Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[wannahomestead]

I have meat birds on the mind again. When do you all start your meat birds? I wanted to get started earlier, but the cold snap, and busy life, made it not happen.

 

[uchytil]

I have meat birds on the mind again. When do you all start your meat birds? I wanted to get started earlier, but the cold snap, and busy life, made it not happen.

Usually around Easter and later in the fall. I find when you do them in the fall you use hardly, if any, supplemental heat. Since I grow them out in the barn it's cooler during the day too. All of the big box stores that sell CX and FR's sell them both spring and fall.

 

[wannahomestead]

Usually around Easter and later in the fall. I find when you do them in the fall you use hardly, if any, supplemental heat. Since I grow them out in the barn it's cooler during the day too. All of the big box stores that sell CX and FR's sell them both spring and fall.

"normal" easter? or our weird,funny, super early easter this year lol

 

[gladahmae]

Having raised CX a few times into the heat of July, if you want to do a spring batch, get them SOON. I felt like I was playing roulette with the age of the birds and the heat we had the first year....9wks old and in the 90s outside. *shudder*

 

[PrairieFairy]

I have started selling my eggs to more customers, so much that when I was in FFH I bought...drumroll...16 chicks.  Yup.  Future egg layers.  8 EEs, 2 BO, 2 Asta, 2 BR, 2 Leghorns.  Gotta keep my farm name "Eggs Of A Different Color" true and have enough girls to keep laying into the future...that's what I told myself, anyway!

Edit to add...18 chicks...two Isa!  Chicken Math LOL!

I thought I had replied but I don't see it - so forgive the noobishness if it's actually visible someplace...

ZOMG - Chicken Math is the worst. I added 2 more so am now at 26 with an EE Roo on order. I want to have at least one tossing the blue gene on Roo side. I really think one of the straight run BA's is going to be a Roo - the two BA's are developing totally differently.

I am sure I will lose some of the Bantam OEGB Roo's - they are already flying all about and squeezing through the smaller holes nobody else can get out of - so I find them roosting inside the garage in the darnedest places...they see me and fly back into the brooder the little miscreants...

Going to bet money someone makes a snack of those Roos lacking any safety sense - fairly quickly after they make the transition to outdoors...

 

[wannahomestead]

Having raised CX a few times into the heat of July, if you want to do a spring batch, get them SOON. I felt like I was playing roulette with the age of the birds and the heat we had the first year....9wks old and in the 90s outside. *shudder*

Do you think first or second week of May is too late?

 

[aart]

Quote: No really predicting the weather......you'll want to plan for dealing with excessive heat if it happens, or wait until fall.

 

[gladahmae]

No, you can't predict the weather, but I read way too many posts about people whose birds "flipped" near butchering, which they attributed to the growth rate AND hot weather. And if you are planning on raising to 8 weeks and that puts you into July or August you ARE going to have hot weather. Given the investment I had into all the birds (60 total birds fed for 8 weeks, plus that was the year we built the tractors for them) I wish we had gotten them a bit sooner.

Flip side of the coin: the following year we got our CX in early April and had a cold snap. They piled up in a corner trying to keep warm and 10 got smothered.

There's no guaranteed perfect time to get them. I am personally not going to get any so late tha butchering will be into July for 8wks of feed.

 

[wannahomestead]

Thanks for the info. I'll probably need to touch base w/ the other 2 folks interested in doing it w/ me, and see if they want to wait or not. Anything I can do to help w/ hot temps for the CX?

 

[bigmrg74]

Started in on my new coop today. Got a pretty good start in on it.