Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Candy442]

Yes the boys have joined the main flock and are enjoying themselves. They get along really well, also. They have 16 girls between the 2 of them, which seems to be enough to keep them from being too competitive, though the white one is in charge. They sleep next to each other at night.

These chicks should be 12-16 weeks before it gets super cold, so I think we're ok. I get worried about eggs/chicks in February because I like to have my new layers start laying in August and February can be so cold for new chicks.

I also have a set of 8 chicks that are 8 weeks old right now that are slated for freezer camp at about 16 weeks, so we won't have to worry about feeding them over the winter. We are trying to produce about 50% of our food from our property. We're not there yet, but we are getting close.

we have 25 meat chicks born the last week of August, first week of Sept. We figure we will take them in for processing the last part of October depending on how fast big they get. This is our first time with Cornish X chicks. We are giving them feed for 12 hours, water continuous. We have them able to enjoy the grass, jump and fly about to develop their muscles. Don't want to just get little butter pats to cook . That plus a quarter grass fed beef order every fall and we have our meat pretty well figured for the year...well, I am sure we will need to supplement the chicken and this 25 is our test bunch.

 

[lovechicks1293]

Look at these cool feathers from my mom's friend's chickens, it might be from her Wyandottes or barred rock chicken

 

[A2Kzoo2]

Yes the boys have joined the main flock and are enjoying themselves. They get along really well, also. They have 16 girls between the 2 of them, which seems to be enough to keep them from being too competitive, though the white one is in charge. They sleep next to each other at night.


These chicks should be 12-16 weeks before it gets super cold, so I think we're ok. I get worried about eggs/chicks in February because I like to have my new layers start laying in August and February can be so cold for new chicks.


I also have a set of 8 chicks that are 8 weeks old right now that are slated for freezer camp at about 16 weeks, so we won't have to worry about feeding them over the winter. We are trying to produce about 50% of our food from our property. We're not there yet, but we are getting close.

we have 25 meat chicks born the last week of August, first week of Sept. We figure we will take them in for processing the last part of October depending on how fast big they get.  This is our first time with Cornish X chicks.  We are giving them feed for 12 hours, water continuous.  We have them able to enjoy the grass, jump and fly about to develop their muscles.  Don't want to just get little butter pats to cook .  That plus a quarter grass fed beef order every fall and we have our meat pretty well figured for the year...well, I am sure we will need to supplement the chicken and this 25 is our test bunch.

Awesome. When we lived in NY we had a farm to get a quarter side of beef from. We are working out those connections here. We have a connection or two for pork, but my husband likes to break them down himself. So we have to find people willing to give us entire sides or quarters of beef.

Our meat chicks are dual purpose breed, I don't have any Cornish cross and cross my dual purpose birds for meat and eggs. I'm working on getting my dual purpose breeds size to a slightly larger size earlier without sacrificing their egg production. I've only just started this project, though. I also keep silkies to raise all my chicks.

 

[1muttsfan]

A2, you might look into Delawares. The good ones are excellent for both meat and eggs, and you can occasionally get a Broody too. There are, unfortunately, some not so well bred ones around, however.

 

[Folly's place]

I really like my white Chanteclers, and have some decent ones from Cackle hatchery. Candy may still have some from this year's hatch; I'm down to one extra cockerel. Mary

 

[iamfivewire]

For a nice-sized dual purpose bird, we have a couple of cockerels aprox 4~5 month old - they are a cross from a Bielefelder roo over a Delaware hen.
They are big boys !
& nice looking pattern too

 

[A2Kzoo2]

I do like the chantecler boys we got. I also like the idea of breeding for those that are more winter hardy, with the small combs. I'm not going for pure bred birds in the end, just selecting from those I have for winter hardy, large, healthy egg layers. Well see what I get.

 

[A2Kzoo2]

Silkie Hatch! 6 odd the 10 eggs have hatched so far. We'll see if I have more in the morning.

 

[lovechicks1293]

Silkie Hatch! 6 odd the 10 eggs have hatched so far. We'll see if I have more in the morning.

yay! congrats!

 

[bigmrg74]

So I came home last night with little green eyes up by my coop, got up closer to the tractor and was a little relieve to see that it was just Ember kitty hanging out on the blocks by the shed where the tractor is currently at right now.