Red, Black, & Grey from Myers in PA

[frostychicken]

Last evening, I received a small order of meat birds from Myers Poulty Farm. I now have 5 Black Meat Birds, 5 Grey Meat Birds, and 6 Red Cornish Meat Birds. The Reds are not Red Bro - but Myers does offer them as well and they are identified as 'Color Range' in their catalog. What I have are described as Cornish Rock Crosses and are "very hearty to their environments with low incidence of leg problems and heart attacks". The rate of gain listed is almost identical to what they list for the Color Range birds.

I'll make an effort to update this post as the chicks grow...

 

[frostychicken]

I grabbed a pic of the chicks and they look like....well, just chicks. A few of them have the wide stance of a meat bird, but otherwize, they are pretty average. All of them made it through their trip and the first 24 hours at home.

I have the materials and a plan drawn up for a tractor - but I just found out that some critter just grabbed a chicken or two from my neighbor… The bottomless tractor has always been a concern for me. If I had 100 birds and lost 3-5 to predators, I could live with that, but I can’t really afford to loose even a few out of my batch of 16. I’ll already have to work against the summer heat, so I am going to run permanent fence (with the bottom portion buried in the ground) to help reduce the predator risk. I can either let them loose or just put the tractor inside the fenced area.

 

[blue90292]

my tractor's bottom frame is made out of 2x6's. i'm 110 pounds and can still move the tractor by going from side to side. anyway, the 2x6's are pretty heavy and the predator can't move or lift and if they want to dig, it'll take them a while. i have cattle panel reinforced by 1/4 x 1/4 hardware cloth 30 inches up. knock on wood, i've had good results.

 

[frostychicken]

FINAL REPORT:

Yesterday was the end of the road for my meat birds. The original 16 went to the processer at a little over 18 weeks of age. I had hoped to take them in about 3 weeks ago, but the processer was booked and couldn’t fit them in.

I had 5 Gray roosters, 2 Black roosters, 3 Black hens, 1 Red rooster, and 5 Red hens. The Gray roosters were both the largest and had the best body structure. They had the wider stance of a meat bird, even compared to the Black and Red roosters. As far as the hens go, the Black were visibly bigger than the Red by a bit.

I fed Purina Flock Raiser crumbles (20% protein) and treated them to some scratch grain and goodies from my garden. I doubt that the last few weeks added any significant weight - but I do prefer the flavor of chickens that are a bit older than a traditional 8 week old meat bird.

Here is how they weighed out:
3.6
3.85
3.95
4.1
4.45
4.45
4.6
4.65
5.2
5.62
5.95
6.3
6.65
6.75
6.8
7.45

84.37 Total Weight

5.27 Average

In reviewing their live appearance versus the list of weights, I believe that the Grays were the group above 6 pounds, the Red and Black rosters were the 5.2-5.95 birds, and the hens were the lightest eight.

 

[draye]

Quote:
Ever try anymore of these Grays? Are they worth the time and money?