Meyer Hatchery Chicken pics anyone??

[NanaLynn]

Well, am biting my nails as far as set up. We are on 0.4 acres. Also trying to do everything inexpensively, cost of living seems to keep going up. But it has to look "Protestant" as my Scottish husband would say. And for good reason, I don't want to drag the neighborhood down. They could easily call the town on me then I'd be begging all of you (or the CT forum) to re-home my hens! Boo hoo. Once in a while I jump online and look at real estate. This farming thing is in my blood!

I'll post pics of whatever I end up keeping the little fuzz balls in. Yes, I process my own. Let me frame the scenario: corner lot, road on 2 sides, neighbors all around. Where to slaughter a bird? On a tarp of course in the garage. I won't say anything more than I felt like Hannibal Lecter (shudder). Yup, 2 private acres would be much, much better!

We have .9 aces, so a little more and live right near an elementary school, so we're trying to figure out, if and when we get meat birds how and where we would process them. That's a good idea, a tarp in the garage.

Our setup probably is not the most beautiful since we re-purposed a metal shed and other materials. I hope that no neighbors will call on us, but we have talked to the neighbor closest to us and he has mentioned getting chickens too and the one across the street from us has chickens and once had ducks. We are in the city and the rules are that you can have 20 chickens in 1 acre and I count 20 the chicken math way.

Yeah, I dread the first one that we to slaughter. My thoughts are since we do eat chicken we might as well raise them ourselves and chicken that we raise would have a good life and just that one "bad day". Chickens commercially raised are in such bad conditions and do not have the life of a chicken and then are slaughtered on an assembly line and sprayed with all sorts of stuff to keep the contamination down, They're initially fed antibiotics just in case, which our families end up eating. We also don't know what else they go through before they end up on our plates.

Most of you know all this right now. This is a part of the cycle for me to get to the point to where I can process meat birds. I know that first one is the most difficult. So I keep reading and learning and trying to get myself to the point where I feel like I can do the deed. I think I'll be the one and not my husband, he'll get there but right now it'll take him time.

Sorry for the somber post.

totally agree about off camera application! I could only imagine what the friends would think.
That link is really cool, I have a few of those breeds. Thanks for sharing! I'm already ready for this weekend, idk about you. Hope you had a good Monday.
I hope they are watching cause I want a few. We should get first dibs since we came up with it.
I love all your pictures, cinnamon is just so cute!

I am so ready for the weekend too!

My girls turned 18 weeks yesterday, so I went out and took some pics for all of you.




Lucy - (Golden Campine) I wasn't able to get any close-up pictures of her.

Lizzie - (Golden Campine)






Lucy - (Black Australorp)






Alice - (White Leghorn)

Annie - (White Leghorn) Both of my WL's have been giving me an egg a day for the last 3 days.

Amber - (Easter Egger) and her little white earlobes....

Ellie - (Easter Egger) Notice how big her comb is getting!

Daffodil - (Buff Orpington)

and my sweet girl, Sunni.

- (Buff Orpington)



I had to dig a large spot of mold out of the yard from some spilled chicken feed, and I put the cage over the dirt spot to keep the chickens from digging in it. The crazy birdies love standing on top of it. You'd think it would hurt their feet!

Such lovely girls. My girls jump on anything higher then them too. Even things that look uncomfortable.

Love the EE's, such beautiful coloring! I enjoy looking at and showing everyone here what my little Campine and Australorp will look like when they are bigger. I do hope mine look as nice as yours. Sunni looks great and it looks like she is staying close to the same size as Daffodil which is good. I hope she eats on her own soon.

 

[trsturself]

Speaking of meat birds. I am SO ready for ours to go to processing!!! For those that are interested, we butchered 6 with some friends about a week ago. It was a trial run for us with none of us having done it before so we weren't the best prepared. I still didn't do the killing. I can't bring myself to take a life personally yet, but one day I might get there. I did the rest though.
Anyone who knows me is very surprised I have meat birds. But I'm like you Lynn and talked myself into it because at least they have a good life and I know what they've been through. It's easier if you see them as meat from day one. I have no attachment to these birds at all. I don't sit around and watch them and learn their personalities like I do our laying hens. I just feed, water, let out to roam, and put to bed at night. Make sure everyone is ok and that's it. It helps.

I read the books, looked at pictures, watched videos but still didn't feel prepared. Here are my tips coming from our experience. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/822993/processing-tips-from-a-newbie

 

[NanaLynn]

Speaking of meat birds. I am SO ready for ours to go to processing!!! For those that are interested, we butchered 6 with some friends about a week ago. It was a trial run for us with none of us having done it before so we weren't the best prepared. I still didn't do the killing. I can't bring myself to take a life personally yet, but one day I might get there. I did the rest though.
Anyone who knows me is very surprised I have meat birds. But I'm like you Lynn and talked myself into it because at least they have a good life and I know what they've been through. It's easier if you see them as meat from day one. I have no attachment to these birds at all. I don't sit around and watch them and learn their personalities like I do our laying hens. I just feed, water, let out to roam, and put to bed at night. Make sure everyone is ok and that's it. It helps.

I read the books, looked at pictures, watched videos but still didn't feel prepared. Here are my tips coming from our experience. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/822993/processing-tips-from-a-newbie

Thanks, that was a helpful post for those of us who have or plan on having meat birds. I agree about the attachment issue, I will have a lot of problems because of that.

 

[MsChickenMomma]

Annie laid her first normal size egg! It was a double yolker too. The egg weighed 2.0 ounces. I was in the coop checking on things when she laid it, and she stood there with her beak open and didn't move for about 3 minutes after she laid it. That sucker must have hurt coming out! It was almost twice the size of the eggs she has been laying this past week.



Alice laid an egg today too, but hers was still 1.4 ounces. Still no eggs from the other girls. I'm keeping an eye out for one from Ellie and Lucy though!

 

[MsChickenMomma]

Thanks, that was a helpful post for those of us who have or plan on having meat birds. I agree about the attachment issue, I will have a lot of problems because of that.

I have a hard time not getting attached to animals too. Some people say that the Cornish X are ugly, which makes it easier not to get attached to them. But knowing how I am with animals, I still would.

 

[trsturself]

I have a hard time not getting attached to animals too. Some people say that the Cornish X are ugly, which makes it easier not to get attached to them. But knowing how I am with animals, I still would.

I thought about doing Cornish X because of that. They are ugly! Missing feathers, fat legs, bowlegged, etc. The Rangers we got look like a standard red chicken except a couple of them have really pretty grey feathers mixed in. I try to not look at them as anything but meat and don't spend any time with them. They are hard not to like though because they come running when they see you with the food and follow you around until you feed them (then they could care less about you).

I'll tell you what though... the meat was delicious! We did the butchering at a friend's house and gave her 2 chickens as payment. I saw her today and she said the meat was wonderful. She roasted it and then put it in soup. We ate ours as chicken tacos 2 nights in a row. Well worth it!
You can always take them somewhere to get processed too. That's what we're doing for the rest since we don't really have a place to do them (it's illegal to kill anything here). It's expensive around here ($3/bird) but worth the time/mess/legal issues.

I'm still waiting for Mona to lay her egg. She's almost 26 weeks old now! Come on!

 

[NanaLynn]

Annie laid her first normal size egg! It was a double yolker too. The egg weighed 2.0 ounces. I was in the coop checking on things when she laid it, and she stood there with her beak open and didn't move for about 3 minutes after she laid it. That sucker must have hurt coming out! It was almost twice the size of the eggs she has been laying this past week.



Alice laid an egg today too, but hers was still 1.4 ounces. Still no eggs from the other girls. I'm keeping an eye out for one from Ellie and Lucy though!

Nice, I love those double yolkers! Good luck for Ellie and Lucy too!

I have a hard time not getting attached to animals too. Some people say that the Cornish X are ugly, which makes it easier not to get attached to them. But knowing how I am with animals, I still would.

I heard the same thing about the Cornish X, I also heard that those are the same chickens used in the commercial industry. I want to use the rainbow rangers or some of the other breeds of meat birds. The problem I guess would be that they are pretty chickens. Knowing me, somehow I'd see the Cornish as pretty in their own way too. So this is just something I need to overcome personally, I guess.

I thought about doing Cornish X because of that. They are ugly! Missing feathers, fat legs, bowlegged, etc. The Rangers we got look like a standard red chicken except a couple of them have really pretty grey feathers mixed in. I try to not look at them as anything but meat and don't spend any time with them. They are hard not to like though because they come running when they see you with the food and follow you around until you feed them (then they could care less about you).

I'll tell you what though... the meat was delicious! We did the butchering at a friend's house and gave her 2 chickens as payment. I saw her today and she said the meat was wonderful. She roasted it and then put it in soup. We ate ours as chicken tacos 2 nights in a row. Well worth it!
You can always take them somewhere to get processed too. That's what we're doing for the rest since we don't really have a place to do them (it's illegal to kill anything here). It's expensive around here ($3/bird) but worth the time/mess/legal issues.

I'm still waiting for Mona to lay her egg. She's almost 26 weeks old now! Come on!

I heard that the rangers meat is better then the Cornish X, I also like the fact that they don't have all those growing issues like the CX. Seems unnatural.

26 weeks? Mona needs to get on schedule!

I'm not sure if this is Daisy's egg (our White Rock), but I found a tiny little egg in the chicken run. It weighed .4 ounces and was so cute. The regular sized egg beside it looks huge in comparison, but that egg weighs 1.9 ounces, so not even a large egg.

It's either Daisy's or Oreo's, since I have not gotten one from Oreo today yet. I hope it is Daisy's, that'll be her 1st and will mean all 6 of mine are laying!!! I guess time will tell. Once she starts laying, I have until November 18th until I start bothering you guys about my 16 new chicks and when they'll lay eggs!

 

[jpenfield]

I am getting really worried!!! I am hearing stories about how chicks ordered online always die... i ordered 4 chicks and live in Mass, Do you think they will die???

 

[NotableNancy]

My girls turned 18 weeks yesterday, so I went out and took some pics for all of you.




Lucy - (Golden Campine) I wasn't able to get any close-up pictures of her.

Lizzie - (Golden Campine)






Lucy - (Black Australorp)






Alice - (White Leghorn)







Annie - (White Leghorn) Both of my WL's have been giving me an egg a day for the last 3 days.

Amber - (Easter Egger) and her little white earlobes....

Ellie - (Easter Egger) Notice how big her comb is getting!

Daffodil - (Buff Orpington)







and my sweet girl, Sunni.

- (Buff Orpington)








I had to dig a large spot of mold out of the yard from some spilled chicken feed, and I put the cage over the dirt spot to keep the chickens from digging in it. The crazy birdies love standing on top of it. You'd think it would hurt their feet!

Such pretty girls!!!! How is Sunni doing?

 

[NotableNancy]

I am getting really worried!!! I am hearing stories about how chicks ordered online always die... i ordered 4 chicks and live in Mass, Do you think they will die???

Chances are they will be fine. They can't 'always' die or none of us would have chickens because we all ordered online.
When are they arriving? Make sure to contact your PO and let them know you ordered them and ask them to call you when they arrive. Picking them up as soon as they arrive at the PO always helps their chances.

Nice, I love those double yolkers! Good luck for Ellie and Lucy too!

I heard the same thing about the Cornish X, I also heard that those are the same chickens used in the commercial industry. I want to use the rainbow rangers or some of the other breeds of meat birds. The problem I guess would be that they are pretty chickens. Knowing me, somehow I'd see the Cornish as pretty in their own way too. So this is just something I need to overcome personally, I guess.

I heard that the rangers meat is better then the Cornish X, I also like the fact that they don't have all those growing issues like the CX. Seems unnatural.

26 weeks? Mona needs to get on schedule!

I'm not sure if this is Daisy's egg (our White Rock), but I found a tiny little egg in the chicken run. It weighed .4 ounces and was so cute. The regular sized egg beside it looks huge in comparison, but that egg weighs 1.9 ounces, so not even a large egg.

It's either Daisy's or Oreo's, since I have not gotten one from Oreo today yet. I hope it is Daisy's, that'll be her 1st and will mean all 6 of mine are laying!!! I guess time will tell. Once she starts laying, I have until November 18th until I start bothering you guys about my 16 new chicks and when they'll lay eggs!

That's adorable!!! I hope it's Daisy's

I forgot to answer your previous question... yes, my BA's lay almost every day! You are going to have a TON of eggs when they all start to lay. I'm giving them away like crazy and I have 13!!