Newbies to BYC

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bar55

In the Brooder
Oct 22, 2022
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We're new to BYC, looks like it's the in place when it comes to raising our feathered friends, and love to interact with fellow bird lovers. We've been in chicken raising , on and off, for almost 50 years and for some reason can't seem to kick the habit. Our current batch are Buff Orpingtons and so far we love the breed. My wife and are older than dirt but just can't seem to get away from raising our own food (seems like a 24 hour never ending job) and watching our grandkids and great grandkids grow up. Decided, with the economy in the toilet, to ramp up our chicken operation to include meat birds as well. We just PTF (put to freezer) 25 cornish cross and could not be more pleased. They dressed out around the 6# mark and are absolutely delicious. They went through the yardbird plucker without a hitch. Just great. Next we did 25 buff orpington roosters and nothing but problems.!st after 20 wks they only dressed at around 3# and with their long legs were a nightmare to process through the plucker with a lot of damage. My question is we let the roosters free range in our 50x85 chicken yard with the layers. Was that a mistake? Should we have waited longer say 30 wks before processing? Should we have keep them in a chicken tractor like we did with cornish x. We're never too old to learn something new. Thanks for your help in advance
 
bar55 said:
We're new to BYC, looks like it's the in place when it comes to raising our feathered friends, and love to interact with fellow bird lovers. We've been in chicken raising , on and off, for almost 50 years and for some reason can't seem to kick the habit. Our current batch are Buff Orpingtons and so far we love the breed. My wife and are older than dirt but just can't seem to get away from raising our own food (seems like a 24 hour never ending job) and watching our grandkids and great grandkids grow up. Decided, with the economy in the toilet, to ramp up our chicken operation to include meat birds as well. We just PTF (put to freezer) 25 cornish cross and could not be more pleased. They dressed out around the 6# mark and are absolutely delicious. They went through the yardbird plucker without a hitch. Just great. Next we did 25 buff orpington roosters and nothing but problems.!st after 20 wks they only dressed at around 3# and with their long legs were a nightmare to process through the plucker with a lot of damage. My question is we let the roosters free range in our 50x85 chicken yard with the layers. Was that a mistake? Should we have waited longer say 30 wks before processing? Should we have keep them in a chicken tractor like we did with cornish x. We're never too old to learn something new. Thanks for your help in advance
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Welcome to BYC!! BOs are such loving birds. ❤️
 

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