INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

Planning on getting some Cornish X for a meat this spring. Going to start with about 12 and maybe do another batch after.

Opinions, please: Should I just go to the local shop and pick up chicks or should I make an order somewhere?

I had better luck from a farm store with them. The batch I had shipped had a few splayed. And I also was able to make sure none were pasty that way!

Quote: I sent eggs last year and came back negative and clean. I plan to do it this year also.
If I get any hatches I will make sure you get a poult, hopefully a Bourbon this time.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Planning on getting some Cornish X for a meat this spring. Going to start with about 12 and maybe do another batch after.

Opinions, please: Should I just go to the local shop and pick up chicks or should I make an order somewhere?

there is the bio security risk no matter how you get them. Order them and they go through the various Post Offices and who knows what animals the workers have. Pick them up at a store and of course they most likely have been handled. BUT picking them up from a store can have its advantages. A few of the meaty chicks won't do well in shipping so let the store handle those. And some times the met birds don't sell fast and you can get at a week to two weeks old saving brooder money.
Other thoughts are to order the meat birds from a specialty place like http://www.sandgpoultry.com/ They won't be the cornish X but their meat birds would be eye candy as you raised them.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: Totally agree. These were HUGE, massive birds! Wish I had my scale at the time, we should have weighed them. I had one crummy picture, top is the CX. I apologize if this offends anyone.

To give you an idea of size, The bird to the lower right is a processed Muscovy drake. Bigger than Pekin, usually dress out at about 10 pounds. I skin our ducks to reduce the fat.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Thanks!

@SallyinIndiana

Have you purchased chicks from S&G?

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Thanks!

@SallyinIndiana

Have you purchased chicks from S&G?

no I had to cancel my order. The birds would have been here this spring.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

@Leahs Mom we joked with @Indyshent that we want her to raise all the CX from now on, lol! I have never seen them get so big, it was crazy.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

I want to do meat birds, but I don't really have the space. And I think I'd want to do fermented feed for them. Maybe some day.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I want to do meat birds, but I don't really have the space. And I think I'd want to do fermented feed for them. Maybe some day.

Its definitely the way to go raising meat birds. Their bodies absorb more of the nutrients, and come processing time its less odor. I will be doing some again this year probably starting in June.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@Leahs Mom we joked with @Indyshent that we want her to raise all the CX from now on, lol! I have never seen them get so big, it was crazy.

 

[Leahs Mom]

We have a garden store (and another feed mill) that takes orders for chicks rather than putting them in bins in the store. They come from the same (semi-local) hatchery as TSC/Rural King, but they never go in bins. They tell you the day they take delivery and you go and get them right from the ship boxes. All chicks picked up the day they arrive.

That's where I got my first 6 birds for eggs.

If I get them from the normal hatchery route, I'll get them that way again.

I'm not sure which meat breeds they're going to offer. I'll find that out tomorrow.


I am interested in some of the more "heritage" meat breeds just to compare and may do those exclusively in the future. I just have to get started and see.