Need some newbie advice...

[ronniewayne]

i am raising my 3rd batch of meaties cornish -x ...i use a hoop house made from cattlepanels i have 2, one is 8'x8' the other is 8'x 16'...i use a dolly to move the 8x8 and i have wheels mounted 1' off center on the 16x8 and pull it on them...i move my meaties daily to new grass..and clean ground ...in return they fertizile my pasture 1 spot at a time...the only thing i do different from some people is i dont push them ...i have a timer on the lights and after 3 weeks the lights come on for feeding at 11-12 and 3-330 just let them sleep the rest of the night....they dont grow quite as fast...but a lot less heart attacks and death losses....i also recommend auto matic waterers i use the nipple drinkers with a float tank a hose runs to the house so as i move dailey it moves with me....i try to grow at least 50 at a time but not being a great processor i limit to 100....thats a lot to process in one day...good luck with yours the same things apply as your eggs they are healthier for you and the taste is better ...but after you start it will be hard to go back to the store and purchase chicken..you will lose a few things...ultra cheap chicken ..with hormones..with steriods..with arsneic ....and a few other things in them that you probably wouldnt really want your family to eat anywa...

btw welcome to this forum i find it very helpful and the people nice...

 

[BigSkyChickens]

Welcome, aidensmomma,
This section of the forum helped me get the courage to dive into the meat birds. We did our first batch of 7 in the spring. We are now raising our second batch. We are keeping it small, as there are only 2 of us. We went with the cornish x for a few reasons: we live in the 'burbs on a quarter acre, our legal chicken limit is only 5....since the Cornish grow so fast, this limits the time we are "over the limit". And since we are new at this, it was emotionally easier for me to process something that looked quite different from my egg layers.
Good luck....you will love having homegrown chicken on your table!

 

[aidensmomma]

Thank you all for the warm welcomes and advice. Bigskychickens, I love your little chicken home! How old are the chicks in that picture?

I know I have a lot to learn...ronniewayne, what are the lights for? Are you talking about warming light when they are small? or something else? Do most people feed them more frequently to fatten them up quick? I hear they are a sensitive breed...I'm open to dual purpose...and by dual purpose I'm assuming these are hens that lay and are tasty? is that right?

My plan as of now, (until I learn more). is this..we have a coop for our layers, but we are moving their home to a different location so my husband is going to build a chicken "condo." On one side I'll have my layers and on the other my meat birds and since my birds can happily free range all day and all year round, I'll figured I'd alternate free range days so they don't get mixed up...is this a good idea? I have a brooder that sits on our partially enclosed back porch that I planned on putting chicks in until they are feathered.
I'd be interested in hearing the different breeds of birds that are tastier then others or easier to raise then others etc... I'd also love to hear what you all feed your birds. since mine free range I don't exactly have to fill their feeder every day...they are quite greedy and will eat it if it's there but i know they are getting more then enough.

Here's another newbie question...about my layers; we had 2 roosters along with the 10 hens and 9/10 were laying. the roosters tag teamed my nephew who thankfully is okay, so they are both no longer with us. with the roosters gone will the hens stop laying? at about the same time as the roosters were put down, the weather went from 70's at night to 40's at night and I am now getting between 5 and 7 eggs a day. my hen that lays blue eggs ( I can't correctly spell that name!) hasn't laid an egg for a week or so (unless she's hiding them somewhere else...she has been known to just squat where she is and lay her egg instead of returning to the nesting box like the rest of them!)

This is a rather long post~ I appreciate your patience with me!

 

[wyoDreamer]

I am not an expert, but this is my basic knowledge about chickens for meat:

Cornish X are hybrid meat birds - they have been carefully bred to be a fast growing bird that develops alot of meat quickly with a nice big breast (alot of white meat). Since they grow so fast and get big so quick, they tend to develop health problems and will die if not butchered at an early age. Without special care and feeding program, they will not live to laying age and if they do lay fertile eggs, they will not hatch out true. As such, they are not sustainable - meaning that you will need to buy chicks from a hatchery every time you want to raise some.

Dual Purpose birds are raised for meat and eggs - two purposes. They tend to be a bigger in the body and will have more meat on them than chickens that are considered "Layers", but seldom do they produce a carcase as meaty as a Cornish Cross. They tend to lay fewer eggs than the Layers, but if you have a roo, you can hatch chicks and sustain your flock without having to purchase chicks every time you want to raise birds for Camp Kenmore. They take longer to raise to butchering age than a Cornish Cross.

As to your newbie question - yes, your hens will lay eggs without a rooster around. They can stop laying for a number of reasons - change in temperature (lay less in winter), stress from predators or moving to a new coop, and molting are just a few off the top of my head.

The lights are to get the birds to eat more. Your birds won't eat in the dark and some people add light to give the birds longer to eat. They more they eat, the bigger they will grow - to a point anyway.

Also - a light during the winter will help your laying birds keep laying eggs. When the days get shorter, the birds will lay fewer eggs, with some birds even stopping laying during the winter.