Red Laced Cornish X and project talk (pics p. 8)

[KatyTheChickenLady]

notice how she subtly slipped in there "I have a new coop going in next week" B R A G G E R !!!

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Well, scratch my plans with the Cornish. I don't know if these birds are dumb as rocks, or just so timid that they felt like standing in the snow for no telling how long was the only way to escape the bigger birds picking on them a bit...but I got back from the grocery store today to find my two pullets with rock hard frozen feet! No telling how long they had just been standing there, not even holding one foot at a time up off the ground to warm it like I've seen the other birds do. Poor things were moving around like they were on stilts, tripping over their feet. Their toes won't bend at all, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to cull them.

These are not cold hardy birds. I want nothing to do with them. I feel very bad about this though!

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

how old were they?

 

[SteveH]

Quote:
I'm so sorry for your birds .
I culled my last WLRC cockeral last night ; he was 6 months plus 3 days . Although he towered over the 12 lb CX pullets , his dressed weight is 3 lbs , 3 oz . That's skinless , neckless , and wings cut off at the elbow ; but still not as much bird as I expected . The reason I bobbed off the wings was that this bird was the hardest skinning fowl I've ever encountered , and I used to skin wildfowl all the time . My dogs love the necks and organ meat so they were fed before weighing [ along with the head , shanks , and feet ] . I suppose with skin on and buthered properly he might have gone a little over 3 and 1/2 lbs ; but I would hate to wait for a full 6 months to get a bird that size . I'll set some eggs from the pullets he covered tomorrow and see what happens .

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Quote:
Babies. Almost 11 weeks old. My Orloffs were from the same order and, I don't know, perhaps those guys gave me unrealistic expectations of the Cornish. The adult Dels, the Chantecler, and the young Orloffs have all been doing great with minimal shelter (large, insulated dog houses under a covered run, tarped on three sides.) The temps were very low last night and all day, it was foolish to expect such a hard-feathered bird to fare as well as the fluffy ones.

They are in a dog crate inside now thawing out. If they pull through, they're going back to the person I got them from. Not large enough to butcher, so, since she wants them....

 

[SteveH]

Well , I had to decide whether to move this week , or put it off and fire up the incubator ; the incubator is now running

. [ I've got a weight pull for my bulldogs coming up the weekend after Labor Day [ whoops , apologies to our Armed Forces , make that Veteran's Day ] ; its only 1 mile from where I currently live and that helped make the final decision . ] In the 'bator are 14 eggs : 4 EE with a CX " probably " the sire , 9 CX with the WLRC as the sire , and what I guess is a GL Wyandotte with the CX again " probably " over her . My white Ameraucana " manned up " while running in the CX cockeral's breeding pen ; there's a possibility he might have cuckholded the CX boys although I was getting fertile eggs from their pen before the Ameraucana was in there . Yesterday he actually crowed for the first time since I purchased him in Sept

. Once whipped into shape by the WLRC cockeral , the CX pullets are yielding to the white Ameraucana . He's much better at proper positioning , and by the time the 21 day incubation period is up he should have fertile eggs coming .

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

sounding good steve, will be interesting to hear your fertility counts

 

[wooden-animal]

Quote:
Katy its the Idaho bird show at the caldwell fair grounds. IBBA. the auction is Sat and the birds
will be in on friday and sat. I was hopeing to take some turkeys and cornish but i am to busy trying to get the waters ready for winter
i will not take any birds. i will be there for the auction on Sat. I have to get lights on all the pins this weekend and move some more pens in and
move some birds around.

 

[wooden-animal]

Katy you will have to make it over and see the new sign
i had painted on the front of the building. Its a big egg setting in a nest with some
chicks off to one side. And says Quail Valley Hatchery 208-739-8314 on the inside of
the egg. The other side of the building we are doing a big log cabin and will say
Pine Pride Custom Cabinets.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

lol, you know I gotta' ask . . . did you check the spelling first?????

If you want company swing by and pick me up on Sat.