No one here but us chickens.

[estager]

Hi! My name is Erica, 30 years old, from north east Pennsylvania. I'm a retail butcher, which is only relevant because I plan on raising both meat and laying chickens. I'm a new chicken owner, who has been obsessively reading these forums.

My father moved in with us a few years ago (he's 79 now, getting too old to be on his own), and always wanted to own some chickens. So, we bought some chickens! For some reason, he got the urge to follow through on his dreams in late August. We bought 10 chicks from TSC 8/27, three Cornish Cross and seven Australorp. That puts them at 4-4.5 weeks old now. They've been moved outside, as the weather has been disturbingly warm.

Nice to meet you all, and hopefully I'll be a good chicken mother, because lord knows my husband hasn't been much help hahah.

 

[N F C]

Sounds like you and your father will have a great hobby to spend time on together. Make yourself at home here and if you have any questions, always feel free to ask.

Thanks for joining us!

 

[estager]

My biggest question right now is.. besides the Cornish, because they're very obviously two hens and a rooster, when is the earliest I can venture some sort of guess on gender? And if I do have as many roosters as I think I might, when does one cull them? The austras obviously won't mature as fast as these behemoth Cornish buggers. I'm relatively certain at least four of the austras are roosters based on them already getting some visible wattles and redness in the combs, but the more I read the more confused I get.

 

[sourland]

Hi, Erica, welcome to BYC from the other side of the river. I generally processed cockerels when they became to obnoxious to tolerate. If not large enough for roasters, they can always be used for fryers.

 

[theoldchick]

Howdy! Welcome to the flock!

 

[Kiki]

Welcome to Backyardchickens.com aka BYC!
We are glad you joined our flock.
'Extras' can be processed anytime..just depends on how much meat you want.
This video will help you learn how to navigate this site:

Please check out and enter these two current contest:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...test-09-25-2017-pic-by-chicken-girl1.1200378/ and
Official BYC Coop Article Contest - 2017 - Win a Auto Coop Door Kit

 

[drumstick diva]

Erica, so glad you joined the flock

 

[21hens-incharge]

Howdy!

Yup roosters can be obnoxious.

If that one by your Cornish is one you are questioning then yes you have a male.
Australorp are pretty easy to sex early on. The boys will show themselves by about six weeks with that comb development.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Hi and welcome to BYC! Glad to see you've joined us! Feel free to head on over to the pennsylvania-unite thread to chat with all of us Pennsylvanians

 

[rjohns39]

Hi Erica and welcome to BYC We're thrilled that you've joined us

I process my CX at 8 weeks (I keep them on an 18% ration start to finish) and my Heritage cockerels at about 14 weeks (I start them on a 22-24% ration for first 3 weeks then move them to 18). I move them in portable shelters frequently for fresh grass and bugs.