So pretty close to harvest age then. I may butcher the males a little early just to be safe. If they grow so much and so quickly, they'll still have enough meat on them a couple weeks early.
That's good to know. I don't really care about technicalities and small differences. If they are so similar that it's hard to tell, then that's good enough for me. I'll just get whichever ones I'm able to find hatching eggs for.
McMurray has free shipping on 15 chicks, they ship to Hawaii through the post office with no problem, so it shouldn't be a problem for your area. We pick up at the post office when they arrive. McMurray does all the paper work for importing eggs.
It's complicated. I'll have to find a seller with lower minimums, or somebody to split an order with, as I can't accommodate 15 chicks. Shipped eggs suck, yeah, so I'll have to see what these cost and if it's worth it. I've hatched shipped eggs a few times (three orders) and got about 50% hatch rate, which is to be expected, and not too bad. Eggs would be easier for me if I can just stick them under a broody, but hatch rates will be lower; chicks will give me better results but I don't want to have to raise them if the broody rejects them... I'll have to do some weighing of the options and see what makes most sense.
You can order less chicks, there is no minimum, but you have to pay for shipping and they will only send during warm months. In cold months 15 is minimum, so chicks can cuddle together to keep warm.
Ah, I see. That makes sense. I won't order until it's warm enough outside. If these grow so fast, I don't need to start them super early. They'll have the summer to enjoy life outside before they get eaten.
You need to place your order months in advance to reserve the chicks, they sell out.
Ugh, you're right. If people are still buying chicks/eggs like crazy, I may need to pre-order. I'll try to find eggs and see what their availability is during peak season. The breeders I ordered my eggs from the last couple of years posted availability each week during chick season and they usually had some eggs available, but I imagine every seller's situation is different. So this may not actually work then... If I order months in advance, I have no way of knowing if that will overlap with a hen going broody. I may need to find a local source of hatching eggs of whatever meaty bird I can get (other than cornish X), so I can pick up or order with less advanced notice when I see a hen is broody. A hen raising the chicks is higher priority for me than their specific breed, so I may need to get Orps after all, because their eggs are easier to find. And maybe at some point in the future when I am able to hand raise, I'll look into ordering chicks from one of these actual breeds...
I put mine in the garage for that one or two days, so the people in the house aren't seeing them all day long. Giving chicks to a broody doesn't feel like giving them up to me, because I like watching the broody with the chicks while she is raising them.I also want to avoid having cute little chicks in the house for any period of time, because then my kids and I are gonna fall in love with them and not want to give them up - whether to the broody or to the freezer later
Yes, that is a difficulty with using hens
Someone posted this link for eggs earlier, looks like a good deal with free shipping on a doz.
