Daily Journal: 50-Cornish X chicks from Schlecht

[bnentrup]

Quote:
would be funny to write on them 'in - pointing forward toward head, out- pointing backward' - too much fun. My runt looks like a skunk!

 

[sassychickengirl]

Quote:
I started mine with the heat lamp. I picked them up on May 19th. I took it out late last week, so they were about 1.5 weeks old. I just put it back in because the idiots didn't get in out of the rain. They are two weeks old as of yesterday and were just fine without the lamp and outside until tonight's storm. They seem to be so hot in general that I don't think they really need it. I just wanted mine to dry out and not get sick or chilled so I put it back for tonight.

sassy, what are your avg weights?

Okay, so we weighed all of them today and have an average weight of about 15.9 oz. They are 2 wks and 2 days old today. So is this weight okay or average? They range from 12 oz - 19 oz. I'm thinking of putting the smaller ones separate so they can plump up some.

 

[bnentrup]

Quote:
sassy, what are your avg weights?

Okay, so we weighed all of them today and have an average weight of about 15.9 oz. They are 2 wks and 2 days old today. So is this weight okay or average? They range from 12 oz - 19 oz. I'm thinking of putting the smaller ones separate so they can plump up some.

I think we are on the exact same chick birth date.. this will be an interesting comparison as we progress. I do feel that I can get mine caught up in the next few weeks, as I had about 20% growth in one day! I have several 12oz now, and switched to 24% protein today. Lets keep the comparisons going over next few weeks. Yours seem right on track.

 

[Hillsvale]

So tomorrow I am going to put some poultry wire around and area to rope in my now three week olds and put their feed outside... see if they can get some exercize.... mine are pretty porky even though they are eating exactly like we were told... next batch of 50 coming in 10 days, I am going to keep better records of feed and weight.

This is turning out to be a great thread for us new meaty growers... thanks!

Shelley

 

[bnentrup]

OK,
this past week has so far been the biggest learning portion of my cornish cross farming! I did lose 1 bird.. HUGE MISTAKE on my behalf. I placed a barrier fence (plastic) around the bottom portion of the chicken tractor, and one (very large) bird got his neck stuck in it and choked by morning. When I found him, my heart sank. Yes, it is to be expected that these chickens have a high mortality rate, but this one was my negligence. I was trying to add a bit more security, since I have had a cat early in the year get into the pen (very small opening in corner, and PULL the chick through the small opening. I have been more careful as to how I build my coops after that (and tractors). My attempt at the secondary fence fabric was to simply keep any stray animals from even touching my tractor!

After that incident, I pulled all of that fabric up, and have gone back to the basic tractor. Lesson learned, and for the past 5-days I have had no incidents and feel they are VERY safe above what I expected. No strays have even stepped into my property for the past 2-months.

The second lesson learned was basically to get those buggers outside as soon as possible. We moved them just shy of 3-weeks (due to their weights) but I suppose my conclusion is that if the weather permits, move them outside at week 2-regardless of their size! Since we moved them out, they have sparkled (not quite, but you get the point). Their coloring improved (less poo and more air), their stink is less, they eat more!, and have exposure to the sun with all of its benefits.

The third lesson, is that the little red feeders do NOT CUT IT for 3-week old birds, and probably not 2-week olds either (unless you have 1 per 5 birds!). Many of you use the bucket feeders religiously, and I gave it a try 2 days ago. HOLY COW! the chickens gained huge amounts of weight in a short period. Why?

My best guess is that even though I filled my troff feeders up-to 4-times a day, they still did not get as much feed as they desired. I filled them when I saw the feed was out or near out, and feel that this small margin of having endless feed made a huge difference.

PROGRESS:
Welphatchery's nifty chart shows that at 3-weeks our birds SHOULD be in the 1.7 -1.9 range. We are right at 1.4-1.6 now. HOLY COW, I did not think we could catch-up and progress like we have, but the small changes in feeding and shelter made a HUGE difference.

I will post the comparison of week 4 and week 5, and feel we can catchup to average or just below average weights by week 5. The goal is to have some 5lb dressed birds by week 8.

 

[Hillsvale]

I sort of forgot abut your progress thread!...

I am a week ahead of you and last weekend I added chicken wire around their stationary hut so they have an area about 21 by 30 to roam around in, we actually put them on "ration" or so we thought .. filled the troughs morning and night (which should have slowed their weight gain) and sprinkled crumbled all over their pen morning and when we got home... one test subject still gained 11 ounces in three days...

I guess they aren't too bad at foraging...

and they love to be outdoors, when we get home they come running up to the fence just to say hello (ya right

)

Mine are right on schedule with your chart from the hatchery...

I get 50 more chicks on Tuesday so I will start a thread that is more detailed than what I have done so far that will hopefully help other newbies... know your thread has helped me!

 

[bnentrup]

Quote:
I am glad that my misfortune has helped you! I could have easily spent 40-hours reading other threads here and learned what I have learned. But as Joel Salatin states in one of his books, there is no escaping the learning curve of a farmer!

I may elect to go with a freedom ranger or different breed for my next run, and I need to time them for when my travel schedule best permits (to keep the wife from lugging too many 50lb bags of feed).

They just burnt through my other bag of feed, and now that I am 3.5 weeks (some would say 1/2 way point!) - these are my total expenses at this point

Cost of 50-birds with shipping: $50
2-full bags of feed averaging $11 each : $22
Cost of chicken tractor (free labor): $50
cost of Brooder (free labor): $20
2 Bags of wood shavings: $10
Cost of Electricity for brooder: $who the heck knows
Cost of 2 brooder feeders (went to 5-gal buckets now): $10
Cost of 2 jar waterers (for brooder) (went to 5-gal bucket now): $10
Mileage for buying feed (about 50 x .40): $20
Total fixed costs: $192

Remaining costs (primarily feed): I am expecting about 500lb more of feed per the chart, or 10 more bags of feed @ $11 each
$110

Total costs of birds estimated to finish (with me processing): $302
My Man Hours to slaughter (about 1/2 hour per day..somedays much more by my choice): @ $10 per hour (very low but heck) $300 labor
$602 cost before slaughter. I can butcher 5-birds per hour or 8-hours total, therefore, $100 in my time for butchering:

$702 is my goal price for the batch if I am ok making $10 per bird. Note: I will likely keep several of the birds, and these figures are for analysis only.

Assuming I can keep 40-birds alive for butchering, and if I can get average butcher weights to 5lbs, that would be 200lbs of meat. This would indicate that I need to bring $3.51 per lb for my chickens.. which will be VERY hard to accomplish if not impossible right now in central Indiana.

HOWEVER, the next round will be easier due to :
1.) cheaper feed located (I can get my feed costs down to where we are saving 30% on feed in bulk)
2.) no tractor or brooder costs, no other equipment costs for this size run.
3.) less hours consumed due to understanding the process better.

 

[Hillsvale]

funny, I wouldn't call aything your make reference here to as misfortune.... well except the chicken vs tractor bit...

we did something similar as I have 'windows' at the back of the huts to open (wooden flaps which run the full 16 feet of the hut) and I forget one evening and it got quite cool and one died I beileve due to suffocation, and we were also shorted a bird so I only have 23 for first round butchering.... that will be a good learning curve. I am thinking I would like mine to make it to 7 or 8 pound but thats because my kids are huge post teens and eat... lots lol. With the birds running around and building some strength in their legs I thinks its worth while.

 

[harleyjo]

I want to give you all 2 more great hatcheries with great prices.

http://hoovershatchery.com/html/broilers.html

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?r...chery&hnear=Menlo,+IA&cid=9299026322254677359


I ordered my pullets and cornish cross from oak hill hatchery but they get the pullets from Hoover hatchery and they raise their own cornish cross. One of the reasons I decided to buy from them is that I live close enough, about 25 miles, and I can go and pick up my chicks from them.

As far as my pullets go this was my first time ever and they were very helpful. I lost 2 chicks out of my first 12 I ordered, they gave me 13. So when I was getting ready 3 weeks later to go pick up my cornish x from them I asked if they could get me a couple more black pullets for the couple I lost. They had 3 in with my Cornish X. I ordered 25 Cornish X, they gave me 28 and I have not lost one yet and they are a month old.

The Oak Hill Hatchery does not have a website so you have to call them. They personally drive up and pick up the pullets they get for people and then ship if necessary. These may be smaller hatcheries but the prices are great. My pullets were $1.58 each and the Cornish X were .95 straight run.

 

[harleyjo]

Also we have not weighed our chicks but we got them on May 12th at one day old. This is a picture that was taken on June 8th, so about a week ago.

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I am assuming they are doing ok. Like I said before, these are the chicks that we picked up from Oak Hill hatchery. We didn't lose one of them. We started the 28 of them in a brooder in the garage with a heat lamp for a week. Then moved them to half of the coop also put the heat lamp in there. They don't go outside but we do have them on unmedicated feed now.