First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[Turkeytruff]

So here is my egg business update:

The chicks are 8 weeks old this week. My goodness they are half sized hens now! I lost 3 to piling from them getting a freak out because I caught my dogs jumping in their pen. Also, the adorable little roo left us. So I am down to 303. Still on the packing peanut side of things.

The 1st group from the farm that I brought home of 93 pullets, now has 70 layers! These girls are doing great, looking super healthy and happy.

My personal hens that caught bugs have been dusted and are fine now. My hen that was doing poorly from it has completely recovered back to her normal self. What a relief!! I am also getting eggs from all of them. So happy. My silkies are now broken from their broody and should start laying again anytime. Sunny hasn't been laying, but I don't worry about it. She enjoys parking herself next to the baby chick pen and visiting with them. It's very sweet! She does delights me.

So, on to the hens at the farm: The goal is to finish up this chicken tractor and move all 400(plus or minus) to the acreage that we have arranged within the week!

Here are pics from today:


This is the feeder. It will hold roughly 400 pounds of feed. On the left and right side are built in autofeeder sections for grit and oyster shell. A water barrel will go on either side of the feeder with one waterer serving the inside from one barrel and the other serving the outside.

This is the back side of the nesting boxes before being enclosed. The floor of the nesting box is sloped so the eggs will roll out the back to this area for collection.

The floor of the nest will raise at night so the hens can't sleep in the nest and dirty them. They will lower early in the morning so the girls can go in and lay their eggs. The red boxes on the left in the pic are the control boxes with timers and such.

wow this truly is an awesome tractor Jessica. I aspire to this some day.... All your hard work paying off, that's great. Lasso up those donkeys and get them moseying down that road.... Will be great when your long commute is completely finished.
My Grandma hen died today - she was a sweet hen, would take over and be motherly to the chicks when their mamma stopped caring for them

Duluthralphie, how is Bert doing today???

 

[JessicaThistle]

wow this truly is an awesome tractor Jessica. I aspire to this some day.... All your hard work paying off, that's great. Lasso up those donkeys and get them moseying down that road.... Will be great when your long commute is completely finished.
My Grandma hen died today - she was a sweet hen, would take over and be motherly to the chicks when their mamma stopped caring for them

Duluthralphie, how is Bert doing today???

Thank you TT! I am certainly ready to end this daily commute! So sorry about Grandma hen!

Yes Ralph!! UPDATE US ON BERT, darn it!!

 

[holm25]

Jessica ur tractor loos great!!

How is amazing Bert today??

Sorry about r hen TT!!

We're supposed to get rain tonight and tomorrow!! We need it on our pastures. We r also in a big burn ban. and there has been lots of fires...

 

[duluthralphie]

TT sorry about your Grandma Hen.

Jessica that "tractor" is more than a "tractor" wow al the bells and whistles.

Holm Did you get the rain? I got some here but could use more. I got barely enough to keep the dust down.

Bert is still with us. I think he is getting better, but it is hard to tell. At least he had a full crop last night and plenty of water in him. His poop has went from real watery to semi-firm but it is an ugly green, I assume that is the antibiotic. He appears more with it. He is alert and all.

I had to fight hard to get Bert another night in the house. He might have ruined it for tonight. My wife likes to sleep late. Bert decided at 6:30 to answer the calls of the other roosters outside. I am sure I am going to hear about his 5-6 crows. They were not wimpy crows either... I was typing on the MN thread when he started. I laughed, I am sure DW did not. BTW the bathroom is adjacent to our bedroom, and I might have forgotten to close the door to it........


Guinea Gulag might be finished tonight, if so I will be transferring the guineas, if they roost somewhere I can get them. They have been in the chicken coop the last few nights, now that I want them there, they will roost in a tree. The Guineas are not getting a coop. I am giving them a topper to get out of the weather in. That is good enough for them.

 

[duluthralphie]

Oh I forgot the Bert pictures from last night:

 

[mountain mom]

Bert is so very handsome! I hope he stays on the mend!!
I bet it was hilarious when he let one rip this morning! Hope it doesn't change the softening of your DW's heart towards chickens...

Jessica- The tractor is amazing! I imagine it will be such a relief to have the girls so much closer and in better living conditions!
Sorry about your hen. When Bonnie was sick and just not getting better, I had my neighbor cull her. I couldn't do it. I cried. We had a funeral for her.

Turkeytruff- How sad about your grandma hen!

We have another broody. I thought Clyde would be the only one in my flock, as she is the only breed I have that "goes broody". Whelp, my BLR Wyandotte is poofed out, in the nesting box, growling like a gremlin. I hope it isn't catching. Keadis is a secret nest maker, but she has never gone broody... fingers crossed she just keeps with the secret nest.

The CX babies are doing great! Still inside as there is a serious bite in the air. I have their outside brooder all ready to go, but I am worried that they will just huddle under their cave for warmth and not leave to eat or drink because of the chill. At least that is what happened yesterday when we put them out. Maybe I should modify the cave for the time being and make it lower so the heating pad is closer to them. Not sure. I like them inside too...
My hubby has drawn all over one of the chicks. He believes it to be the smartest one and wants to "follow her progress". I secretly hope he becomes attached to the "smart" chicken, it turns out to be a roo, and we keep it! Fingers crossed!!
Of course, if it is a hen, I can always switch the markings to a roo...

I have also stumbled across something incredibly amazing.
Since my DH has got terrible chicken math skills and does not want any more poultry, I have learned to be vague when talking chickens and turkeys.
BUT, my dear B&G friends, I have discovered a person he cannot say "no" to. Our daughter. Better yet, our daughter wanting to do chickens for 4-H. She is my new secret pawn in poultry.

 

[duluthralphie]

A Secret weapon in the chickens wars!! I want one.

DW says she did not hear Bert this morning.. Thankfully she is a sound sleeper. I heard her talking to Bert when she went into the bathroom, so she is still warming.

 

[mountain mom]

Glad she slept through it! One step closer to winning the chicken war!

You can use grandkids soon... they are likely even better at getting a "yes".

 

[duluthralphie]

I am thinking of asking the DW I Bert can live in the bathtub forever. He seems so happy in there. When I come into the bathroom he talks to me. It makes those longer trips the bathroom fly by.

My last trip in I noticed he was dipping his head the way he does when we give him water. I held his water cup for him and he drank a half a cup. I then went and got him some bird seed. It is raining and I am too lazy today to go all the way to the coop for his feed. When I set the Tupperware dish of seed in front of him he got all excited started taking to me, I am sure he was thanking me. He stood up and started eating, talking the whole time.

I really hope he is better and it is just not wishful thinking on my part. Oh and to be honest, he did not like his eye droppers of antibiotic today, he fought me on them.

 

[duluthralphie]

Glad she slept through it! One step closer to winning the chicken war!

You can use grandkids soon... they are likely even better at getting a "yes".

I am already in trouble with my granddaughter, I sold Boo-Boo, the chick she named. She has never seen it, she named it over the phone, but she asked Grandma how it was doing, and grandma threw me under the bus!

So I am two points behind on that one.