First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[Turkeytruff]

so you do really understand the mess I was in! I am so happy to have company in my quagmire of a life!

BTW Be very very very very careful when helping people to expand their vocabulary, I have been know to get into "trouble" or "hot water" and if I dare say it catch, nope, I can't say it sorry the word, for simply teaching new words




What is a Mistral Gris, I may need some, I like Small Breasted big legged beauties and have been trying to make a coop full of them............... Do they do well in cold weather, And by cold I mean Artic.

Mistral Gris have been called the gourmet chicken by French chefs; they have white meat, but overall their meat is kind of between dark and white meat and extremely flavourful. They take 12-14 weeks to mature which I regard as a plus so their bone structure has time to develop. They are lovely goofy sweet birds (at least the ones I raise) and they forage forever and will eat as much as you let them. I don't free feed, I put down food 3 times daily for them til 6 weeks old, then twice daily. There are lots of people in Pennsylvania who raise them. I got mine from the BC mainland -they are a 4 way breed and if you ever find out what those breeds are, let me know! It's a closely guarded secret

Yes vocabulary is an interesting discussion - fortunately my chickens don't mind what I say to them and I'm sure when I was chasing them they had a few choice words in chicken back at me!

Another saga I want to share with my friends living here in Jessica's basement, I copied this from my post on the Minnesota thread for you because I know some of you are on the fence about getting guineas.....



I am down to 4 eggs today for 33 hens/pullets.

I did have a 5th egg but it was smashed and partially devoured.

Now comes the real troubling thing. I found on of the gangstra's in a nest box today. (gangstra=Guinea). I cannot prove it was eating or destroying eggs. It is the first time I have caught one in a nest box.

I readily admit I have become prejudice against guineas, but with good reason, whenever I have problems they seem to be behind it. I have informed my DW we may start eating guineas soon. They are fat becoming as disliked as geese here.

I could just lock them out of the coop and feed them to the owls, and would if I did not want the owls to think this is a good safe place to eat.

Giving the guinea the benefit of doubt, can any of you think of a reason for one to be in a nest box, head first feet on the edge butt hanging out, that is innocent?

I really like my guineas in the summer, they are fun to watch and they eat tons of bugs and are good watch dogs, but this time of year they drive me nuts. If I keep them I will need to make them their own coop and covered fence this spring.

When I mentioned eating them or feeding them to my DW she said, they really catch the bugs and travel the whole farm eating them. Then she said they are fun to watch. I guess they will be here next year.

I am doomed to a life of tribulation and strife,,,,,

yes egg thieves.
On a serious note, I lost 2 beautiful pullets to my young turkey hens in the last 6 weeks. I now have the turkey hens separated and need to build a second 'chicken access only' screen door to my barn where they lay the eggs.
Near as we can work out, they were stealing the eggs. We think when they couldn't get a chicken off the roost they pecked them more and more viciously. My DH was feeding the flock in the afternoon and I came home from work to find him with a dying hen stripped all along the back of her neck and head that he removed from a nest. We had to finish her off quickly. We went back to the field and one of the turkey hens had blood down the front of her neck and breast, the other one a tiny bit, so we think she also got involved in it.
Normally they get along with the chickens well, they were raised with 12 of them last summer.
Heart breaking, as we love these girls and raised them by hand, but I will never trust them around the laying hens again. I now have them in a large enclosure with 3 roosters - no problem.

 

[duluthralphie]

?????

 

[mountain mom]

you're killing me!

Not the same thing, but we just moved our Mistral Gris meaties to a different place on our property that we share with a tenant. She and I bought 100 last January and kept a few back to breed. Anyway I kept them in the new shed at the top of the hill for 4 days and then let them out yesterday afternoon - it was a beautiful sunny day for a change. I hoped they would come back to the new shed but of course no, they went down to her place.

Picture the scene: dusk, having got all my other poultry in, slogging down in the semi dark jellified earth after the constant rain of the last week. My tenant's 160 ducks quacking like mad and also resisting going into the barn. 5 extremely determined hens and 1 massive roo flaunting their free range big chicken thighs

(Mistral Gris don't have massive breasts but have great legs!) all up and down the hill while I churn up and down, slipping and sliding after them, glasses completely fogged, in a muck sweat, enlarging the vocabulary of the neighbours enjoying the show, and rivers of sweat running down my back. Who needs a home gym when you've got chickens!!!!
Ah, sweet country life ....

How are the Mistral Gris to pluck? I know darker feathers can be more tricky.
They are beautiful birds though, and we like a decent breast (not necessarily as big as the CX) with bigger thighs and legs.

 

[mountain mom]

?????

Who knows. I was trying to respond, and just couldn't make the computer do what I wanted it to. Or I couldn't push buttons correctly. Something.
My post ended up after your Guinea egg thief post. Weird.

 

[lazy gardener]

... dared me to go outside in my undies to prove to her it was not that cold. I had no choice, I was trapped. After 40 some years being married to her, I knew I could not let her win.

Your story cracked me up so much that I had to call my husband to read it. So, after he got his chuckles, he turned to me and asked: "So, I wonder who won that round???" got an answer for that?

Reminds me of the time I was convinced that a badger was in my chicken coop, so I got up in the middle of the night, and ran out the back door, in my pink fuzzy slippers and my not so modest bed time gear, armed with nothing but a broom... It did not end well. Now, being a bit older and a bit smarter, I'd have grabbed a gun, to complete the night time wardrobe.

college days: I know a certain young lady who is very dear to my heart. Seems that one of her room mates stepped a bit out of line. So, she and her dorm mates stole EVERY LAST pair of the errant gal's undies, and mailed them back to her... one pair per day.

 

[duluthralphie]

Your story cracked me up so much that I had to call my husband to read it. So, after he got his chuckles, he turned to me and asked: "So, I wonder who won that round???" got an answer for that?

Reminds me of the time I was convinced that a badger was in my chicken coop, so I got up in the middle of the night, and ran out the back door, in my pink fuzzy slippers and my not so modest bed time gear, armed with nothing but a broom... It did not end well. Now, being a bit older and a bit smarter, I'd have grabbed a gun, to complete the night time wardrobe.

college days: I know a certain young lady who is very dear to my heart. Seems that one of her room mates stepped a bit out of line. So, she and her dorm mates stole EVERY LAST pair of the errant gal's undies, and mailed them back to her... one pair per day.

there is no doubt I won!

I am not silly enough to tell her about the chickens not in the coop or the one crapping down my backside..

When I got back in the house, she asked what took so long, I simply said "it was so nice Out I took a stroll around the pasture."..

So One point for the husbands of the world!!!

 

[lazy gardener]

Not so much. Who had the cold poopy heiney and boot???

 

[Turkeytruff]

there is no doubt I won!

I am not silly enough to tell her about the chickens not in the coop or the one crapping down my backside..

When I got back in the house, she asked what took so long, I simply said "it was so nice Out I took a stroll around the pasture."..

So One point for the husbands of the world!!!

Stop it hurts! There are tears streaming down my face!

How are the Mistral Gris to pluck? I know darker feathers can be more tricky.
They are beautiful birds though, and we like a decent breast (not necessarily as big as the CX) with bigger thighs and legs.

They are OK to pluck if you dunk them - the outer wing feathers can be tough, but that's no matter what colour they are, I find.
They have a reasonable breast, but not a D cup

. But if you like great thighs and great taste they are wonderful.

 

[duluthralphie]

Not so much. Who had the cold poopy heiney and boot???

It is only because my wife would say something like that, that I got into that mess!!!!

ADDED ON THIS AM AFTER A GOOD NIGHTS SLEEP>>>>

You, I suppose, could stretch the truth and change the facts slightly to come up with the idea she won, in some perverse way. HOWEVER, by my not letting her know the events that transpired in "The Great Skivvy Chicken Round up of '15" I have denied her a win.

For a marriage to work well, the man must deny a win to the woman whenever possible or life will be bad for him. She will laud it over him. She will begin to think she can win as much as he can. In her heart I know my wife in wants me to always win even at the cost of her losing. Besides my wife is not a good winner like I am.


I am thinking of opening a marriage counseling service.

Now in order to preserve my domestic tranquility ,DO NOT TELL MY WIFE ABOUT THIS THREAD OR POST....

 

[duluthralphie]

Pictures of my chubbies: