First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[holm25]

Congrats on the babies Ralph!!

 

[Double Kindness]

Whoo hoo! I went to the chocolate festival today! And yeah.. I expect a sugar crash of epic proportions soon!!

I have a garlic meyer lemon chicken and roasted potato wedges and braised beet greens working for dinner as I sip my Bulleit Bourbon on ice.

Izzy never came back.. so I got 2 female blue runner ducks today, one laid me a blue/green egg in the run today.. and the broodiness is catching fast. 3 chickens and 3 ducks are broody. .
I picked up 2 bourbon red turkey hatching eggs and 8 creamette hatching eggs today too.

I am not even going to attempt to count my number of birds atm. Too much sugar/chocolate /bourbon for that

But seriously... I do have about 9 dozen or so eggs going to hatch within the next 2 weeks. So... yeah. Chicken math.

 

[JessicaThistle]

Wow, Holm, I didn't know you had one too. 4 one year old CX is exciting!! I think that we are awesome and defying popular belief here at the B&G! Pull up a stool next to Ralphie, Holm and I'll make you a Roy Rogers!

CHICKEN BIZ UPDATE:

Our hens have been on pasture for one week today. We have moved the tractor twice to keep them on fresh grass. 400-ish hens soil the ground, eat up the grass and make nice dust bathing holes mighty quick!

Exciting news is that feed consumption was reduced by 8 bags or 400 pounds of feed this week by moving the girls to pasture. We also have absolutely no waste on the ground. That is a tremendous savings!!

Next on the list is a fodder system to reduce feed costs even more. We got a partial system today from a family member and just have to set it up and go. It should produce 60 pounds of fodder each day for us to supplement all the girls with. If this is highly effective we will increase that.

I'm not completely thrilled with the feed that we buy currently. It is the most affordable no corn or soy feed that we can find but it only comes in a crumble and I'm not convinced it's the best food. I just refuse to pay $21 per 40 pound bag for the organic "better" stuff. Two tons each month at that price is insanity! I'm excited to add some cheaper supplement with the fodder that is healthier for them.

My "chicks" are now into serious pullet status. They will be 12 weeks old this week and their voices are starting to change. I'm thinking I am closer to having more hens than I think. We haven't even acquired another trailer for the next chicken tractor yet!! This is a bit of a worry but we will figure out what to do. It may mean just putting a nesting box in their penned area and letting it rip.

This is hard but fun, entertaining and rewarding. I love what we have done here and hope that one day, I do only this. I love chickens! They really delight me!

Now I just need to move to a bunch of acres so all of the chickens are at my place! Then I can raise at least two cows and two pigs each year too so that I can sell some and fill my own freezers. That would be perfect!

 

[raisinemright]

Tomorrow I'll be taking my first run of CX to process. Started with 12 only lost 2 over the last 8 weeks. They are 6-7 pounds and look very nice. They have become one of my fav breeds to raise. Looks like some fried chicken for this weekend!!!

 

[duluthralphie]

Tomorrow I'll be taking my first run of CX to process. Started with 12 only lost 2 over the last 8 weeks. They are 6-7 pounds and look very nice. They have become one of my fav breeds to raise. Looks like some fried chicken for this weekend!!!

They are great!

Good luck on Camp Day. I would suggest you start the Sangria today.

Next time try raising them for 13 weeks or more. You will get the best roasting chicken you have ever had. I love my 11 pound roasters. They are so tasty, tender and feed us for a week, We used them at Thanksgiving and the extended family preferred them to ham or Turkey.


Because I need to make a trip to Florida, I am not able to get any CX's until mid June. I so want some. At least I have a few toads to raise.

 

[Morrigan]

Jessica -- Good luck with the fodder. My chickens love it and it really does keep the cost down. My layers eat about 50% fodder 50% fermented crumbles and seem to very well on it. Their yolks are really deeply colored. My meaties ate about 25% fodder/75% FF. I would have given them more, but my fodder operation is in my laundry room and space was an issue, lol.

Raisinemright -- good luck tomorrow.

When I let my 12 remaining meaties out this morning, the roo began crowing like crazy. I'm glad I swapped him out yesterday. I'm trying to decided how long to wait to do the next 6. They are a nice size now, but I enjoy having them around and an extra pound or two would be nice. I keep thinking of Ralphie and his turkey sized CX.

 

[raisinemright]

They are great!

Good luck on Camp Day.  I would suggest you start the Sangria today.  

Next time try raising them for 13  weeks or more. You will get the best roasting chicken you have ever had.  I love my 11 pound roasters.   They are so tasty, tender and  feed us for a week, We used them at Thanksgiving and the extended family preferred them to ham or Turkey.


Because I need to make a trip to Florida, I am not able to get any CX's until mid June. I so want some. At least I have a few toads to raise.

I have two more age groups coming up. The next will be 8-9 weeks and the last set will be 12-13 weeks.
Bad news my kids went to do their morning chores and found a huge pile of feathers and 10 missing pullets! I have no idea what animal did this. I'm thinking weasel or coon??
Just feathers left no body's anywhere?!?!
They must not have gotten inside the coop last night. Makes me sick. Anyone have attacks with no body's left over?

 

[duluthralphie]

That sounds fox or wolf to me.
Something large enough to carry the bodies away and having a need, a female with pups would fit both.

I understand your feeling sick I would be too,

I know this will sound paranoid, but do you have a neighbor or know of some person that likes chicken?

 

[Morrigan]

I have two more age groups coming up. The next will be 8-9 weeks and the last set will be 12-13 weeks.
Bad news my kids went to do their morning chores and found a huge pile of feathers and 10 missing pullets! I have no idea what animal did this. I'm thinking weasel or coon??
Just feathers left no body's anywhere?!?!
They must not have gotten inside the coop last night. Makes me sick. Anyone have attacks with no body's left over?

Oh, that's horrible. I'm really sorry that happened. I doubt it's a weasel, they usually just want to eat the neck. It would have to be something that likes to carry things off. A pack of coyotes? An owl? How big an an opening the coop was there?

 

[raisinemright]

That sounds fox or wolf to me.
Something large enough to carry the bodies away and having a need, a female with pups would fit both.

I understand your feeling sick I would be too, 

I know this will sound paranoid, but do you have a neighbor or know of some person that likes chicken?

No nobody around would harm them. Coyotes would have to be it I guess! My dogs would usually carry on though. This coop had around 16 more chickens in it roosters hens and the other half of my pullets that were not bothered. That's why I'm thinking something had a meal got full and moved on. One of my great flock roosters must have battled for them but he also wound up losing his life. That was the one and only body left just killed but not eaten?