Those are some fine looking Buckeyes, Jeff! I have 5, 3 pullets and 2 cockerels. They aren't as big as I'd hoped by now, they're about 5 1/2 months old. But they are looking good, very healthy and active.
They follow me around and peck my legs. Some people seem to think this means they are
friendly. I think they know that I'm a source of food, and they're pecking me trying to make food fall out. I trip over them a lot, and try not to step on them. They hate to touched or picked up. The pullets, not so bad, but the males, (like most roos) squawk and scream bloody murder when I pick them up. Maybe they know that they're a PITA and destined to be eaten.
Daveroo, and others who mentioned this, I agree that most of us really don't need a monster table bird. We've just been conditioned to expect that. I wrote in another thread about how we've become conditioned to expect the biggest, fastest,
mostest, of everything, at all times, and we've lost sight of the concept of
enough. I don't need the most. Or the biggest. I just need
enough. A roo that grows fast enough to be a
reasonable size, young enough to be a tender fryer, that is healthy and forages well, and lives a long, healthy life, if I don't kill it. Some that make nice, big roasters, if I wait a while longer. Hens that lay
enough eggs to eat, hatch, and some extra to sell. Hens that will brood, and be good moms. I don't care so much about the table qualities of the hens, as I don't replace mine every year. I haven't deliberately culled hens for meat, but when one dies by misadventure or something, and I'm there when it happens, so I know what happened and it's still fresh, I go ahead and dress them out. That happened twice this last week. It's not a frequent occurrence, but it seems to happens in sets of 2 or three, then no more for a long time. Sometimes I get a hen that just annoys me to no end, like the ones with what I call "the hysterical gene". They scream bloody murder every time I come near, like they just know I'm planning to kill them. (I know, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.) Those I usually cull by selling to somebody who doesn't mind if they're flighty and noisy.
Anyway, they don't need to set growth records, or laying records. I just need them to be a healthy, all-around utilitarian chickens. The ones I raise now are very tasty, and I'm learning new ways to cook older chickens, so that they don't all have to go into the crock pot, but are still tender and succulent. (That's right, Jeff, not dry and stringy at all!
It's amazing what you can do other than grill.) The last one I roasted, at 275, for about 4 hours, in a clay chicken cooker with a lid. It came out moist and tender, amazing flavor, the broth (I put about 2 cups of water in the bottom of the pan, to mix with the juices of the bird) made wonderful gravy. There was a lot more meat than I thought at first glance. The breast was kind of thin, but very long. Not much fat, but enough for good flavor.
Right now I'm getting a little over 2 dozen eggs a day. There are (aside from the death row roosters, and the breeding roo) 47 chickens. The 5 buckeyes are still young, pullets not laying yet, and I have at least another 10-12 pullets who are about point of lay, but haven't started yet. So let's say 30 birds that should be laying. Given they don't all lay daily, that's not bad. Yesterday I got 26 eggs, 24 the day before. My car's been down so I'm not getting into the city like I normally do. That means eggs are piling up, I don't have enough drop-in customers to sell to. I may have to take some eggs to the local battered women's shelter, that's what I do with my excess, if I can't sell them all, and don't currently have pigs to feed. I might boil a bunch to feed back to the chickens, though. (Hmmm...maybe I could make and freeze a bunch of quiche. That would be good!)
Anyway, my point is that when I get to sell my eggs, which I normally do, I make enough on them to pretty much pay for the feed, for all of the birds, not just the layers. So the only time the feed really costs me anything, is during molt, when they aren't laying. That usually last 2-3 months, during which they lay just enough that we have enough eggs for our own use. At that time, my DH always starts worrying that something's wrong, they're sick, we need to kill them all and start over, etc. He thinks we have a bunch of hens that aren't laying anymore. He thinks this every year.
Then egg production picks back up, everything goes back to normal, and the next thing you know, we're buried in eggs again. He calms down and is reassured. I get to quit defending the hens, and life is good.
In a few weeks, production will drop to about half, because half the hens will be broody, and be out on "maternity leave". But I'll still have plenty to sell, so that's alright.
I also want something that is feed efficient. I don't want to pay $10 for a 3lb bird. So I'm looking for something in the middle myself.
