First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[LindaB220]

Made a total fool of myself today. The 16th not the 15th like I thought. So DR's appt today. Rushed like crazy and was an hour late. Everybody was totally cool about it. Surgery is set for March 10 in order to get my stuff set up for SIL to handle for me. Whew!!!

 

[Dandelioness]

Ralphie - Chocolate, my EE male who was supposed to be a pullet, looks a lot like your darker roo, but it's a little hard to see his comb & muff.

Those could be his tail feathers for sure, but his stance is different. Could be the angle or nervousness of the rooster, too. Once we realized Chocolate was a he, he was too beautiful to give away.

Nice birds.

 

[JessicaThistle]

Ralph: What is Ed's breed? One of the roos that I just rehomed looked nearly identical to him but he had feathered legs.

Linda: I will be thinking of you in between all of my craziness!

Egg Business Update:

The ladies are all seeming happier. I have been serving them up veggie scraps and scratch each day. They have decided they now like me and I can barely walk around in their pens because they surround me hollering at the top of their lungs at me. They are LOVING their treats and telling me all about it!

Egg shells are appearing WAY healthier and egg numbers are inching up and up a little each day! After a thorough body and poop check today (yep, I admit it) on several birds, it appears that we are lice, mite and worm free! Phew! I waited to check bodies until the girls started to trust me enough that I could grab them up without a net. I really don't like to use force on them. We are having random expiration of birds but are believing after this check that it is hybrid-age related death due to the indoor nature of their egg production life. Some girls are 2 1/2 and some are 1 1/2 so I believe some are just petering out. I CAN NOT WAIT TO GET THESE GIRLS HOME AND ON PASTURE!!

We have a pen with roughly 125 pullets that we just found out are nearly 20 weeks old. Combs are reddening up! I am so excited because I had expected at least another month on them before laying. I should see additional eggs any day! Woopeee!!

300 day old chicks come on Friday. OMG, I don't even know what to say about that!

 

[duluthralphie]

What breed is Ed?

Should be an easy answer, but it is not.

The guy I got Ed from got him from a woman that told him Ed was an Araucana pullet. He told me she was wrong twice. I have no idea what he is, he is huge, with huge yellow legs.

He is taller than the word famous Super Rooster Brutus was. He has a rose or cushion comb I think I am not good on combs. It is not as crinkled as I thought the rose combs were. Larger than a pea comb.

I guess he could be called an EE, but with the yellow legs who knows. I am into mutts, and he qualifies.


The other one is suppose to be a "partridge Chanticler". When I research the breed I was surprised to find they are not related to a chanticleer at all.
They were developed separately and the guy that developed them was not happy with the name assigned them in the SOP stuff.

To me Ole looks like an EE. He has big tufts and green legs. I have a hard time finding pictures of partridge chanticler tufts and legs. The guy I got him from says that what he is so it must be. He gave the birds to me so there is no reason to enhance their pedigrees. I am so happy to have them both regardless of their breeding, I needed better roosters after Brutus and Rick died.

 

[duluthralphie]

The last of my Cornish Cross pullets died today.

I may just be up against genetics that cannot be defeated. Bert still is healthy and active. The pullets never were as active or fit looking.

I now have to decide what to do with Bert. If I could find someone that has a CX pullet I would gladly let him go live with them. I am thinking of bringing a couple of Dixie rainbows in to Bert pen. I would have to lock them into the area to assure no other rooster mates with them. In about a month I could try to hatch some of the eggs. That should be enough time to get the other roosters semen out of them.

The problem with this plan is the darn Guineas. They share a covered pen with Bert. I have just kept Bert and the girls out of the pen by opening the human door everyday for them to go outside.

What to do. I was so hoping the CX's would raise frogs, there will be no frogs this spring.

Bert seems so healthy, I need to do something for him. I might move him to the “quarantine” area in the other coop for a few days and put the hens and him back in his coop after this cold snap.

Ideas welcomed..

 

[JessicaThistle]

That is so sad Ralph! I suppose that every day that I get to see Sunny waddling around is a blessed one! Poor Bert!

My rooster really did look exactly like him including the comb. The feathered/grayish legs are the only difference.

Well off to work. I'll check in later.

 

[mountain mom]

I am so sorry to hear of the final CX pullet.
I think some Dixie's in with Bert would be a fantastic idea! Wasn't one of his favored ladies a Dixie anyhow? What about a makeshift section in the shared run? Would that work?
The new roos are quite handsome. I bet the ladies will be quite happy... whatever type of mutts they are!

Jessica, I can't believe how many babies you are about to have!! How fun! And quite a relief to find no mites, lice or anything of the sort!

I heard from the Craigslist person. Not Cream Legbars. Just mutts that really resemble them. Oh well. I am headed to the feed store today to see about the Orloff chicks. I will also inquire about some Legbars. Ones that do not cost an arm and a leg.

 

[nj2wv]

Sorry to hear about your bird dying. My CXs are pretty active for being supposedly lazy birds. They jump out of the brooder and look for me to feed themin the morning. They are about three weeks old they are twice the size of my regular chicks that are the same age. I feed them twice a day. If you didn't live so far I could give you one of my pullets.

 

[LindaB220]

Speaking of size, the two stocking stuffers I got with the Basques, Cuckoo Lemon Orpingtons are so much bigger than the 2 Basques. Gonna be BIG. No idea on sex yet. I haven't been that close. Scardy cats. All of them. When It warms up a tad I'm putting them in the 4' x' 6' coop outside. It'll be good for them and easy for Clint to feed. The Basques are less than ideal. Not the right color and one is a runt. But, I bought them for pets so enough said.

 

[duluthralphie]

It is official the CX pullet committed suicide!

I caught Bert cavorting with the white rock today. A EE'er ran out of Bert's coop, I am assuming because of what she a party too when I walked in. Then behind a bucket and along side the feed sacks I saw Bert with the white rock. The white rock looked up at me with a very guilty expression on her face.

I have seen those two in Bert's coop a lot in the last few weeks, I am wondering now what they were up to, I thought it was innocent visiting, I am now starting to wonder. That would explain Mrs Bert being distraught and depressed before her tragic death.