Getting the flock out of here - a diary of a crazy chicken man

[ramirezframing]

Quote: I just found out that my local vet college sells meatie chicks for $0.50 each. I heard they sell 100 a week or so. I have been thinking about checking it out. If you have a local vet college, it might be worth seeing if they do something similar.

I have crossed meaties with buff orpingtons. The meatie hens were almost a year old before they laid an egg. I lost all but one hen out of like 10 hens to egg laying. I took the two meatie roosters I had to the orp hens and the meatie hen to an orp rooster. The chicks grew quicker then regular chicks but slowed down after awhile. They ended up being bigger than the orps (who were hatchery stock) but not as big as the meatie parents. I lost both meatie rooster to heart failure (heart blown out) around 1 1/2 years old. I lost my lone meatie hen at 3 years old.

Don't know if my experience will help you any with how you decide to go, but I wish you luck with it.

 

[hillfloweranch]

Thank you for the tips everyone I appreciate the info

 

[Phage]

HFR I know nothing about meaties except I have a friend who swears by red freedom rangers. Fast growers, no health problems that she has had (she is a vet) and they will breed apparently.

 

[ocap]

HFR I know nothing about meaties except I have a friend who swears by red freedom rangers. Fast growers, no health problems that she has had (she is a vet) and they will breed apparently.

where did she buy her initial rangers?

 

[Phage]

I think it was the freedom rangers hatchery. There are other sources. I will ask her and let you know.

 

[perchie.girl]

FRom what I have read here on BYC Cornish Cross chickens are a hybrid and have a closely guarded recipe or breeding program and the hatcheries dont share what breeds go into them. So when you breed CX to CX the result is likely something way different than CX.... Just like breeding Sexlinks together.

On the internet I am reading that Delewares were originally bred to be broilers but the Cornish Cross came up at about the same time... Delewares grow fast and Lay eggs.

This site also claims that they sell Cornish Crosses year round....

http://www.purelypoultry.com/delaware-chickens-p-635.html

deb

edited to add Murray Mc Murray has a Dark Cornish. Not a cross....

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/dark_cornish.html

 

[ozexpat]

@hillflowerranch

You may want to ask Odyssey where they buy their parent stock

 

[ozexpat]

@hillfloweranch

 

[ozexpat]

Mrs Oz is safely back in Bacolod but has a cold so I am on my own for another day.

I have to get some pictures emailed to buyers so I will be in Kabankalan for lunch. I will post pics here then as well.

We managed to build the shell of the new incubator.

It has five shelves with 96 eggs per shelf with the ability to double stack. That should keep up with demand for a good while.

 

[Latestarter]

Hey Oz, glad the Mrs is back safe if not completely sound... Hope she's feeling better quickly. Just doing a little math here and that sounds very near to a 1000 egg capacity!

With the other 'bators you already have, you have some SERIOUS incubating capacity! wow... I can hardly imagine... that's a LOT of birds! That paradise beach front property is going to become a major PI hatchery business! You'll need more employees! Not to mention more pens/coops/bldgs etc! Just trying to get my head around you running that biz from thousands of miles away...

Kudos to you (& the Mrs!)!

This adventure just gets more and more compelling