Chronicles of Raising Meat Birds - Modern Broilers, Heritage and Hybrids

[aliciaplus3]

I guess it was better than "where the ... did these come from?'
gotta love DH for all he puts up with

 

[Morrigan]

I put 2 CX chicks in with the 8 NN cross hatchlings this year. They are all a little over 5 weeks old now. The difference in size between them is staggering. The CX look to be 3 to 4 times as large.

I'm actually getting a little worried that the CX aren't going to make it much longer. I've raised hundreds of CX over the years with very good results, but always as a self contained group, where I strictly limited their feedings to two, 20 minutes sessions a day. Now, these two are in with the regular coop population, and have access to food during the daylight hours. I can see the difference -- they are getting so big and are not very active. Luckily they can't sit at the food dishes all day long, as the older birds chase them off. I feel sorry for the little meatballs.

 

[aliciaplus3]

I went to our local murdock's looking for a few more cornish cross and found broad breasted black turkeys instead... before today I didn't realize we could get em in black???? so of course I had to pickup 4... my goodness they are loud right now!!
oh no more cornish cross at this time I will check back next week or in 2 weeks as my next big order doesn't come till may 8th

 

[Molpet]

I put 2 CX chicks in with the 8 NN cross hatchlings this year. They are all a little over 5 weeks old now. The difference in size between them is staggering. The CX look to be 3 to 4 times as large.

I'm actually getting a little worried that the CX aren't going to make it much longer. I've raised hundreds of CX over the years with very good results, but always as a self contained group, where I strictly limited their feedings to two, 20 minutes sessions a day. Now, these two are in with the regular coop population, and have access to food during the daylight hours. I can see the difference -- they are getting so big and are not very active. Luckily they can't sit at the food dishes all day long, as the older birds chase them off. I feel sorry for the little meatballs.

I feed everyone 2x a day if there is grass. Enough that everyone gets a full crop, then off they go and I pick up

 

[FortCluck]

I just got a dozen of eggs again

 

[Morrigan]

I went out to take a few pictures today of my 5 weeks olds. The first picture shows one of my CX "chicks" next to my Naked Neck chick. The next picture shows some of the chicks that NN/Red Ranger and NN/Slow White Broiler mixes.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Just found this and thought it looked pretty good. Anyone ever gotten it or similar?

https://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Plucker-Killing-Swedish-Processing/dp/B00AZ03F66

 

[ShrekDawg]

This is it so you don’t have to go to the link aha

 

[jolenesdad]

This is it so you don’t have to go to the link aha

View attachment 2100165

I hear (don’t know) that the drill pluckers are fairly worthless. I’m sure after many it would be quite tiring but on just a couple of birds plucking isn’t really too bad. Cones can be made out of anything, and the quality of the knives is the MOST important. So I’d say DIY more and spend that money on a knife. . .

 

[ShrekDawg]

I hear (don’t know) that the drill pluckers are fairly worthless. I’m sure after many it would be quite tiring but on just a couple of birds plucking isn’t really too bad. Cones can be made out of anything, and the quality of the knives is the MOST important. So I’d say DIY more and spend that money on a knife. . .

Thanks!! That’s good to know. I’ll focus on that then!! any ideas for which ones??

I used a broom yesterday but not sure if I’ll continue to do that way. I liked that way, it was easy, but thinking next time maybe I’ll use a cone and knife or just cut the head off.

Wonder if I could put it in a bucket after killing instead of getting a cone?