Buying meat birds...

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
Your situation sounds frustrating. I can't say I relate because our water
comes from a 100' well that has a water level 20' below the surface even
when we experienced 2 months with no rain.

In your case either bird will work if you keep them in a protected coop.
The water consumption of 25 birds would be minimal compared to having
to irrigate a field of grass.

To supplement their feed can you not plant a garden of kale and water
it from you personal water source or collect the winter rains in barrels?

As for the heat IMO the rangers would do much better than the cornish
in harsh conditions. Ours only ranged when supervised, hence 2 hours
a night when I get home. The rest of the time they were in my barn
eating regular broiler feed.

If it's a question of cost then none can compete with Walmart.

I wish you the best in dealing with your situation.

 

[willheveland]

Quote:
Greyfields, or anyone, can you give me a clue as to what to do based on these environmental conditions, please?

I'd move.It doesn't sound like you picked the right place for hobby farming.Those are hard conditions for any breed of bird.Unless you start eating owls and hawks. Will

 

[greyfields]

Quote:
Free range in no way implies they are not fed. It's a marketing term which means they had access to outdoors and were not confined. It doesn't say for how long or for what % of their life, either.

That's why most people use the term "pastured" these days.

 

[dacjohns]

Quote:
Free range in no way implies they are not fed. It's a marketing term which means they had access to outdoors and were not confined. It doesn't say for how long or for what % of their life, either.

That's why most people use the term "pastured" these days.

It's all a matter of semantics and you and I are very much in agreement. Cage free is another one of those marketing ploys. And vegetarian chickens.


That is why I used the qualifier "true" since I think most people have the mistaken idea that "free ranging" represents some romantic idealism of pastoral freedom with chickens running around and eating whatever they glean from the fields and not having to be fed.

I hadn't heard "pastured" yet.

 

[PurpleChicken]

While I agree most of these terms are nothing more than marketing ploys,
I personally use them to indicate diet. I allow my birds to leave their coop
for a few hours a day in order to diversify their diet, reduce their
consumption of feed, reduce the amount of waste in the coop and run,
almost completely eliminate my tick population, and generally, in my
opinion, produce healthier birds. I use the term ranging to describe this.

I do the same with my layer and silkie flocks, although the silkies get to
roam my front yard and garden.

 

[Bossroo]

Will, I have a 20 acre ranch that I have made a good living on raising horses. My neighbors have working cattle ranches. One neighbor raises Dorper and Dorper/ Suffolk sheep( Most productive Sheep and best tasting lamb that I have ever run across) and shoots about 20 coyotes a year. He sets out poison inside stillborn or killed lambs by coyotes and hamburger to kill an unknown number. NO ONE raises chickens around here, except stubborn me inside my barn.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Quote:
I live in SE Florida and plan to order some of these Colored Range Broilers from JM Hatchery in Feb. I want about 25-30, and am looking for others nearby who would like to get in on the order so we can order 100 and get the price down to $1 a chick. Maybe you could find a few other folks in CT who would like to do the same.

 

[Bossroo]

Purple Chicken, I tried to raise several breeds of chikens in my barn and found them to be a total wase of time and money. Very poor carcass wieght results in TOO LONG a time period with them suffering from the HEAT and many dropping DEAD. When I switched to the Cornish X I got GREAT results in a very short time frame , and since I followed the recomended feeding protocals, I have NO mortality. I am able to raise the Cornish X in the early spring and fall when the temperatures are more mild in 42 days or less. They are also the BEST tasting chickens that I have ever raised.

 

[Bossroo]

Quote:
Are you saying that ONLY Cornish X is susseptable to coccidiossis???

 

[willheveland]

Quote:
Can you post a picture of your landscape,I'm not familar with it.Seems like if you neighbors are raising livestock you should be able to.At first it sounded like desert you were talking about.
I'm a cornish guy.I keep mine in chicken tractors on fresh grass but really they eat very little of it.Even if you cut it and throw it in there,they probably won't eat it.I mainly do this so they are fresh, clean,and get air and sun.No way should these be raised inside,if you do of course they are going to smell.But in your case it would be hard to build something strong enough to be coyote proof.
We have a coyote problem here as well.They depleted our small game and now doing a number on our young deer population.With the cold weather here and the deep snow the young ones don't have a chance once the top of the snow get a crust on it.The deer legs sink down in where the coyotes stay on top and run.
Will