Bad news first...
I lost 3 meat birds (out of 20 Cornish Roasters) on Wednesday, apparently due to the heat. I normally go home during my lunch hour to check on them, but that day, I decided to go to lunch with my co-workers. By the time I went home, they still had a little bit of water, so I was puzzled. Maybe it was just too hot? I keep them in a pasture-pen with about 3/4 of the pen in shade, but there was almost no wind that day, so I'm sure it was over 100 degrees in there. Yesterday, I went home for lunch, saw them panting excessively, and brought them fresh cool water. That's when I realized that the water was originally placed in a spot that doesn't see shade for the first half of the day, so during these hot spells, I'm now making sure that the water is accessible from within the shade. Live and learn, I guess.
The good news...
This is my second batch ever. My first batch (10 chickens) was processed in June. My wife and I have eaten 3 of them, and we gave a few away. We didn't ask for money, but a couple people paid us. This was mostly for fun. Well, one of our friends just recently ate one of the chickens. Apparently, they had a couple friends over when they roasted it. They paid us for the first, and now they want 20 more! Unfortunately, I'm probably going to have to make them wait until next year for the full order, but it's a great feeling, just to know that someone appreciates what you're doing.
Ever since I read Joel Salatin's book "Pastured Poultry Profit$", I've been having fun raising chickens and eating the best chicken I've ever tasted. Nevertheless, I was starting to wonder if only my wife and I really thought it tasted that good. Regardless, I was happy to eat them all myself. Actually having people that want to buy is a big bonus.
I lost 3 meat birds (out of 20 Cornish Roasters) on Wednesday, apparently due to the heat. I normally go home during my lunch hour to check on them, but that day, I decided to go to lunch with my co-workers. By the time I went home, they still had a little bit of water, so I was puzzled. Maybe it was just too hot? I keep them in a pasture-pen with about 3/4 of the pen in shade, but there was almost no wind that day, so I'm sure it was over 100 degrees in there. Yesterday, I went home for lunch, saw them panting excessively, and brought them fresh cool water. That's when I realized that the water was originally placed in a spot that doesn't see shade for the first half of the day, so during these hot spells, I'm now making sure that the water is accessible from within the shade. Live and learn, I guess.
The good news...
This is my second batch ever. My first batch (10 chickens) was processed in June. My wife and I have eaten 3 of them, and we gave a few away. We didn't ask for money, but a couple people paid us. This was mostly for fun. Well, one of our friends just recently ate one of the chickens. Apparently, they had a couple friends over when they roasted it. They paid us for the first, and now they want 20 more! Unfortunately, I'm probably going to have to make them wait until next year for the full order, but it's a great feeling, just to know that someone appreciates what you're doing.
Ever since I read Joel Salatin's book "Pastured Poultry Profit$", I've been having fun raising chickens and eating the best chicken I've ever tasted. Nevertheless, I was starting to wonder if only my wife and I really thought it tasted that good. Regardless, I was happy to eat them all myself. Actually having people that want to buy is a big bonus.
