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emorems0 said:
For anyone who buys Cornish cross meat birds, where do you like to get your chicks? For the past two years we've used Murray McMurray and bought their 'Cornish Roasters' which are supposed to take a little longer to reach processing size (10-12 weeks instead of 8 I think) but have fewer leg problems, etc. I awas pretty disappointed in the meaties we got this Spring. I don't know if they changed their breeding, or if we just got a poor hatch but we had a lot of problems with them. We were hoping to do a second batch of meaties this year but I've been putting it off since I'm reluctant to order the same thing and ending up with lots of leg problems and weak chicks again.

I also have to share a funny... We got some new neighbors last spring and our kids go to school together. The wife loves our chickens and they've started feeding them for us when we go out of town. A few days ago she asked me if I could help her process a few chickens since she had a chance to get 6 free roosters. I said 'sure'. It turns out they are silkies and there were only 3 left. She took them anyway and decided on the drive home that she would clean out the chicken coop in her back yard that they had been using as a shed so that she could keep them. She was eventually planning on getting a bunch of RIRs since she loved our chickens so much but this sped up the process for her and she's wanting to get some laying chicks asap. The funny thing is that they are a biracial family, the husband is black and she is white... and now she's talking about how she's going to have a matching, biracial chicken family too (Silkie roos and RIR hens). She's super excited to see what the eventual 'biracial' chicks would look like between the Silkies and RIRs... anyone know? I expect there is one dominant skin color and she's not going to get the 'mix' like with people but I don't really know much about chicken genetics.
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I don't do meat birds, but have you looked at Freedom Rangers from the hatchery of the same name in Lancaster Co, or Moyers in Quakertown?
Moyers sells a variety of meat birds, and quite a lot I believe.

As for silkie roos over RIR, i think the chicks will be sexlinked, with the females having dark skin and male yellow skinned. The silkie feathering is a simple autosomal (non-sexlinked) recessive, so none of the babies will be silkied, but they will all carry that gene, so a future cross for the daughters back to their father will produce roughly 50% silkied babies.
 
emorems0 said:
For anyone who buys Cornish cross meat birds, where do you like to get your chicks? For the past two years we've used Murray McMurray and bought their 'Cornish Roasters' which are supposed to take a little longer to reach processing size (10-12 weeks instead of 8 I think) but have fewer leg problems, etc. I was pretty disappointed in the meaties we got this Spring. I don't know if they changed their breeding, or if we just got a poor hatch but we had a lot of problems with them. We were hoping to do a second batch of meaties this year but I've been putting it off since I'm reluctant to order the same thing and ending up with lots of leg problems and weak chicks again.

I also have to share a funny... We got some new neighbors last spring and our kids go to school together. The wife loves our chickens and they've started feeding them for us when we go out of town. A few days ago she asked me if I could help her process a few chickens since she had a chance to get 6 free roosters. I said 'sure'. It turns out they are silkies and there were only 3 left. She took them anyway and decided on the drive home that she would clean out the chicken coop in her back yard that they had been using as a shed so that she could keep them. She was eventually planning on getting a bunch of RIRs since she loved our chickens so much but this sped up the process for her and she's wanting to get some laying chicks asap. The funny thing is that they are a biracial family, the husband is black and she is white... and now she's talking about how she's going to have a matching, biracial chicken family too (Silkie roos and RIR hens). She's super excited to see what the eventual 'biracial' chicks would look like between the Silkies and RIRs... anyone know? I expect there is one dominant skin color and she's not going to get the 'mix' like with people but I don't really know much about chicken genetics.
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Auroradream26 said:
The ducklings did great on their first night outside
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They were really rather confused first thing this morning when they woke up in a strange place, surrounded by chickens, but it didn't take them long to get over it. They found the food dish then started running around playing and flapping their tiny wings lol
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That sounds so cute! Maybe some ducks in a year or two...

fisherlady said:
Quote:

dheltzel said:
Quote: I live right about 10 minutes from Moyers. I have read a lot of positive reviews from their customers, and I plan to buy from them next year (hopefully) when I start with my first batch of meaties. I will let you all know how they are. Their facility from the outside looks very well maintained. Does anyone know where to find plans on how to build your own scalder? I've been looking but haven't turned up anything yet. Maybe I should focus on getting my coop setup first.
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Did some good trashpicking this morning. My neighbor is having a garage built, and they had a whole bunch of small plywood scraps and 2x4 scraps. they said I could take whatever I like. Looks like great materials for nesting boxes, runs, etc. My shoes were so covered with mud, but i wanted to get as much of the plywood as I could before we get more rain. Has anyone ever used chicken feed bag plastic to line their coops/nesting boxes from the elements? I used a bit on my nesting boxes for my last coop and found it worked fairly well. And when it needed to be replaced, well, there's always a fresh supply!
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AnneInTheBurbs said:
That sounds so cute! Maybe some ducks in a year or two...



I live right about 10 minutes from Moyers. I have read a lot of positive reviews from their customers, and I plan to buy from them next year (hopefully) when I start with my first batch of meaties. I will let you all know how they are. Their facility from the outside looks very well maintained. Does anyone know where to find plans on how to build your own scalder? I've been looking but haven't turned up anything yet. Maybe I should focus on getting my coop setup first.
hide.gif


Did some good trashpicking this morning. My neighbor is having a garage built, and they had a whole bunch of small plywood scraps and 2x4 scraps. they said I could take whatever I like. Looks like great materials for nesting boxes, runs, etc. My shoes were so covered with mud, but i wanted to get as much of the plywood as I could before we get more rain. Has anyone ever used chicken feed bag plastic to line their coops/nesting boxes from the elements? I used a bit on my nesting boxes for my last coop and found it worked fairly well. And when it needed to be replaced, well, there's always a fresh supply!
Click to expand...

For scalding I just use a turkey fryer.
 
AnneInTheBurbs said:
Does it use a lot of propane?
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No. Just like a gas grill you would use for grilling on. I think the most birds I've processed at one time has been about 4 birds but all told I've probably processed about 10-12 extra cockerels. Still have the same tank of propane I filled up at the beginning of the year and could do a lot more birds before running out.
 

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