it doesn’t...
  19. Agricola

    Should heat lamps stay on all the time?

    My chicks are almost four weeks old. After the first the week they really didn’t care much for the heat lamp even after I moved it further away and put a lower watt bulb in. But it has been hot around here. Inside the coop (which is where the brooder was) the temp was usually In the mid to...
  20. Agricola

    RIRs for meat

    Thanks for the replies! About how much did your RIRs weigh when they were butchered?
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