First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[LindaB220]

Quote:
We love you Jessica!!!! Check in with details as soon as you can. I know you are busy. We'll carry on. Like usual. ha

 

[holm25]

Congrats Jess I would LOVE to do something like that!!!

Well I set 3 more of our eggs. If these don't develop we are gonna get a new drake and maybe a few more hens. Sir Pinky will live out his life on the farm as a pet... I didn't name him.

 

[duluthralphie]

Congrats Jess I would LOVE to do something like that!!!

Well I set 3 more of our eggs. If these don't develop we are gonna get a new drake and maybe a few more hens. Sir Pinky will live out his life on the farm as a pet... I didn't name him.

I thought I read you have 8 drakes?

Not one of the 8 was up to the heavy lifting a male is required to do?

 

[holm25]

We had 8 we sold some butchered some and kept 1

 

[Turkeytruff]

Give your poor hubby 120 gold stars.
Men never get enough credit.




Now that I got your heart pumping and blood pressure rising, you can skip your morning run.

If you want a good laugh read the label on "eggland's best". I understand some people like the idea of eating all vegetarian, and that is there right. However, claiming they are feeding the chickens an natural diet of organic grains is laughable to me. A natural diet for a chicken includes all kinds of bugs and small critters.

The cage free part comes from the birds being allowed out of their cages for 30 minutes a day. They are still in a pen or building and not allowed to free range. Even free range birds are not truly free range. It appears if you think your pen is large enough you can call them free range.

I feel guilty if I tell my few egg customers my chickens are free range, so I always add I let them out around 9-10 am and they go back to their coop at sunset. My birds are truly free range during that time, as evidenced by the number I lose to birds of prey. Under industry standard I could probably call them free range inside there enclosed pen as it is large enough for them to be happy.

Those of you that sell eggs, do you have any label or instructions on your cartons? I am thinking of printing some labels for my egg cartons with our phone numbers and explaining why I do not wash the eggs but simply "sand" them to remove dirt. I would also put a label on it to wash the eggs with 110 degree water before using.

What do you think of that idea? It is not required here that I know of. I would hate to start doing something and have some bureaucrat see it and decide everyone has to do that..( In case you have not noticed I am not a big fan of large bureaucratic government).



And Jessica Grats on the egg business I hope you make millions and enjoy every minute!

So true; 'veggie fed' is on many labels of egg suppliers here. I wonder if someone could come up with an idea of 'vegan' worms for chickens as, after all, don't worms eat vegetables? Today my chickens had a wonderful time 'helping me' dismantle and take away many wheelbarrows of wonderful 2 year old leaf mulch. There were some fat squishy green cutworms curled up in there. Every time they found one, it was 'game on!' chicken tag, turkey tag, even Stanley my head goose got quite excited and he is pretty much vegetarian. Perhaps he was trying to be the referee. Hilarious watching them chase up and down the field. Better than football on TV.

I like your idea of telling people why you sand instead of wash - and the washing in 110 degree water. So many people don't have a clue re: basic egg hygiene. Some kind of simple label could do it.

My uphill MG chickens had their first opportunity to escape club Colditz today. I have been making up a wire fence every day since the day I moved them up the hill to the new coop. It allowed them to wander around about 100 square yards but when they have been used to wandering hither and yon.... anyway today I shut the alpacas in the lower field and let them out. Big Mac the rooster has a very melodious sort of tooting he does to keep his girls around him. And he did a wonderful job all day wandering the whole field and CAME BACK to the right roost tonight! So happy! I didn't fancy another evening chasing them up and down the field.

 

[duluthralphie]

So true; 'veggie fed' is on many labels of egg suppliers here. I wonder if someone could come up with an idea of 'vegan' worms for chickens as, after all, don't worms eat vegetables? Today my chickens had a wonderful time 'helping me' dismantle and take away many wheelbarrows of wonderful 2 year old leaf mulch. There were some fat squishy green cutworms curled up in there. Every time they found one, it was 'game on!' chicken tag, turkey tag, even Stanley my head goose got quite excited and he is pretty much vegetarian. Perhaps he was trying to be the referee. Hilarious watching them chase up and down the field. Better than football on TV.

I like your idea of telling people why you sand instead of wash - and the washing in 110 degree water. So many people don't have a clue re: basic egg hygiene. Some kind of simple label could do it.

My uphill MG chickens had their first opportunity to escape club Colditz today. I have been making up a wire fence every day since the day I moved them up the hill to the new coop. It allowed them to wander around about 100 square yards but when they have been used to wandering hither and yon.... anyway today I shut the alpacas in the lower field and let them out. Big Mac the rooster has a very melodious sort of tooting he does to keep his girls around him. And he did a wonderful job all day wandering the whole field and CAME BACK to the right roost tonight! So happy! I didn't fancy another evening chasing them up and down the field.

You sound like a very reasonable person, however, there is one question I need to ask...



WHY would a reasonable sane person have a goose?


Sorry, that slipped out, my experience with geese only served to allow me to tolerate my guineas...

I have a new head rooster, a coup occurred after Rick hurt his foot. I am not sure if Ernie or no name is in charge. Yesterday, I went out to check on the birds at around 1pm. I saw no chickens in the yard, I saw one RIR next to the house eating from the bird feeder droppings. The turkeys were missing. I got a sinking feeling and said to myself " why would they all be in the coop on a nice day like this?".

I opened the coop door and found it empty, one bird sitting in a nest box and that was it. My heart fell, the only other time I saw the birds all missing was after an eagle attack that killed a baby and fatally wounded a hen turkey.

So, I went on a chicken hunt, I went to check areas I know they hide in, I checked the leanto on the granary, nothing. I looked at the scrap iron trailer, nothing. I checked the pick up toppers Nothing! I was getting scared now.

I went up to the CX coop, everything was normal there, no extra chickens. I started into the woods, but the chickens had not been in the woods since the first snow in early November. I was one worried chicken rancher. Then I walked around another shed and found them in the woods, sitting in, on and under a widow maker that fell over last summer. MY little ICU baby was about 20 ft up the tree, sitting in the open, her white really showed up. As I looked closer I found all the chickens, I had Partridge EE'ers sitting in the tree like real partridge! The turkeys were there. The roosters were together and they seemed to be just enjoying the above freezing temps. It was actually funny to see them all in one tree, they have never stayed together as a group before.


I was relieved I do not think a Bird of Prey was involved, they just wanted to go on road trip, they were a good 100 yards from their coop.

 

[mountain mom]

You sound like a very reasonable person, however, there is one question I need to ask...



WHY would a reasonable sane person have a goose?


Sorry, that slipped out, my experience with geese only served to allow me to tolerate my guineas...

I have a new head rooster, a coup occurred after Rick hurt his foot. I am not sure if Ernie or no name is in charge. Yesterday, I went out to check on the birds at around 1pm. I saw no chickens in the yard, I saw one RIR next to the house eating from the bird feeder droppings. The turkeys were missing. I got a sinking feeling and said to myself " why would they all be in the coop on a nice day like this?".

I opened the coop door and found it empty, one bird sitting in a nest box and that was it. My heart fell, the only other time I saw the birds all missing was after an eagle attack that killed a baby and fatally wounded a hen turkey.

So, I went on a chicken hunt, I went to check areas I know they hide in, I checked the leanto on the granary, nothing. I looked at the scrap iron trailer, nothing. I checked the pick up toppers Nothing! I was getting scared now.

I went up to the CX coop, everything was normal there, no extra chickens. I started into the woods, but the chickens had not been in the woods since the first snow in early November. I was one worried chicken rancher. Then I walked around another shed and found them in the woods, sitting in, on and under a widow maker that fell over last summer. MY little ICU baby was about 20 ft up the tree, sitting in the open, her white really showed up. As I looked closer I found all the chickens, I had Partridge EE'ers sitting in the tree like real partridge! The turkeys were there. The roosters were together and they seemed to be just enjoying the above freezing temps. It was actually funny to see them all in one tree, they have never stayed together as a group before.


I was relieved I do not think a Bird of Prey was involved, they just wanted to go on road trip, they were a good 100 yards from their coop.

They just needed a little adventure. Cabin fever is setting in everywhere!

I too am not a fan of geese. Mostly because of one experience in particular.

When my daughter was younger, around 2, she loved to hug all animals. Dogs, cats, skunks (yes, a skunk was the target of one of her hugs once. She was then his target. I digress..) and even geese.
In the Fort Collins area, we have an abundance of Canadian Geese. Some moron at the vet school, years and years ago, felt they needed a safe place to live and created a sanctuary. We are literally overrun with the vermin, I mean, geese.
One day at the park, my kid and I were enjoying a picnic. Some geese came by, not unusual, but she wanted to hug them. She tried, then they went after her!
I then jumped in, thinking the dang things would at least be afraid of me. Nope.
We were chased by them! Of course, we ended backed up to the lake. They were still coming after us. I started throwing rocks. They finally relented.
For some time, my daughter had a thing she called "scary run". She put her head down, arms back and hissed as she ran.

This is why I don't like geese.

 

[duluthralphie]

LOL.. Did you feel compelled to call child welfare on yourself after this experience?


The chickens are really enjoying the day here today, wondering everywhere as if it is summer, of course at 43 degrees it could very well be summer.

 

[mountain mom]

It is summer here too... projected high of 70! We will see.

I know my husband was sure questioning my mothering skills... especially after the skunk incident. That one I kept a secret for a while. I was sure he would report me.

 

[mountain mom]

Ug. With the warm up, the opposite of what I had hoped would happen, happened.

The bedding in the coop has not dried out... and is now emitting an AWFUL ammonia smell.

Sigh. I just shoveled over 2/3 of the bedding out. At the very bottom it was soaking wet... not just damp. I am obviously not doing a thorough enough job "mixing" every day.
I think while we were out of town over New Years, the neighbor kid spilled the chickens water while he was filling it or something. That is the only reason I can see for it to be so wet.
I am hopeful what I left in there will dry out today and tomorrow (there is only a couple of inches now) and then I can add new bedding. I just hate to do a total clean out and lose all the hard working microbes and be starting from ground zero.

Anyone else use deep litter method? Suggestions?