First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[duluthralphie]

no telling how old it was

We can all rest easy knowing he will get no older... Think of all the dope smoking skinny dippers that are safer now.

 

[JRNash]

They need a truck load up here in Colorado

 

[duluthralphie]

They need a truck load up here in Colorado

I assume you mean Gators and not the other material....

 

[JRNash]

Yes sir Ralph.A truck load of GATORS

 

[eviemethugh]

I hate march. Last week the weather was great, but the chicks weren't feathered out. So I did take them out for one day, but couldn't everyday. This week it is getting up to 82 degrees, but it's calling for a high of 55 on sunday & rain. ughhhhhh. Today was their first day in one of the chicken tractors and I would like to leave them out there. We are working on a hoop house, I guess we need to finish that STAT since they were starting to jump out of the brooder, and definitely can't go back in there on Sunday!
They are still doing so good! We did have a random death last night, but that is our first one so now we have 102. They will be 3 weeks old tomorrow.
We were withholding food for 10-12 hours at night and also taking out the feeders for one hour twice a day while they were in the brooder. I now plan on feeding them for 90ish minutes 3 times a day, and going down to two feedings in about a week. They are getting a calcium supplement, broiler booster, and were getting a little fresh pond grit (not that they really liked it) with hay or clover while in the brooder.

At two weeks and one day they were weighing from .73 to .9 lbs. We are planning on sending half to freezer camp at 7 weeks and half at 8 weeks.

 

[JessicaThistle]

Hi Everyone!! I have really missed my peeps here! I have been insanely busy. The farm is busy and awesome! We are getting record number of eggs and they are selling like mad! The ducks are set to start laying in a few week and I have secured a large store to sell the duck eggs. Chicks are raising in the brooder and our little farm is finally at a point where we are actually making a few bucks each month.

Welcome Evie!! So glad you joined the thread. Have you had a chance to read the first several pages of the thread? That's where alot of valuable info lies. If your chicks are 3 weeks old now you should be able to have them in the chicken tractor permanently. I moved mine out of the brooder into the chicken tractor before 2 weeks old in 40 degree lows. I did run a cord with a heat lamp for the first couple of days but removed it because they didn't sleep under it. 100 chicks should be able to keep each other warm without the lamp at 3 weeks old. You also may consider a little less food. I fed mine 4 times per day enough that they ate it all within 15 minutes. All of my birds dressed out from 5-7 pounds. That was the size I was going for because I like to use my rotisserie oven. Also, are you going to allow free ranging time? I'm sorry if you said it previously. I had several pages to catch up on and can't always remember all of the details.

 

[holm25]

Hi Jessica!!


I thought I should tell you all Snowball is no longer with us

. She has went to the big run in the sky as of Friday. She would have been two in April

 

[JessicaThistle]

Hi Jessica!!


I thought I should tell you all Snowball is no longer with us

. She has went to the big run in the sky as of Friday. She would have been two in April

Oh, how sad! But how awesome that she was almost 2! You did a great job keeping her alive for so long.

 

[JessicaThistle]

Here's a couple photos of our operation.





and the ducks for Ralphie.

 

[JRNash]

Sorry Holm