2018 Newbie Chat!

[BBZZZZTT]

Lilo is back out in the coop. She is all perked back to normal. She must have gotten too overheated. Luckily today it's only supposed to be in the 70s! Finally happy chickens.

The green egg layer figured out the nest box, still not sure who it is.

 

[CannedMonster]

How old was he and what did he dress at? I'm not sure how long to wait for ours. I'm thinking of waiting another month until close to 20 weeks. I'm not looking forward to plucking again! Our meaties didn't have much feathering but cleaning 3 of them at one time took so long.

Sorry it took so long to respond but I couldn’t get on BYC last night; it said it was “offline”.

He was 14 weeks and dressed out at
3 lbs 1 oz.
There’s only two of us so we don’t mind that he’s not that big.
He’s a mixed NN so really there’s no telling how fast he would grow or how big he might’ve gotten.
Our problem is that I really had nowhere to separate him to allow him to get bigger and let the others have some peace.
The feather plucking probably took me about an hour but we didn’t scald the carcass first and my husband had already gutted him.
I’m pretty sure most people kill, then scald and pluck, then gut...I think...

If you can wait I would.
He’s just going to gain weight and it’ll mean more meat for you.
Honestly I think ours is mostly bone lol.
Maybe I’ll make soup out of it.

I’d like to find some sort of scale to weigh them on every few weeks.
Most people on BYC that eat young cockerels say they butcher them between 14 to 20 weeks, I think.
It really depends on the breed though because any dual purpose bird isn’t going to grow as fast as meat birds.

Let me know when you do it. I’d love to know what he dresses out at.

 

[PNW_Peepers]

Since my 2/5 pullets started laying, all of my older girls got thrown out of whack, yesterday I only got five eggs! Oddly enough my Welsummer Gingko has been laying every day regardless.

I just checked while cleaning the coop and I’ve already got four eggs this morning with at least five more girls in line to lay. I’m not sure if any of yours do this but mine line up after eating in the morning and stay lined up until they get their turn! Her eggs are so dark! I love them so much more than all my others.

 

[Cbarr00]

Sorry it took so long to respond but I couldn’t get on BYC last night; it said it was “offline”.

He was 14 weeks and dressed out at
3 lbs 1 oz.
There’s only two of us so we don’t mind that he’s not that big.
He’s a mixed NN so really there’s no telling how fast he would grow or how big he might’ve gotten.
Our problem is that I really had nowhere to separate him to allow him to get bigger and let the others have some peace.
The feather plucking probably took me about an hour but we didn’t scald the carcass first and my husband had already gutted him.
I’m pretty sure most people kill, then scald and pluck, then gut...I think...

If you can wait I would.
He’s just going to gain weight and it’ll mean more meat for you.
Honestly I think ours is mostly bone lol.
Maybe I’ll make soup out of it.

I’d like to find some sort of scale to weigh them on every few weeks.
Most people on BYC that eat young cockerels say they butcher them between 14 to 20 weeks, I think.
It really depends on the breed though because any dual purpose bird isn’t going to grow as fast as meat birds.

Let me know when you do it. I’d love to know what he dresses out at.

We did our 3 meaties early because the heat was getting to them and they all dressed out around 3 lbs at just 6 weeks! We used a regular scale and I just weighed myself before and then with them. Haha. Whatever works right? We decided if we ever do meaties again to do them very early because Texas heat was not kind to them.

 

[CannedMonster]

We did our 3 meaties early because the heat was getting to them and they all dressed out around 3 lbs at just 6 weeks! We used a regular scale and I just weighed myself before and then with them. Haha. Whatever works right? We decided if we ever do meaties again to do them very early because Texas heat was not kind to them.

Yeah the Cornish X grow fast but can have issues.
Now that we’ve actually butchered one bird I’m considering doing some meaties on purpose because we love chicken and I love knowing where my food comes from and how it was raised.
I’ve heard of people doing Cornish X on a small scale and feeding them organic, etc. and they can do fairly well.
I do really like the idea of being able to butcher them in just 8 weeks!
And then there’s the Rainbow Rangers you hear about. They grow slower than a Cornish X but faster than dual purpose.
I’d just like a bird that dresses out at 4-6 lbs but matures fast enough that I don’t have to deal with crowing much.

 

[BBZZZZTT]

I would love to raise meat birds, but that's not allowed where I live either 9.9

 

[PNW_Peepers]

Oh gosh, my blue Ameraucana Ash layed one of the largest eggs I’ve seen this morning. Wanted to share with you all!

This is it next to the egg she normally lays, which is already larger than all my other Ameraucana eggs!

 

[GrannyHeeney]

Hey, I'm ki-i-i-nda new, can I post in here, too?

 

[Cbarr00]

Yeah the Cornish X grow fast but can have issues.
Now that we’ve actually butchered one bird I’m considering doing some meaties on purpose because we love chicken and I love knowing where my food comes from and how it was raised.
I’ve heard of people doing Cornish X on a small scale and feeding them organic, etc. and they can do fairly well.
I do really like the idea of being able to butcher them in just 8 weeks!
And then there’s the Rainbow Rangers you hear about. They grow slower than a Cornish X but faster than dual purpose.
I’d just like a bird that dresses out at 4-6 lbs but matures fast enough that I don’t have to deal with crowing much.

We did not realize what the cornish x were when we got them from TSC. We told them we wanted birds for meat but that we wanted to breed them and keep the line going. Dual purpose type breeds. They recommended the CX and only after we brought them home realized what they were!so we went back the next week and bought more so we could actually raise them. They grew up with our other breeds and foraged and acted like normal chickens. They were just made to get large fast and that they did.

 

[CannedMonster]

Hey, I'm ki-i-i-nda new, can I post in here, too?

Of course you can! Welcome!
This thread is just people fairly new to chickens. We are sharing our experiences and enjoying stories and photos of our first time raising chicks.
We all have different stories.
I had chickens last year that were already feathered out when I got them.
"Teenagers" if you will.
But this year is my first time raising them from chicks.
My first batch are teenagers now (3 months- hatched 3/26) and I started with 8 and am down to 6.
I had to cull a chick at 4 weeks due to an impacted crop (very sad! ) and we just sent one of our cockerels to "freezer camp" because he was getting human and dog aggressive.
I also have 12 chicks coming in the mail from Meyer in the next two weeks.
These will be my first mail order chicks as the first ones (3/26) were bought at Tractor Supply.
What kind and how many birds do you have?