ordered meat birds today

[ozarkmomma]

Placed my first order for cornish Xs from Schlecht hatchery, they had the best price I could find. They will ship May 7, ordered 30 to split with my DD. I may need a support group or an intervention LOL

 

[TheSpeckledRoo]

Nothing tastes better than farm fresh meat! When I raise meat birds like that i will feed them turkey feed for the first two weeks. They explode in side. You just have to make sure you place their food and water on top of a ramp so they have to run up and down to eat. I dont know how many i lost due to leg problems before i learned this.

 

[charliethezero]

Fun! We'll be doing this together then. It's my first time too, my chicks are scheduled to arrive May 7th. I only ordered ten but I'm quickly realizing I should have bought more.

 

[Evangelina]

at the speckled roo
sorry im a little confused, so feed them turkey feed or not, and just make sure its on a ramp?

 

[BCMaraniac]

at the speckled roo
sorry im a little confused, so feed them turkey feed or not, and just make sure its on a ramp?

I am new to meat chickens, and got my first ones in February from Tractor Supply....just got 6 for starters. I started them on a chick starter/grower up until 4 weeks, then went to a grower/finisher. From 4 weeks of age on, what I did with mine was give them enough feed so that they would run out during the night and have a few hours without food. I didn't have any trouble with legs problems. I did have a splayed leg in my second batch after a couple of days, but that wasn't feed related. I coddled it and processed at 5 weeks this past weekend. Those first six remained active, flapping wings and moving well, just with an awkward gait. I processed them this past weekend at 9 weeks, and they ranged in weight from 5 pounds(pullet) to 7 1/2 pounds(cockerel). I will process the others in about 3-4 weeks.

When you get them, they look different from other little chicks. Because they develop such heavy breast, you will notice their legs are set further apart, which I think increases the likelihood of a splayed leg. They also have big feet! Between the two, they will always have a different gait compared to regular chicks. When you get them, make sure they have good footing.....Paper gets really slick, so something like shavings work really well.

Good luck....hope all goes smoothly.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Placed my first order for cornish Xs from Schlecht hatchery, they had the best price I could find. They will ship May 7, ordered 30 to split with my DD. I may need a support group or an intervention LOL

Sally Sunshine had a support group and processed this past weekend when I did....all went smoothly.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Fun! We'll be doing this together then.

It's my first time too, my chicks are scheduled to arrive May 7th. I only ordered ten but I'm quickly realizing I should have bought more.

I started with 6.....then 15.......and I have 20 red rangers coming the week after yours. My first two batches were Cornish Rocks, but I got red rangers for May because they are supposed to free range better than the Cornish Rocks, but they take longer to get to processing size.....about 80 days.

The first six have already been processed, and I will be processing the second batch before the Red Rangers arrive.....or shortly after.

 

[ozarkmomma]

Fun! We'll be doing this together then.

It's my first time too, my chicks are scheduled to arrive May 7th. I only ordered ten but I'm quickly realizing I should have bought more.

Mine are supposed to ship on the 7th