Bisket the Broody: A Voyage into Meat Birds

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typnslow

typnslow

Songster
8 Years
Feb 2, 2011
221
4
108
New Market, Al
Our gals are just barely over a year old. A few weeks ago Bisket our BO went broody. YAY! My husband and I had previously discussed slipping hatching Cornish Cross eggs under a broody, for our freezer. (Do any of ya’ll have experience raising meat birds this way? Since this is our first meat bird project we will gladly accept advice from those more experienced)
 
Raising any chickens with broodies is a snap and preferred.
Where are you getting the Cornish Cross eggs?
Are you breeding a cornish with a rock or are you raising cornish crosses to maturity and mating them?
 
We let her keep three golf balls warm, until the hatching eggs I ordered on-line got here. The lady I talked to at Dunlap Hatchery http://www.dunlaphatchery.net/ was super nice and my eggs arrived just a short few days after ordering them from her.





We set up a little one-bedroom condo with a kitchenette for Bisket to hatch her babies. We waited a day for the eggs to settle after their trek across country.




After the gals had settled down for the night we made her a nest in her new temporary home and set her on her eggs.



She has taken to it like an old pro!
 
I just found this thread a couple days ago when I got my cornish Rock chicks for my broody. I would definitely check it out, it has TONS of info about everything from start to finnish. I even subscribed to it so I could follow. Just search Meat Birds ETC "Letting my broody raise 20 meaties. Now I have a rooster raising 50 CX chicks~new batch!" Good luck!
 
RoostersCrow said:
I just found this thread a couple days ago when I got my cornish Rock chicks for my broody. I would definitely check it out, it has TONS of info about everything from start to finnish. I even subscribed to it so I could follow. Just search Meat Birds ETC "Letting my broody raise 20 meaties. Now I have a rooster raising 50 CX chicks~new batch!" Good luck!
Click to expand...
Thanks, that is an awesome thread!!!
 
Bisket and I are learning this broody thing together. I was worried she wasn't coming off the nest enough to eat and drink. (I only saw one little unhealthy poo.) I reached in to gently lift her off the eggs. She held her wings out and puffed up three times her normal size, grousing the whole time.

This is what Bisket looks like mad...




I sat her on the ground outside here little condo. She fell over. Just tipped and rolled to her side, still all puffed up. Scared me half to death. I just knew she was dyin right in front of me. I set her back on her feet and she just stood there for a minute or two. Flapped her wings made the most gosh awful BAWK…half ran half flew off. Now I know what folks mean when they say “Broody Trance”. I herded her back over for water and food. She ate, drank and free ranged for about 10-15 minutes.

When I figured she had been off the nest long enough I put her in the porch part of her condo, she waddled in and took her seat back on the eggs.
 
Wow, my BSL broody never acted like that. She doesn't leave the nest box much either, but her chicks are only 6 days old too. I can entice her out with some scratch grain and once she's up she walks around for a little while. (And has a HUGE broody poo, ewww.)
 
I think 85 cent eggs is probably a steal if you are doing a few birds, where it would cost you over 2+ bucks apiece for live chicks. I order 100+ at a time, so get them for not much more than a dollar for live chicks. Eggs would probably be a net loss for me.

That is an excellent price for BBW turkey eggs, however. I only raise small batches of those, so it might be worth a shot hatching some. So, thanks for the link! I'm putting it in my Google Docs so I don't lose it.


typnslow said:
We let her keep three golf balls warm, until the hatching eggs I ordered on-line got here. The lady I talked to at Dunlap Hatchery http://www.dunlaphatchery.net/ was super nice and my eggs arrived just a short few days after ordering them from her.
Click to expand...
 
RoostersCrow said:
I just found this thread a couple days ago when I got my cornish Rock chicks for my broody. I would definitely check it out, it has TONS of info about everything from start to finnish. I even subscribed to it so I could follow. Just search Meat Birds ETC "Letting my broody raise 20 meaties. Now I have a rooster raising 50 CX chicks~new batch!" Good luck!
Click to expand...
Thanks!!! I am really excited
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