First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[holm25]

I dont know what that would be Jessica. Hope she gets better and not contagious!!

 

[Red Nugget]

I can't convince my family that they are CX. They want to wait it out and see if they lay eggs. How big do they get before their health starts to fail? And what would be the first signs. I don't want them to suffer. But every one is so attached. I know it's going to break their hearts when the time finally comes. I guess it's different for me because I grew up in the 70s on a farm. I remember at 4 years old Henry the turkey I befriended became Thanksgiving dinner. After that I just accepted we raised our own food. I left that life at 20 years old and never went back my husband and young son are city folk. They said they do their hunting at the Kroger. Not in the back yard with the pets. So what do I do? They only weigh 3 lbs now. Just wondering at this rate how much time they have left. I've tried to explain to my son that if our infrastructure falls apart. He will need to know how to feed himself. He seems to understand but that's not been his reality. On the other hand my stepson seems to be excited for the day freezer camp comes. And hes a city boy too. But Wendy's son is a country boy and got him into hunting. So I know when the time does come All I have to do is teach them how to process them.

 

[duluthralphie]

I can't convince my family that they are CX. They want to wait it out and see if they lay eggs. How big do they get before their health starts to fail? And what would be the first signs. I don't want them to suffer. But every one is so attached. I know it's going to break their hearts when the time finally comes. I guess it's different for me because I grew up in the 70s on a farm. I remember at 4 years old Henry the turkey I befriended became Thanksgiving dinner. After that I just accepted we raised our own food. I left that life at 20 years old and never went back my husband and young son are city folk. They said they do their hunting at the Kroger. Not in the back yard with the pets. So what do I do? They only weigh 3 lbs now. Just wondering at this rate how much time they have left. I've tried to explain to my son that if our infrastructure falls apart. He will need to know how to feed himself. He seems to understand but that's not been his reality. On the other hand my stepson seems to be excited for the day freezer camp comes. And hes a city boy too. But Wendy's son is a country boy and got him into hunting. So I know when the time does come All I have to do is teach them how to process them.

Explain to them like this:

First degree murder is a worse crime than second degree murder.

Either way a death occurred.

If you hire someone to kill for you, such as Krogers you are always guilty of first degree murder.

When you process your own chickens, especially CX's it is euthanasia, as the chickens are in pain and will die a slow painful death if they are euthanized. You are like a Dr in Belgium ( or somewhere euthanasia is legal). You have done all you can for that bird, it has lived a happy live and you are just helping it painlessly take the next step in nature...


Then ask them would they rather be a murderer or a Dr?

 

[Morrigan]

Jessica: I'm stumped with what could be wrong with your hen. Could one or both legs have gotten dislocated at the upper thigh joint, maybe if she had jumped off a high roost? She doesn't sound sick, and it doesn't seem like the leg is fully paralyzed. I hope she gets better.

Red Nugget: On the "Processing Day Support" thread in this forum, someone posted the following, which resonated with me and might resonate with your family,

"My brother, who is a scientist, has a theory of conservation of difficulty. The theory goes that in any situation there is a certain amount of difficulty. You can move the difficulty around, but you cannot eliminate it. For example, anyone who had a computer in the 80's knows how hard it was to use a computer. You had to learn a lot about programming in order to use simple programs. Now computers are pretty simple to use because the designers and programmers have taken the difficulty away from the user and hidden it behind the scenes. So today you can fire up your computer and go directly to your desktop instead of start from the C prompt. To bring this back to chickens, if you are going to eat meat, then there is a certain amount of difficulty in the situation. Factory farms have allowed people to ignore that difficulty by raising chickens in conditions that are horrible and that do not respect the nature of the chicken -- the difficulty has been shifted from the people eating them to the chickens. I see the sadness and discomfort I suffer from killing chickens that I have carefully raised as my taking some of the difficulty on myself."

Maybe if your family understood that were simply shifting an unfair burden onto the chicken by going to Krogers, they would get more on board with the idea of raising your own food. The most difficult thing for you, is usually easiest on the chicken, so if they love animals, they should be willing to do this. Either that or go vegan. Which, BTW, I seriously thought about as my first processing day approached.

 

[holm25]

I got babies!!!! So far its a great hatch. I lost the first because it pipped through a blood vein and drown in its blood. But 1 hatched at 10 38 last night and another at 5 47 this morning. The third hatched sometime after 5 47. I also have 8 pipped eggs!!!

 

[holm25]

We got our babies from Meyer hatchery yesterday!!! We just left to go get the turkeys!!

 

[Red Nugget]

Thanks for the feed back. Now I just need to alter my approach. If they are going to die anyway. It has to be humane. I can't let them suffer. And I know they won't let them either.

 

[raisinemright]

Bresse chick count so far.
22 out of the bator!!
I had to help 3 outta their shells and they went back into the bator till they fluff up.
Had a few quitters and got some eggs left to go. But so far they look really good!!

 

[mountain mom]

Jessica-
How is she today?
Sounds like what happened to my silkie hen Bonnie. She was lethargic one day, couldn't stand then next, couldn't eat or drink on her own the next. She would perk up and seem better, then back to bad. We culled her.
I also posted in emergencies and everyone said I had Mareks in my flock. No, I don't.
I don't know what it was, but putting her out of her misery was the right thing to do. She was not laying while she was sick though.
I would maybe give her another day or two, see what is up. Then make the call to cull or not.
Anyone else doing this now too?
Wish I had better advice!!!

If I didn't have a soccer tournament to go to, I would pour myself a stiff cran vodka for you. I will have to wait until later tonight.

 

[JRNash]

Just placed my order with MacMurray.Ordered dark cornish,white giants,white rocks and jumbo cornish. Scheduled for the 6th of July. I ordered 2 r oosters for each breed EXCEPT the meatballs