I was worried that adding more hens would stress my molting ladies more. I didn't know if that would be extra worse with the stress from molting already happening. My poor ladies just look terrible! This is rough to watch. LOL I'll have to throw some alfalfa in there tomorrow since I won't be able to get any supplemental feed for protein until payday. I wonder if they would start eating the black oil sunflower seeds now that they need extra protein. The only bird that has been eating those is the peacock. I really like using the Rooster Booster brand wormer. Super easy to use.
Colorado
- Thread starter tsgreer
- Start date
I was worried that adding more hens would stress my molting ladies more. I didn't know if that would be extra worse with the stress from molting already happening. My poor ladies just look terrible! This is rough to watch. LOL I'll have to throw some alfalfa in there tomorrow since I won't be able to get any supplemental feed for protein until payday. I wonder if they would start eating the black oil sunflower seeds now that they need extra protein. The only bird that has been eating those is the peacock. I really like using the Rooster Booster brand wormer. Super easy to use.
Processed 24 meat birds sunday. They were 8 weeks and three days. The heaviest dressed out at 5 pounds 6 oz. the lightest was 3 pounds 3 oz. there are 12 birds left. I thought i would give them another week or two to gain some more weight. We got a total of 93 pounds out of the processed ones. These were raised on certified organic feed from HappyHens. It was their all flock feed.
I had everything set up ready. We had a pretty good system going. It took about 2.5 hours to process the 24. We had a total of 5 to six people working to get these done. That is quite the experience and not for the faint at heart.
I had everything set up ready. We had a pretty good system going. It took about 2.5 hours to process the 24. We had a total of 5 to six people working to get these done. That is quite the experience and not for the faint at heart.
Wow sounds like you got it down now, thanks for sharing. I can only imagine processing that many in one day.
So we have been having a hawk that has decided that our chickens might make a tasty snack and has been doing the dive bombs at the chicken free range area the last few nights. I was getting laundry off the line the other night and I stopped to watch the gang. Well I happened to see the hawk swop down into their free range area, Rocco and the gang was out enjoying the evening. Rocco sounded the alarm and everyone ran to a tree for cover. I was able to watch it on the video replay, big bird! The next night it happened again, I heard the commotion from inside and the roo's sounding off after. So I watched the video footage of the few minutes leading up to the commotion and sure enough, that hawk came back the next night. My BF believes the free range area is too narrow for the hawkto fly in and snatch someone up, but I am not so certain. Been having to do head counts every night and some of the young pullets have taken to trying to roost in the trees if you don't round them into the coop at dusk. This is making me nervous!
It sounds like you could use some bird netting over the top of your run. If for nothing else, peace of mind. Bird netting is fairly inexpensive and easy to put up. I might make you worry about your birds a bit less.
As far as bird processing. I just figured the more organized i was the quicker it would go. It seemed to go off without a hitch. I made three killing cones from galvenized sheet metal that worked very well. One of my neighbors has a plucker that sped things up quite a bit also.
As far as bird processing. I just figured the more organized i was the quicker it would go. It seemed to go off without a hitch. I made three killing cones from galvenized sheet metal that worked very well. One of my neighbors has a plucker that sped things up quite a bit also.
thebesticanbe
In the Brooder
Hello everyone. My name is shawn and i am new to this site. I am looking for some jersey giants if anyone anyone can help me that would be awsome. I live in colorado springs and have 2 road island buff crosses
Yes we have been taking about running some ropes or lines with ties on them ones across the top. I guess they don't like the ribbon or piece yarn you tie to it And this way you don't have to cover the entire run. We will probably try this approach we have extra ropes etc.
We tried making a cone once but our roo was too big for the cone, lol. Not looking forward to the day we process our 8 young cockerels. Oh what can I be feeding them to fatten them up a bit? They are rather large crosses, some are as big as Rocco and they are 4 months old. I have been feeding everyone grower, we are getting ready to make the switch to layer for the flock, will be doing the Happy Hens route.
Welcome to the board and I don't know of anyone on here that has Jersey Giant, but you never know who maybe lurking.
Speaking of Hapy Hens and feed @maggiemo are you still planning on ordering?
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WOW Cochix I would be as freaked out as the roo. I would consider the bird netting. It is very easy to use and very cost effective. I had a huge hawk if you recall last fall. It came banking around the apple tree to pin Charger down in the garden. She was stopped from hitting cover by the stupid garden fence. I saw it since I was in the workshop. They are amazingly agile. I got to her in the nick of time to be certain.
Side note about the attack. Charger has not laid an egg since it happened. She is very very twitchy now too.
Welcome to the Colorado thread Shawn. I do not know of anyone with Jersey Giants but I do know Northern Colorado Feeders Supply in Fort Collins gets birds year round. You would of course be getting little babies and would have to raise them but they do handle special orders. I think it is a pay in advance thing. I am happy with the ones I got from them.
It would be a drive but sometimes we do that for the special things we want.
Side note about the attack. Charger has not laid an egg since it happened. She is very very twitchy now too.
Welcome to the Colorado thread Shawn. I do not know of anyone with Jersey Giants but I do know Northern Colorado Feeders Supply in Fort Collins gets birds year round. You would of course be getting little babies and would have to raise them but they do handle special orders. I think it is a pay in advance thing. I am happy with the ones I got from them.
It would be a drive but sometimes we do that for the special things we want.
Sorry, I have been gone for a few days. My sister and daughter are both selling houses and moving and getting their new places livable....so that means I am helping moving, and painting and packing...etc...I probably won't call this week, but will next week.
I would want to know what the protein and calcium % are at least before I buy that much.
Sorry if you said; is it mash, or crumbles, or pellets? My birds won't touch pellets so if it is pellet forum I won't need any more info.
If the deal is sweet except for being pellets, you could always put them in the food processor or blender for a bit... Then they'll be powder instead
I know...
If the deal is sweet except for being pellets, you could always put them in the food processor or blender for a bit... Then they'll be powder insteadI know...
Love the use of the emoticons there. Made me LOL.
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