Letting my broody raise 20 meaties. Now I have a rooster raising 50 CX chicks~new batch!

[halo]

Oh what a sweet mommy. She must have thought she just did the best hatching job in the world!

 

[Beekissed]

Farmer Dan, those are great pics!!! Very sweet to see mother and chick interacting, isn't it? What breed is the hen in the third pic? I had one of my mutts hatched here on the farm that looked just like that, with the dark eyes, black comb and wattles, etc.


What other breeds do you have there with your meaty chicks? How do you keep all your broodies and chick separate with just that low dividing wall?

 

[Wolfwoman]

I just weighed one of my Cxs and one of my Sexlinks that are the same age... 7 weeks and 3 days. The CX weighed in at 5.9lbs and the Sexlink at 2.1lbs.

WHAT a difference!!

 

[Beekissed]

I'm glad to hear this, as my meaties look about as big as a 4 month old pullet does~ at 8 wks. They are very heavy bodied and I'm sure they weigh in with similar weights as you describe.

I have decided to butcher at 10 wks for no other reason than the fact that these birds have become quite annoying at feeding time, where they crowd out the layer flock and get under foot so badly that one cannot take a step without trampling one.

I see now why folks keep them in tractors....one reason would be to keep the coop clean and the other would be so that the other birds are not inflicted with the feeding frenzy behaviour of the meaties.

If I get fall meaties I will be free ranging them through the winter sheep pen-turned-corn patch that will be overseeded with clover, winter wheat, turnips, beets, kale and spinach after the corn and pumpkins are done.

This way the manure they produce will be just where I want it to be, it won't be in my coop and they can still have great greens to eat~and the layers won't be having to compete for food with them.

 

[Wolfwoman]

My decision to put them in a tractor wasn't based on any sort of knowledge I have...lol I had them in a coop that's here on the property and I thought that 8 weeks is a short amount of time and it would be good for them for the duration. Little did I know how much POO was accumulated in the hay, that they didn't stir it like my other chicks and that they SAT in

anything that was under their butt.

I told hubby at 5 weeks they needed a NEW PLACE to POOP! So we looked thru here and decided that a coop/tractor was good enough as they DO NOT roost there was no reason to take em outta the tractor. Covered at night with a tarp, moved outta their poop each morning and we're good to go...lol

I have another batch of 25 coming in this week and will have to build an additional tractor for them as there are only 14 in here and they COAT the yard under the current tractor with POOP.

Next year I am gonna try Freedom rangers...lol

I tell you what tho, they are not hard to teach because at 7 weeks old they got a new waterer, nipple waterer set on a stand whereas they had a regular one before that they just dipped into. I flicked the new one a few times, a couple of them came to see and now they all use it... took a day.

 

[Beekissed]

That is good to know....wouldn't be hard to attach a hose and nipple to a five gal. bucket...these chickens consume enormous amounts of water!

 

[Wolfwoman]

Quote:
They do, my 14 are going thru at least 3 gallons a day and three of those 14 are Sexlinks...lol

Here's something rather comical... I made my stand from a pepsi crate and attacked 2x4 legs to it... front and back are wider than sides obviously.... so I watched one hen go in the front, drink some and TRY to go out the side and was STUCK

She craned her neck around trying to figure out what was going on... so I reached over and 'goosed' her and she tucked her wings with a MAAAWK and got thru!!

 

[noladq]

What a great thread and a great experiment! I'm raising 8 CX with 7 BO (was 10 until the skunk killed three) in a tractor. They get moved daily and turned out to range about an hour a day.

I was really worried about them too, from all I'd read, but they are really active and sweet too. They do plop down, which I find disturbing, but they all run like mad-chickens when I open the door to let them out. I'm just worried about them injuring a leg because they really do get going.

I've got one with deformed toes. I'm not sure if it's the weight on them or maybe he was injured, but they are all "swept" off to one side. Kind of freakish really.

I've not done pics, but here's a shot...

 

[Farmer_Dan]

There is a bantam Cochin (Bell) and a black Sumatra (Wiley). The fluffy one in the 3rd picture is Wiley. They both went broody at about the same time and were sitting on the same eggs. We moved them both to the brooder, gave the CX's to both of them and now the whole lot (2 broodies, 2 hatchlings (EE's), and 9 CX babies) all in the big tractor we put together for them.

So, there is no separation between them, they are co-mothering. It was hard to get a good picture of both of them, but here's one.

Here's a picture of Wiley with Sylvester (the boy that came with her). We don't have that pretty roo anymore, but Wiley is turning out to be a great mom!

http://picasaweb.google.com/dan.west/Chickens#

 

[Beekissed]

FD, that is great! I had two broodies in the pen before and, when one had her chicks, the other left her clutch of eggs and wanted to mother the other's chicks. They finally decided to be a same sex marriage and share the kids...then the original mother abandoned the job and the surrogate hen got the chicks to herself. What a mix-up!

I haven't posted for awhile on their progress....they seem to have reached a plateau in their growth and are starting to look a little raggedy...I think from lying down so much. I think they will be butchered within the next few weeks, weather permitting.

I am tired of the mess and stench, the flies and not being able to walk in the coop for fear of stepping on one of them. They don't have the good sense to stay out of the way like the rest of my flock.

This has been an interesting experiment and I may try it again but probably earlier in the spring or in the fall, if I have a broody. If I did this again, these meaties would be in my long pen grazing on clover and other ground covers~that would keep the stench outside, the mess outside, the feeding outside in the open air.

I'm just not used to having my coop smell so badly, no matter what I do....it makes gathering eggs, feeding and watering a horrible chore. I'm also not used to buying this much feed...though I'm sure I haven't bought as much as other folks have.

Now I know why folks tractor these poor, stinky birds!