First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[JRNash]

This one just has an entirely different personality Ralph. I don't think she knows she is a chicken. She is easily the largest of the bunch AND most active.

 

[JRNash]

The lone dark Brahma is pretty, but real flighty. Even though he is one of the smallest he will still do the chest bump with the bigger birds

 

[JRNash]

My wife swears Trixie knows her name.lol

 

[JRNash]

I had my first escapee today,a little white giant.

what the picture doesn't show,because i was too slow is that he was right in the middle of 11 geese. They didn't like me putting him back with the rest

 

[duluthralphie]

I lost a guinea today. I had 6 adult guineas now I have 5, I think the others pushed the one in front of an oncoming truck. Or they executed him in some other way. They have been chasing the one for 3 days now. They must have caught him.

 

[JRNash]

Notorious crime syndicate Ralph. Tread carefully

 

[JRNash]

My uncle was Italian

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Hi and welcome to the thread....

Now I have to let you know I am easily offended.. Ever since I received the first memo of double secret probation for nasty language I have turned to into a puritan like human being. The idea of tattooing a chicken just rubs me wrong... A person that would tattoo a chicken is the kind of person that would remove a beware of gator sign from a gator pond... It is hard to think of someone that would do that...

It is a depraved act....


Newbies please disregard this, JR look in the mirror and weep when you read this.

Have I mentioned in the last 10 minutes how much I ADORE this thread?

Re: Being offended - it's nothing compared to what folks who want to talk about raising cute fuzzy bunny rabbits for meat sometimes deal with (despite the profound sustainability of it - just check out Heifer International). Depending on their environs, people get targeted, and even have rabbits stolen or released. Many folks feel that they need to hide their rabbitries despite zoning laws being ok for rabbits (as mine are). (sigh)

I had a long conversation with my mother on the phone last night about the fact that I had two overlapping batches of meat chickens coming this fall (20 per batch). I explained everything - she's very smart, and also open minded, but still sort of a little freaked out by it. Like most folks in the US, she is removed from the production of the meat she eats. (Of course, part of why she wigged a little is that they are coming to visit me around harvest time and I teased her about plucking duty...) I explained that I was perfectly capable of buying chicken from farmers I knew who treated their chickens well (I'm ok with paying more for good meat and eating less of it), but that I felt it was important for me to be more directly involved in the process, at least for one season (and it would be the cheaper option, though more work). If you don't want to eat meat, that's fine, but if you're going to eat meat, you should understand what's involved in getting it on the table. I'm getting borderline curmudgeonly on this point (no patience for the "doesn't meat come in styrofoam trays?" attitude). I told an acquaintance (from Florida) at a professional meeting this past week that I had pullets and that I would be raising meat chickens this fall (no mention of rabbits), and she said, "You just get weirder and weirder each year..." I wasn't remotely offended (I like her and she was teasing me), but I was just struck that it would be considered "weird" to know where your food comes from. How did we get here in just two or three generations? Have we forgotten that none of us would eat if it weren't for farmers?!

{{{{Deep breath}}}}

{I will not rant... I will not rant... I will not rant... I will not rant'''}

My first batch of meatball chicks arrive in early September (a tad early for our season here, which is determined by heat issues) and I'm currently planning/preparing my foraging area for them. I can't truly free range because of heavy hawk pressure (they nest ON my lot), but I have a good sized area for supervised roaming and exercise that I will try to add overhead protection to. I have been really enjoying reading "Raising Poultry and Rabbits on Scraps" (A book written in the UK in 1941, during wartime rationing, that has been reprinted and is available on Amazon.) Good discussion on lawn management as well as the use of food scraps to supplement the chicken feed rations. I adore this little book - bookmarks all over it. Highly recommended (good info PLUS it's interesting!). I'm totally going to see if my chickens like acorns this fall.

While there are other threads on hawk issues and prevention, I thought I'd ask - Have any of you guys who have done this have had hawk issues with your roaming CXs? How well do they take care of themselves?

- Ant Farm

 

[duluthralphie]

Things to hide under help, BUT I have lost birds to hawks and eagles..

The good thing is while it is illegal to shoot a bird of prey it is not illegal to shoot behind them. When you shoot behind a bird of prey one of two things happens.

He changes direction and leaves your chickens to never come back after having the poop scared out of him...

or

He is so intend on making the dive bomber like run on your chickens and the noise scares him enough that he speeds up a tad, loses concentration on the ground and hits the ground at mach 3 and breaks his neck and dies...

Both results are acceptable.

I try to keep my dogs outside as much as possible, it helps keep the dang raptors away. Also I think the guineas and their god forsaken noise keeps them away..

 

[JessicaThistle]

So we have been working feverishly and our SECOND mobile chicken tractor unit thingy is now out on pasture.


Now to put up the electric fence and get the girls moved to their new home. I can feel the pain and exhaustion already!