My Next Great Experiment

[binders]

Let us know how the BSF harvesting goes. I have yet to see a larva in my compost. I wonder if it is too dry here in New Mexico. I would love to be able to set up a bio-pod type thing and harvest them but don't know if we have them.

 

[kizanne]

Supposedly they are 'native' to all of north america. They love the heat but I would think you'd want to place your in the shade for most of the summer. If you were real concerned you could even dig a pit to keep it cooler than 120 degrees. I don't know at what point the heat would kill them. They produce alot of their own moisture so you might need some moisture to start your pile off but you probably wouldn't have to keep adding moisture other than new compost.

I did BSF larve last summer, I just did it in my compost bin because they showed up. We harvested lots. One day we had a chicken (store bought) that sat in the fridge too long and we debated throwing it in the pile. Well curiosity beat common sense and we threw it in. They devoured it in less than 24 hours. We waited another 2-3 days before harvesting more larva to try to be safe. Result they are as advertised great composters of even putrid things. None of our chickens seemed sickened from the resulting larva.

I can ship you a starter colony for $15 (that includes shipping).

 

[kizanne]

So BSF larva they have now colonized my compost pile.

I weighed my meaties today with and average of 16 oz. about 1 lb. but the weights are vastly different.

min. 6.2 oz with max being 26.5 oz. Of course since I got them at an unknown age they could be different ages.

I've had them 2 1/2 weeks, they are growing and very active. They are staying active running from my broody and her chicks.

 

[kizanne]

Ok, so all the meaties are still alive, yeah.

I didn't think there would be a difference between black and red broilers but the black seem to be staying more mobile and active. I have 2 of the 4 reds that lay down a lot.

Bad news I still have chicks that won't put themselves up at night. The coop is higher than the run and there is a ramp. At night about only 1/2 are up in the coop and the others have to be put up for safety. This may be due to my broody though. She doesn't like the meaties around her chicks so she chases them around. She goes up with her chicks so I wonder if the others think it is easier to just stay outside.

The broilers are out growing the True Cornish but that was expected. The Cornish is out growing the Doms.

I have 2 eggs of my barnyard mixes that seem to be developing in the incubator. Hoping they are mixes with the maran or barnvelder. They were both very tasty birds, more so than the CX's. I'll be disappointed if they turn out to be ameracauna mixes. I had 4 roosters out there when butchered teh ameracuana's didn't seem to have developed testes but both maran and barnvelder did. Also the Blue Laced Red Wyandottes will definately have some hatch and some delawares too. This will give me a few birds to play with crosses with the cornish if I get a nice big roo. I do have one really large black broiler roo that I might keep for playing with mixes too.

I also ate one of my older hens only about 1 year and 3 months old. Crockpot cooking. It has made me realize one thing. There are two schools of chicken eaters. The first that like young cornish cross birds that give what they call juicy tender birds with white meat. And the other school which is me, I like my meat from DP birds it has way more flavor and what some call chewy, I like as a nice texture. To me the grocery store chicken and CX's are more mushy and less tasty. The young roos I ate this year were all perfect to me and had more flavor and texture and I loved them. The old hen got a little chewy but had a great flavor. I only crocked for about 4 hours but a few more hours would have made the meat more tender and the flavor was great. I would love cheap chicken, will work on that after I figure out what birds I want. But I love the taste of a nice DP from 14-24 weeks old. Now if I can get that bird to be larger I'll do that. My maran dressed out at 3.6 pounds and was a perfect size and taste. Once I figure out a good growing, great tasting DP cross or pure bred then I'll make them in small batches which should make the cost go way down. If I'm raising only 5-10 birds they will need less feed because I'll be able to supplement with black soldier fly larva, mealworms, garden left overs, duckweed, ranging and kitchen scraps. I get lots of those but they don't go as far when your doing 25 birds that eat pounds a day. However, right now cost is not my main consideration and I can afford great tasting organic birds.

 

[kizanne]

Time to update a little. I'm on my second bag of food. I have 19 birds in the meat room though they are not all going to be meat birds. Got a feeder in there now that will hold and dispense a 50 lb. bag Nice not to have to fill up feeders everyday. In the beginning I gave them a few mealworms everyday but now I'm giving them 1-2 cups of black soldier fly larva a day. Just started with a few extra tomatoes too. They still have some grass in the pen but it is beginning to greatly thin.
5 gallon waterer with nipples. With the heat they are making me fill that up about one every 5 days. In other words I could go for 5 days without tending them if needed.

The broody stopped watching chicks so she is back with the layers. Baby Australorps are doing well though and the other birds are not bothering them. The cornish are still small compared to the broilers but have a nice wide leg stance that make me hopefull they will eventually fill out. I'll have to try to get some weights soon.

They go out in their 400 sf run a lot so I'm not having to do much with shavings inside. I have used less than one bag of shavings ($6.88). I am very pleased that all are going up and down the ramp as needed. The red broilers seem to want to lay around more than any of the other birds even though one of the black broilers is larger.

I also just hatched out a marans x barred rock chick so I'll see how the growth is on that bird. I have some pure marans in the incubator, I'll be shocked if they hatch as the roo has been gone for 3 weeks but I'm still seeing fertile eggs so I'm hoping some will hatch and give me another marans roo. I have been trying to find a local source for a nice marans roo but it seems my only option is to order eggs and hope they hatch (if my own don't hatch).

 

[kizanne]

Ok it has been a long while. But time for an update.

Today we did in 2 red boilers, 1 black broiler and an english cuckoo orphington. Dressed out they ranged from 2.8 pounds to 4 pounds.

I hated to do the orphington cause he was beautiful but he also was way to loud/long winded for my residential neighborhood. He was the 4 pounder.
The reds had less fat than the black broiler but none of them had a lot.in

I bought these around May 29 so I have had them about 12 weeks or so, but remember I didn't buy day old chicks either. I haven't tracked feed because I have other birds in that pen but they don't seem to be pounding it too hard.

The dark cornish are quite a bit smaller which I've read they are slow growing and this was hatchery stock so maybe they'll be a bust. Those four will hold me for 2 weeks so I'll give the others time to grow some more. I don't like processing a bunch at a time.

All the birds in the pen have stayed mobile the reds worried me in June but they stayed up and about and their carcasses were much more pleasant than the cornish crosses which I found to be dirty. They also quickly learned to put themselves up (priceless). I guess I'm not a good at high maintenance owner. I prefer to give them some outdoor space, an automatic waterer and automatic feeder. I try to check everyday and with the heat I have to water everyday maybe two but as the numbers and the heat dwindle that will lessen too. My layers I can leave for 7 days without a babysitter.

I'll give a taste update soon especially on the orphington.
Pros, clean, mobile, eats less, tastier (guessing based on other experiences). Can slaughter on my own schedule without deaths. Saves freezer space that way and is easier on me.
Cons didn't get as big as a CX, did start crowing about a week ago (loud enough to be a bother earlier but soft).

My own cross that I hatched from my marans rooster before he bought it is growing good. The wyandottes are beautiful birds. Working on a tractor for them. When I get settled in, I should have a orphington roo, dark cornish roo, black broiler roo and a marans roo (though have to get another cause the first was too loud).

I am happy right now with my current orphington roo. He crows at 7:30 about 3 times then stops and crows 30 mins later. He got a little noisier when the other roosters started up but I'm hoping that with them gone he'll go back to be late and relatively quiet. I can take 7:30; 5:30 is rooster kill time. I am going to just keep cycling through roosters til I get one with most the traits I want with quiet and large being very important. The roo I kept has tried to spur me twice and my daughter (14) once. I have found if I catch him gently lay him on his back where he is calm and look into his eyes, he seems to decide to leave me alone for a good many days. I am hoping to break him of this habit without violence. Otherwise he'll be added to the dinner list.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Thanks for keeping us updated on your "experiments." I'll be looking forward to the next update, especially interested in what you think of the orpington as far as flavor and texture and how the wyandottes dress out. Orpingtons and Wyandottes are two of the breeds we plan on trying as dual purpose birds in the next year. That your orpington roo dressed out at 4lbs is particularly encouraging. I don't remember seeing the orpingtons mentioned earlier in the thread, do you know roughly how old he was when you processed?

 

[kizanne]

Ate one of the Broilers it was tastier than the CX but still mild. I haven't eaten the Orphington yet. I bought the Orphington off a lady that had too many roosters. They were English Lemon Cukoo Orphingtons, She raised them organic and told me they were born the middle of Feb. so that would be about 27 weeks old. I had considerably less time and effort in since I got them in Near the end of June. I still have two of them and they are still getting larger.

I also have a black broiler that I want to try to weigh soon as he seems pretty large and I'll breed him for a few chicks soon after I clear out some more of the meat pen birds.

I also finally finished my tractor for additional grow out space.

 

[kizanne]

Overdue for an update.

The tractor is working fairly good. Move it once a week, takes the grass about 3 weeks to recover after moving. I think less than 15 chickens would be better. Those are Delawares not CX's so the poop load isn't that bad.

The Orphingtons were tasty but I think the rankings go.... Barnvedler, americana, black copper marans, Orphingtons, 1 year old barnyard hen, black broilers, red broiler, CX so far.

My only surviving Orphington is about 8 months now and is 9.6 pounds. He crows but has so far not hit the overwhelmingly annoying have to die point yet. I also have a black broiler roo I've kept out. In the next week I'll be setting eggs that have the Orphington and Broiler roo in a pen with Barred Rocks, Barnyard Rocks, Easter Eggers, Americauna's, Production reds, black copper marans and a speckled sussex hens. I'm going to set some of each and see what I get on the other side. I was not going to set the americauna but hubby reminded me they were small but tasty so we'll set them. I have two red broiler hens that should start laying soon a dark cornish roo that doesn't seem very big but he's only about 4 months. Also some australorp and delaware's getting ready to lay eggs. When they get old enough I'll set another batch with the Orphington roo and those quicker growers.

The broilers dressed out between 3 and 3.8 pounds at about 12 weeks for me and the lady said 4 to 5 weeks when I got them. She didn't have them on a high protein feed she basically fed them scratch. I think that may have limited their overall growth.

I didn't think my black broilers were consistent in their growth rate. The red were more consistent but the blacks tasted better and the large ones got larger however the small ones were smaller than the reds. The dark cornish right now are a disappointment. I started with 4 I'm down to 2. One has bent toes can't be sure girl or boy but will be dinner. The other is a roo which is what I wanted but he seems small. Don't see how he'll grow into a monster in a few more months. The dominics are small I think both girls but they'll get eaten or sold most likely. The Delaware's I hatched out 7 of those only 3 are 'big' 2 are roos and I'm not planning on using roo's in my mating plan so I have one Delaware girl that will go in the Orphington/Broiler pen or with the Cornish.
I hatched out one of my own crosses looks like a black copper marans/easter egger and looks to be a girl. She is a medium size and will be safe until I see what color egg she lays. Good color she'll be come a layer, common color probably dinner. I also hatched out some 'blue laced wyandottes' in quotes because they are of varying blue and feather quality. A few are large enough they may make the layer pen but I was hoping to start a trio of those for breeding eggs but don't think any are high enough quality for that. I will have to post picture in the breeds thread to get opinions. If they aren't up to snuff they'll get sold on Craigslist or be dinner.

The best part is I'll soon have little FUZZY BUTTS.

 

[Wax Myrtle]

Just wanted to let you know that I, too, have been enjoying your updates - from long before I registered. I love your writing voice.