Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Chickin Fairy]

How much chicken do you eat? Remember, these will be whole birds, not only breasts and thighs! We do soup too, using everything. And home grown tastes best, and can be managed more humanely.
It will not save money!
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I use everything. I make my own chicken stock from the bones and scraps. I figured it wouldn't save money, but like the thought of managing where my food comes from. We eat a LOT of chicken. The only meat we eat regularly is chicken and fish, and we try to catch our own fish (or get from relatives who fish). We have a freezer out in our garage for meat. I really will start having to look at whether I have the room to do 10 birds... maybe in two batches, one spring, one fall. Thank you so much for the info. Very informative.

 

[Chef2727]

Hello everyone. I have 4 Female Splash Laced Red Wyandottes that are 7 months old. Getting ready to lay real soon. I really need to rehome them. Hopefully to someone who will spoil them lol. So sad I have to get rid of them. I’m in southeast Michigan. Dearborn. Thank you

 

[CedarLane]

Having the waterer and feeders apart, by maybe ten or fifteen feet (not further!) will help keep these birds moving a bit more than they might otherwise. Their joints hurt!
Any roosts need to be very low, and consider removing them early. We had birds with failed leg joints the year they had roosts, a little over twelve inches high!
Also, they eat a lot, and poop a lot, and need clean bedding often, either added on top, or moving the hoop coop at least every other day. Carefully! They don't move fast and can be squished.
Another vote for Freedom Rangers!!!
Mary
Years ago I read a study, where a group of Cornishx was split into two groups, one fed as usual, and one had a choice of normal feed, or feed with aspirin added. The birds preferred the aspirin choice, and were more active. Sad.
Mary

Anything to keep them moving helps!

Our feeders are usually hanging so they have to stand to eat. One of the things I hated most with our first batch that used a long tray feeder was seeing them just sitting there eating all day.

I mentioned some of our using roosts, but didn't mention that they should be low. Thank you for catching that!

I was always worried about them getting squished while moving the pen, but they actually learn fairly quickly. The first couple times we move them our daughter goes in to keep them from huddling in the back and moving forward with the coop. After that they seem to figure it out.

 

[Chickin Fairy]

Hello everyone. I have 4 Female Splash Laced Red Wyandottes that are 7 months old. Getting ready to lay real soon. I really need to rehome them. Hopefully to someone who will spoil them lol. So sad I have to get rid of them. I’m in southeast Michigan. Dearborn. Thank you

Let me check with my friend over there in Pickney she might take them. I'm so sorry you have to rehome them

 

[CedarLane]

Ugh. That's heartbreaking. I know, I've seen the Cornish that get so big and just lie around. I have not heard of Freedom Rangers. Gosh, that sounds so much better than Cornish. 12 weeks is no problem and if the meat has more flavor, then that's a good thing, too.

@Mary @CedarLane how many do you raise at a time and how many do you have in your family? Trying to determine how many I would need for 2 people. We usually buy 40# of breast every 6 months.

We tried the Freedom Rangers one year. I wasn't so impressed. Maybe we should try them again. Since we started raising the CornishX in a hoop coop on grass and moving them regularly we haven't had very many problems, and I don't mind them anymore.

Also, I'm so sorry to anyone who is squeemish about this subject. I definitely love my hens and even my rooster, and I just know that raising my own meat (for me) would be a huge benefit to my health. I still feel for meat birds and would never be able to process them on my own.

We could if we had to, but we don't process our own. We take them to a local processor who does a wonderful job.

We've done ten to twenty-five at once, we do have a freezer! How much chicken do you eat? Remember, these will be whole birds, not only breasts and thighs! We do soup too, using everything. And home grown tastes best, and can be managed more humanely.
It will not save money! Like your home grown eggs, more expensive than cheap grocery store stuff.
Home processing is possible but messy, long ago DH did ours, but not now, we use a local processor, which is inspected and does fine.
Mary
And we don't eat our old hens either...

We've raised 10-25 at a time as well. We usually only keep 10-15 for ourselves. When we've had more than that, we sell them to my mom.

How much chicken do you eat? Remember, these will be whole birds, not only breasts and thighs! We do soup too, using everything. And home grown tastes best, and can be managed more humanely.
It will not save money!
_________________________________

I use everything. I make my own chicken stock from the bones and scraps. I figured it wouldn't save money, but like the thought of managing where my food comes from. We eat a LOT of chicken. The only meat we eat regularly is chicken and fish, and we try to catch our own fish (or get from relatives who fish). We have a freezer out in our garage for meat. I really will start having to look at whether I have the room to do 10 birds... maybe in two batches, one spring, one fall. Thank you so much for the info. Very informative.

I also like the thought of knowing where my food comes from and how it was raised. We cut them into pieces and bag them up legs and thighs together, and boneless skinless breast separately. Most of the rest: wings, backs, breast bones, etc. gets put in a big kettle and covered with water. Then I pick off the meat, can it, and then can any leftover broth. Some of the meat I can into chicken soup with carrots, celery and onion added to it.

 

[Folly's place]

The Freedom Ranger hatchery now has some other birds that look interesting, I'm thinking of trying some this spring. Haven't got my act together yet though...
Mary

 

[saysfaa]

...
The Freedom Rangers from Pennsylvania..

Many hatcheries have Freedom Rangers or similar to Freedom Rangers.

 

[CedarLane]

My Freedom Rangers came from Townline. I've never had a problem with them. I also like that because it is a Michigan company they don't have to ship very far.

 

[saysfaa]

Well, I lengthened my life a bit tonight. It has been a long time since I laughed this hard.

Short version is:
If you are going to sneak out to the chicken coop in the almost dark in inappropriate clothes - it is better to not walk in front of the motion-activated front yard light.

Long version is:
The chickens were out today and put themselves to bed. Or course, they can't close the door. So, I needed to go out and do it.

It is just a little cold to dash out in short shorts and thin t-shirt (because dh gets cold very easily so the house is as warm as I can tolerate whenever he is home). Sometimes, I put warmer things on, sometimes I dash out anyway and just get cold. This time, I saw my bathrobe on a kitchen chair and, on the spur of the moment, put that on, and dashed out.

Now, my bathrobe has finally surfaced from the last time we moved (many years ago). I'd forgotten how odd it looks. It is a little longer than the floor, very tent-like, and bright blue. I remembered how odd it looks as I closed the door behind me.

I took a half a second to decide it might not be quite dark enough to hide me from the neighbor lady beside us. So, instead of taking the shortest way to the coop - going behind the garage, I went the other way around in front of the garage.

Right into the path of the motion activated yard light. In full view of the road and the other neighbors.

 

[Sally PB]

Right into the path of the motion activated yard light. In full view of the road and the other neighbors.

I'm of the age that I would have pirouetted, sashayed, and danced my way to the coop. If I'm going to look silly (stupid/foolish/like an @$$), I'll go all out.