First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[duluthralphie]

Sangria! Sounds delicious. And I know I don't have to tell you how healthy it is. Fruit is good for you.

Congrats on all the hatching and babies to everyone!

Well, it is still raining here. The meatballs are hardly white. More like mud colored with flecks of white here and there. The rest of the gals are soaking wet. Wet chickens are funny... especially silkies.

Turkey dinner is getting annoying. I feel like it is too wet and cold for the numbskull to go outside with the meatballs... meanwhile he is here screaming because he keeps getting put back in the brooder when he escapes to check things out. Sigh. I must admit, it is a bit cute, I am just trying to convince myself it is annoying so I don't get attached.
Have you ever seen a 3 week old turkey poult bolt across the floor out of the corner of your eye while you are hanging with your friends at the bar and grill? It is really pretty funny. But annoying. Just tell me it is annoying.

Ralph- Why do you have so many floozies in your flock?! I think they need to be taught to be ladies.

TT- We are headed to Naniamo this summer... is it illegal to bring turkeys over the border?! I don't think we could hide them very easily.

So all of this rain and dreary weather calls for a need of vitamin D. I suppose some chocolate milk with Yukon Jack would fix my deficiency.

The trick is to not hide them, simply put them in a brown paper bag with a slice of bread on each side of the turkey and call it a turkey sandwich, it is perfectly legal then.

 

[raisinemright]

This my own personal touch on Sunset sangria!! It's gotta be the longest drink to make ever!!
We moved some chicks around today. Our Easter hatch got moved outside except a few smaller not quite feathered chicks stayed in the brooder. (A few silkies) we moved our youngest CX to a larger brooder for the next week, then they will be going into the tractor.
My garage is almost chicken free!!!
CHEERS.....

 

[1zooman12]

Ralphie,
Now you know full well that if you get a few silkie and cochin pullets (small and large incubators respectively) your troubles will be over. Nothing more to say on the subject.
Sincerely,
Neal

 

[duluthralphie]

I hear all the time Silkies go broody all the time, I just do not want a silkie, I want a broody BIG normal bird...

I suppose I could try a cochin, they are a big fluffy foot bird right?

 

[Turkeytruff]

I have toads! (one toad) Just to refresh you Toads are CX and Dixie rainbow chicks.


Here are the proud mother(s):



And here is the proud father on receiving the news:




And here is the baby:




I am so glad I have this chicken genetics down pat!

I think you should definitely put out a birth announcement. If it's good enough for the Kate and William's of this world.....What a cutie! Looks a lot like a Mistral Gris at first, only without the dot on the head.

TT the chicks r doing great!! I have a video to upload of them and my roo and his hens. I'll do that soon

Great vid, Holm25! So cute!

Sangria! Sounds delicious. And I know I don't have to tell you how healthy it is. Fruit is good for you.

Congrats on all the hatching and babies to everyone!

Well, it is still raining here. The meatballs are hardly white. More like mud colored with flecks of white here and there. The rest of the gals are soaking wet. Wet chickens are funny... especially silkies.

Turkey dinner is getting annoying. I feel like it is too wet and cold for the numbskull to go outside with the meatballs... meanwhile he is here screaming because he keeps getting put back in the brooder when he escapes to check things out. Sigh. I must admit, it is a bit cute, I am just trying to convince myself it is annoying so I don't get attached.
Have you ever seen a 3 week old turkey poult bolt across the floor out of the corner of your eye while you are hanging with your friends at the bar and grill? It is really pretty funny. But annoying. Just tell me it is annoying.

Ralph- Why do you have so many floozies in your flock?! I think they need to be taught to be ladies.

TT- We are headed to Naniamo this summer... is it illegal to bring turkeys over the border?! I don't think we could hide them very easily.

So all of this rain and dreary weather calls for a need of vitamin D. I suppose some chocolate milk with Yukon Jack would fix my deficiency.

Indeed fruit is good for you. That is why I eat that wonderful healthy food called Fruit and Nut Chocolate a la Cadbury's. I even add it to my exercise regime when I have to get a stool to get it out of my secret hiding place so my DH doesn't get it before me.
I'm sure if you do some grocery shopping and happen to come back with a dozen turkey eggs in a carton, no one needs to be any the wiser...
We need a video of your rascal Turkey Dinner!!! I had 2 renegades last year that kept flying up to the top of their box and running around - then pipping madly to be let back with their pals...

Wow DK, bummer day and a Camp day scheduled!

I have fuzzy butts everywhere!

In the shed I have 7 turkeys and 3 creamettes. in the hatcher I have a gob of babies, I know 4 turkeys for sure, 2 toads and at least one little creamette girl.

MM I have no idea why my chickens have such bad habits. I am thinking the reality show "as the roost turns" has something to do with it. I blame it all on the White Rock. She is the center of most problems.

I left the hatch open on my van and had the ICU baby in it, and I ran her off, I had things I was getting out of it, when I got back I had the turken in it, she went all the way to the drivers seat!

I had a turkey and my female creamette with pasty butt when I moved them today, I cleaned them with warm water, and applied Olive Oil, is that enough or should I do more?

Some people give some plain probiotic yogurt (can mix it in with a little chickstarter) to help with pasty butt.
As the roost turns.... I can see it now. Get the turkeys sitting behind a table tut tutting and giving their 'pffft' opinions....
Congrats on the toads!!!!

 

[Morrigan]

I'm steeling myself. Today is round 1 of processing my CX birds, who are now 8 1/2 weeks old. We have 18 birds left, so our plan is to do 6 today, 6 more, a week from now, and the last 6 the following week. We are going to take a stab at making sausage this year, so we are hoping that leaving some a bit longer will yield us some larger birds for that. Plus, I'm always trying to hang on to them for as long as I can. I like those silly birds.

We have already planned out a trip to a local pub afterwards as processing day therapy.

Ralphie -- your "toad" is a beauty. I'm surprised at how dark in coloring it is. I'll be very interested to see how it grows out.

 

[duluthralphie]

TT I will try the probiotic, Thanks, BTW Cadburys are great vitamin supplements too and all natural.

Yesterday, The turken tried to steal my van, she was in the front seat as I was trying to remove stuff from the back. She got very upset when I told her she could not drive.

I think I ended up with 4 toads and 4 Creamettes, a the eggs that were going to hatch have. I did not have a great hatch. I got 3 turkeys out of 12 eggs. I got 8 chicks out of 12 eggs.

But on the pus side they are adding up. I have 10 turkey poults total ( of course that includes the BBB and BBW's that begged me to save them at the Runnings store) I have 7 baby Creamettes!

And 4 toads. I wish I knew what went into the CX mix, and if there is any dark feathered genes in them. The Toads while not having Berts color have his weird gigantic breast and are over twice as big as the creamettes.

The next hatch will give me a better idea, The eggs that hatched now were taken about 18 days after I put Bert and the Dixie chicks so they could be someone else's babies but that would seem a long time out from the mating.

 

[mountain mom]

Ralph- Bert's babies are so cute! I think the Dixie chickens are huge mutts... I am sure there are dark feathers in there somewhere. The bigger size could be the Dixie too. Our Dixie was twice as big as others.
Cooler temps in the brooder helps with pasty butt. The yogurt helps too. I like to add oregano because it is really good for chickens. It keeps bugs and such out of their digestive tracts.
You could also go with a buff Orpington. Regular size bird, broody offender. My Wyandotte is still broody, but I don't think it is as common for them to go broody.
I would keep your car locked with that hooligan of a Turken you have on the loose.

Good luck this weekend Morrigan!

DK- I hope you started drinking at noon yesterday. I would have. Any luck finding your Izzie?

Raisinemright- Delicious looking sangria. I have one that just takes mixing time and tastes amazing. Almost instant gratification.

Turkeytruff- Fruit and chocolate?! Totally healthy. I love that you add it to the exercise routine. Natural energy booster for exercising. I also like to add peanut M&M's. The peanuts are very healthy for you.

Man, I didn't realize how bad of a problem Jessica has. Maybe we need to stage an intervention for her.
Well, nevermind, I don't think I like the sound of that... she may be able to point the finger at us in anger. According to the show "Intervention", that can happen.
Instead, we should hold support meetings here at the B&G, every afternoon.
You think you have a problem with chicken math? Pull up a stool, order a drink, and we will hash it out until we figure that likely it was just that you were taught how to count incorrectly in school. Then have another drink.

 

[JessicaThistle]

Jessica, I believe you went to the top of the list for potential poster child for chicken math. Your first batch was 30 and I believe your second batch was 300 +/- packing peanuts. LOL Love how this thread has evolved.

Yes, chicken math has severely gotten me. I don't know if you all truly understand the severity of my problem. Because really, it all was supposed to start with just 4....Here is my brief history.

After much begging my dh to get a couple of chicks (and a ton of research, that's how we roll) we went to the feed store. He picked 4 BOs, which meant I get 4 too, right? I picked 2 BRs but had to go to a different feed store for the 2 EEs I wanted. We were much in instant love with these 8 little sweeties as they raised up on the coffee table in the living room while we built the coop.
+8

A short while later, I adopted 3 silkies and a cochin rooster that needed a new home. So cute but decided the cochin roo wasn't a good fit with my big girls even though he was a beauty. Plus one silkie was a roo too. Those two boys went to a farm and I was left with my two little silkie hens.
+4, -2

We decided to raise some meatbirds to fill the freezer, thus how this thread began!
+30, -30

And another batch..
+30, -30

Oh wait, Sunny stayed
+1

Ah, life was so good until my daughter walked in with her phone in hand saying a friend around the block found 7 baby chicks on the side of the road. They were tiny and needed a home. Yeah, I adopted them too.
+7

But alas, 4 turned out to be roosters. I adopted 3 roos to other familes.
-3

Then the day, we found the egg business and signed papers...
+500ish

And since some of the 500 are older and need to be processed out..chicklets
+301

I'm not sure that even want to know the total. I'm crazy but luckily so is my hubby. He loves the chickens too. Life is good! Now if only we could quit our other jobs and just raise chickens.

 

[JessicaThistle]

So everyone, Sunny is going to be a year old on August 5th. I think Bert's birthday is the last week in July. I am curious if anyone else still has CX from last summer?

Mountain Mom: wasn't it you that had Pearl? Is she still alive?

I am really rooting for Bert and Sunny to celebrate a birthday! Drinks are free at the B & G to celebrate their birthdays if they make it!!