Minnesota!

[The BlanchRanch]

Hanging out under the current bush.

Nice picture. So you guys mostly have no fence at all?

 

[lalaland]

love this thread. a little daunting to come find so many posts daily, but hey! its like going to the grocery store and running into alot of people and chatting for a few minutes - lots to catch up on all the time!

Ralphie, welcome home. hope you get to stay a while!

I have a different broody problem. (Yup, still having broodies). Amelia, who is icelandic, is broody and I cant break her. She also lays an egg daily, which I haven't had a broody do before. Since she is in a wire cage, the egg almost always breaks or cracks. She is on day 4 of the wire cage routine. If that doesn't work, the ultimate cruelty will follow tomorrow: getting doused in a bucket of cold water.

I know, it sounds outrageously cruel, but a) she can't keep being broody, b) I have no rooster so no fertile eggs, and c) I dont need more chickens, and d) with markes I want a year to see how last spring's hatches do.

Anyone every resort to the water bucket?

 

[Rhetts]

I know I say this over and over, I think starve em and free range them is the way to go.

I am thinking of ordering some soon, too.

I will raise them slow and free range as much as possible keeping them for 11-13 weeks so I get giant birds. I love the taste of the big guys, they are so juicy.





It took a while but we got all the little guys back in their brooders for the night. The three BB were being difficult.

So do you have an idea on how much feed a day you would feed them? DH wants to use your approach on ranging them as much as possible. Maybe a dumb question but the cx don't use roosts right? The tractor they use wouldn't need roosts in it just secure from predators right? Oh, how did your night go with the predators and your dog doing guard duties?

 

[Rhetts]

Our plan is to start them in a chicken tractor (days) and we'll see how that goes. There is a sectioned off area in the coop under the poop board that we can keep them in at night or in inclement weather. They will free range in their own area once they are bigger (4 weeks or so?). We will do all fermented feed in order to keep feed costs (and smells down). Someone on this thread recommended it and I'm loving it (and so are the chickens). Last time we butchered at 7 weeks, 3 days. I think I would like to let them grow longer this time. Maybe 8-10 weeks? I would assume they would grow a little more slowly using this method.

I can't decide between Welp, Hoover's, or Central Hatchery in NE.

I like your thoughts on the meat birds. I will check out fermented feed. DH has been looking at the different hatcheries and the prices of the birds from each one. But some of them are much cheaper, does that mean the bird is less quality? Or not really an issue with CX? McMurray is by far the most expensive but I have only looked at Mcmurray, hoover, welp, and strombergs. Hadn't heard of Central Hatchery before.

 

[duluthralphie]

Hey Rhetts, Thanks for asking about the predator.


I (knocking on Wood) think it went OK. I have not opened the brooders today because of the 30 degree drop in temps over night. I had/have 2 smaller chicks in the middle school group, I wish today, I had moved them back to elementary school. Hopefully they all crowded together and did fine.

Ole, I am sure is upset, being sentenced to prison and all was traumatic on him. That said, I noticed the hens seem happier with him gone. I am not sure what I will do with him. Anyone wanting a rooster, missing most of his tail feathers? I will let you have him for the same price EJB gave him to me for!! (FREE)

I am afraid I am losing the battle for Bert. His foot is all swollen again. He is hobbling instead of walking. I am not going to bring him back into the house, whatever will be will be.


On the CX's Rhett, I feed the babies twice a day morning and night. I give them starter for just a few days, then I go to layer because of the lower protein. IMHO they are so good at metabolizing food high protein become their worse enemy. They only have the food for 15-20 minutes then I remove it. If you allow them to they will eat all day long.

After a week I move them outside to the tractor/brooder I still only feed them twice a day for 15-20 minutes. ( this never changes with them). I make sure they have "grit" right off the bat, (just sand/gravel from my drive). I give them a little "scratch" (and I mean little) so they have to work for it. By the time they are 2 weeks old I have them free ranging. They are fun to watch, they chase bugs, eat grass and act like real chickens. After a couple weeks I do not worry about a heat lamp they are small blast furnaces.

I never give them a roost, but they will "roost" on a 2x4 on edge or a small board just make sure it is not too high (6 inches is great plenty). One thing I learned is keep the water and feed a distance apart to force them to walk.

I am not sure how FF will, I do not use it and do not want to start a FF war as I know some are very adamant about it, as I understand it FF is higher in protein than normal feed, the sugars/carbs are converted in the fermenting leaving higher protein. With CX's protein is the evil they have inherent heart and kidney problems, (ascites) higher protein again IMHO leads to ketosis and kidney circulatory problems. My first batch I fed like the hatchery instructions said too, I had leg problems, heart problems and lots of ascites, I ended up having to process at 40-42 days because of all the problems.

The one study I found by a university showed FF helps keep "bugs and worms" out of the gut, with CX's they are not going to live long enough to make that a worry they are in the freezer in 3 months.


Good luck on them and as Minnie says take this with a grain of salt, it is "internet advice" and could be all wrong it is completely anecdotal and is what works for me and has no scientific basis.

To me Bert and his girls were proof I could keep them alive for months, I am hoping to get years from a few of my future CX's. We will see how it goes and how my toads do in the future. I really wanted more babies from Bert, but that is not going to happen. Oh well.



BTW mine are from Hoover and I am happy with them. I thought I had too many girls in my straight run but that happens.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Our plan is to start them in a chicken tractor (days) and we'll see how that goes. There is a sectioned off area in the coop under the poop board that we can keep them in at night or in inclement weather. They will free range in their own area once they are bigger (4 weeks or so?). We will do all fermented feed in order to keep feed costs (and smells down). Someone on this thread recommended it and I'm loving it (and so are the chickens). Last time we butchered at 7 weeks, 3 days. I think I would like to let them grow longer this time. Maybe 8-10 weeks? I would assume they would grow a little more slowly using this method.

I can't decide between Welp, Hoover's, or Central Hatchery in NE.

Have you looked at Stromberg's? I have gone with them the last two years and am very happy with their CRX. They are very consistent in size and they are pretty calm. I have gotten them from McMurray a couple of times and their consistency is awful, and they are crazy birds! Raised in identical conditions, the MM birds were complete spazzes and one was even mean. I will be getting my CRX on July 8th from Stromberg's, and they drop ship from whatever their CRX hatchery is, i think down South, like New Mexico, actually. I was supposed to have them two weeks ago for the kids to show but pushed back the date to be more convenient for me with all the other birds I have. The turkeys should be out in their pasture by then.

Speaking of turkeys....
Mine are a week old, and 2 were strutting in the brooder yesterday!!! those little butts! LMAO!!

 

[holm25]

I'm sorry to hear Bert is not doing well Ralphie!! It sounds like he had the best life a CX could have!!

 

[Minniechickmama]

love this thread. a little daunting to come find so many posts daily, but hey! its like going to the grocery store and running into alot of people and chatting for a few minutes - lots to catch up on all the time!

Ralphie, welcome home. hope you get to stay a while!

I have a different broody problem. (Yup, still having broodies). Amelia, who is icelandic, is broody and I cant break her. She also lays an egg daily, which I haven't had a broody do before. Since she is in a wire cage, the egg almost always breaks or cracks. She is on day 4 of the wire cage routine. If that doesn't work, the ultimate cruelty will follow tomorrow: getting doused in a bucket of cold water.

I know, it sounds outrageously cruel, but a) she can't keep being broody, b) I have no rooster so no fertile eggs, and c) I dont need more chickens, and d) with markes I want a year to see how last spring's hatches do.

Anyone every resort to the water bucket?

I haven't had to resort to the bucket yet, but go for it. Especially with it heating up like yesterday, I have lost stupid broodies because they were setting and it got too hot and they don't keep themselves fed or hydrated enough. Dunk her, hold her there a few minutes, then put her in the cage again. Do it for a couple of days or even a couple of times a day. The goal is to drop the core body temp back down to normal.

 

[Minniechickmama]

I have confirmation today of what I have been suspecting since about week 3 for these new birds of mine (currently 15 weeks). The silver laced polish pullets my daughter picked are indeed cockerels. They were crowing today. I only ordered 2 and they are both males. Fantastic. Confirmed roo count is officially 11.

Oh and the Lakenvelder is the top dog rooster in the flock right now. I have no intentions of keeping him but will that mess up the flock dynamics until a new rooster decides to take over or should I not be too worried about removing him? Of course he alerts the flock when something is near, he goes between the hens and whatever he is protecting them from until the coast is clear. Hoping the roos we ordered in the breeds we liked will mature and step up to the flock leader plate once the Lakenvelder is gone. Can 4 roosters live peaceably together in one flock of about 32 hens since I now have to keep the polish roos?

If you remove the dominant rooster, another one will quickly take his place. If it will be as good of a guardian of his flock? I can't say yes or no.
You could keep 4 to 32 ratio. You might not be happy seeing the hens getting their feathers pulled off their backs (which do come back after molt), and is completely normal to see in an active flock, but that many should be able to get along. However, if you see constant fighting over females, then you may want to reduce.
The chicken flock can be an ever changing dynamic with losses, roosters that turn into buttheads who need to lose their heads, loss from other uncontrolled issues like internal laying or prolapse. Others step into place where there are gaps, so I would worry too much.

I put two pens of Easter Eggers out with the small mixed flock of odd hens and back Cochin roosters. Of course, fighting ensued between the breeders in the pens and the pasture gang. It was amusing to watch my 3 1/2 year old Ameraucana kick the snotty 1 year old Cochin's butt. There was no blood drawn and luckily it was late enough in the day that they didn't give themselves heart failure. It looks much calmer today. It is always the youngest ones who cause the most trouble when I need to do that. I need to get rid of a handful of roosters that won't be used in the coming seasons, and a couple of older ones too, I think. It is time to cut back the adults to make room for this year's hatch to pick out my breeders for next year. My feed bill should be cut down at least a 1/3, at least for a little while until the juvies get grown more and are eating me out of house and home LOL

 

[mnhomestead]

Thinking of selling my sulmtalers and wondering if there is any interest on here before I post on craigslist? There is 7 hens and two roos. Would prefer to sell altogether but may be willing to split. Sulmtalers are a rare breed and known for being a great heritage meat bird. Let me know if they're is any interest!