The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[camilleathome]

I did 5 BBB turkeys last year ... kept them segregated from my laying flock (which is in a big coop and run), and free ranging. I fed them Purina Flock Raiser (20% protein?) and they did very well ... all survived and were huge and one of the hens laid eggs and the toms were able to mate up til Thanksgiving. No losses until one "flipped" just before Thanksgiving ... but we were right there to process him and we ate him ourselves and he was delicious. I did have to keep expanding their "coop" as they grew fast and took up more space than I anticipated. But they were cooperative about it. The main issue was at a certain age they wanted to roost on top of the chicken coop ... which is greenhouse plastic which is no match for their talons and bulk. But putting them to bed in a pen/coop at night solved that problem until they got too big to hop up there to roost.

This year I did 25 BBB turkeys and after lots of research decided to start them on approved turkey starter ... 28% protein. They did very well at first, but a little later on I lost 4 at different times to mystery causes. So far I've butchered 2, and chose those based on who seemed to need to go (males who were limping a little and I didn't want them to struggle to get around). They are already huge, so I think I'm going to process the rest of them very soon ... sorry people who want a "fresh" thanksgiving turkey, but it is tough to get a 40 lb bird into most ovens ... and the bigger they are the more they cost. They eat a LOT at this stage.

Essentially you can butcher them as soon as they have as much meat as you desire -- 4 months or so? The industry does it at various ages to get birds of various sizes. I like a little fat layer for flavor -- you can feel the "squishy" layer of fat under their chests. It seems that the longer you wait to butcher the thicker the fat layer gets. At thanksgiving last year it was like an inch of fat ... started the birds in late April, I believe.

Turkeys are "easy" to pluck ... either dunked or not, though dunking makes a cleaner bird and makes getting wing and tail feathers out a LOT easier -- I used a "cooler" dunk this year and had nicer results ... in my experience it can be a little trickier to deal with the neck/crop of a turkey than a chicken. But gutting the other end is easier because there is more room to work.

I called the extension service in my area to advise about Blackhead ... it isn't common here but he still recommended keeping the turkeys away from chickens.

Turkeys are very entertaining and extremely social. They will follow you around like dogs, even from day one. They talk back ... this year some of the hens seem to want to be lap cats. For me this makes the thought of butchering them

but I know that eating them is

.

OH ... this year I got the jumbo killing cone. MUCH easier!

Have you guys seen this?

Also this really cool method but wouldnt really be edited for turkeys lol

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Have you guys seen this?

Also this really cool method but wouldnt really be edited for turkeys lol

We use a variety of things for chickens ... but went "professional" for the turkeys due to learning from experience. We built a rather ridiculous looking frame for the turkey killing cone. I may post photos at some point.

 

[camilleathome]

We use a variety of things for chickens ... but went "professional" for the turkeys due to learning from experience. We built a rather ridiculous looking frame for the turkey killing cone. I may post photos at some point.

Deffinetly XD Im sure we all have tried silly things. I found this idea too for a cheep plucker id love to try as well!

 

[camilleathome]

that and we've been losing more and more birds to predators. Im moving them back to the coop at the house and will most likely cull a few roosters for thanksgiving.

P.S Weve moved it to this Sunday evening if you and sue are available

Heres my flock(As well as a tour of the barn

 

[Leahs Mom]

Such a nice place!

 

[armorfirelady]

So I moved the hens fence today so they have access to the compost pile and more area they never been on before that includes some trees and tall brush. They apparently approve they have been out all day ( I did throw them some scratch out to the farthest point so they knew they could go there). But they love the compost.

First time ever I fed them half what I usually do and they had a few bites and left to go back to the compost pile. And they didn't all gather round the food bucket

I am going to have the best turned compost ever

And I made a giant pile of ashes for them to dust bathe in. Nustock on legs again tonight and probably every night till mites gone. Tomorrow several boxes of ashes for them. Fingers crossed it works !!

I think the girls are going to be a little top heavy trying to roost with their bulging crops

 

[aoxa]

I wanted to share this article I just wrote on BYC about the Cornish X being raised naturally. Figured you guys would appreciate it

If you do not want to read about chickens used for meat, you may want to skip over this post. We are omnivores here.. so we eat meat, and enjoy eating meat. If I am going to eat it, I am going to raise it if possible, and know that what is on my plate has had a wonderful life full of adventures and fresh air. I will not send my birds to the butcher either. I want them to spend their very best and the one bad moment here at our farm. It is less stress on the birds in the end, and that is my feelings on the subject.
So please, if you are vegan or vegetarian move along.. Don’t read this.. Unless you are looking for proof that chickens for meat can be raised humanely. They also can be killed humanely – and that to me is of the very highest importance. We are thankful for every bite of chicken we take. We know that the animal did not live in vain. They were raised with love and care and strict attention to detail in their management.
I feel a very strong urge to advocate for all the abundant misinformation about the common broiler chickens and their apparent disturbing behaviour everyone seems to go on about.
Here are some of the many labels I often see associated with the CX:

• Disgusting
• Ugly
• Smelly
• Lazy
• Can’t walk (leg issues)
• Won’t forage..
• Lays in their own filth
• Organ failure – heart attacks common
• Stupid
• Tasty (*this one is true*)

​

What you don’t know is that all of this has to do with improper management! If your CX are disgusting, smelly, lazy, spending much of the day sleeping in their own filth before dying of heart failure, it is YOUR improper husbandry that is the issue, not the Cornish X! if you don’t know any better on how to raise them, I can’t really blame you. The feeding guides shown online make my jaw drop. No wonder your birds are laying around, pooping every 5 seconds and sleeping in it. It’s not your fault. The instructions on raising the CX have mislead you. All the falsity is overwhelming. Threads on backyard chickens with the titles like: Cornish X’s = Nastiest birds EVER, does not help their case any either.
Last year I had written off the CX as a Frankenchicken based on all the info I read about online. I was dead-set against raising them on my free range only farm. I didn’t want to have birds penned up for their entire life.. I heard that they can’t/won’t free range… I put my foot down… Until I saw one video that made me second guess everything I’ve read about prior. Maybe they can free range and be chickens after all? I might as well give it a shot.. If they don’t pan out, I can at least say I tried, right?
This is MY experience with the Broiler better known as the Cornish X, CX or Meat Kings.
This is a week-by-week summary. You can read in more detail here.

Week One and Two (Days 1 – 13)
I had a rough time with them from day 1 to 14 It was extremely humid and incredibly hot.. we had a run in with Cocci and lost 7 CX and 10 RSL chicks. We did not treat for cocci, but offered electrolytes (Stress Aid) the day after we noticed low movement and puffiness despite the heat. They went quickly. Here you can not get Amprol without a vet’s prescription. It took me 48 hours to get my hands on some, and by that time the electrolytes really perked them up. The strong survived. After they were on grass, the birds were golden. No more illness (save one) who I moved back in and gave amprol (the only one that was ever dosed). Chick was fine within 2 days and back out with everyone.

Two Weeks (Day 14-20)
I opened the pop door. I continued to offer electrolyte water because of the heat being so stressful on the chicks. I found the first week they really didn’t go very far. They could not understand the concept of going BACK INSIDE at night. I had to pick each chick up and place inside the pop door (this includes the red sex link chicks).

Three Weeks (Day 21-27)
Finally the CX are spreading out and returning to the pen at night on their own. Real feathers coming in. They are a good 3 times the size of their hatch mates (the red sex link layers).

Four Weeks (day 28-34)
Really good at foraging now. They run as soon as they hear the back screen door slam shut. They want treats. They are getting closer and closer to my neighbour’s property line.

Five Weeks(day 34-40)
Almost 100% feathered out. They are passing our property lines and ranging two acres now. I do not like to watch them eat. They inhale food. I do love watching them forage, and they are very active. As soon as the pop door is open they are off..

Six weeks (day 40-46)
Not much change since week five for experience. They have grown some. They are ranging exceptionally well. No leg injuries save one I jammed in the sliding door of the barn. She will be the first processed. Haven’t lost a single one since cocci outbreak.

See video proof of my CX birds free ranging @ 6 weeks (with other heritage birds.. and goats.. and rabbits). Many of them run like Phoebe on Friends

Seven weeks (day 47-53)
I processed the girl with the injured leg. She was limping, but still got around. I didn’t want it to get any worse so she was processed along with three others. They were too small at this age. Roughly 3 pounds. We were going to do ten, but after seeing the first four gutted and weighed, we decided against it.

Eight weeks (day 54 – 60)
This is when most would start processing the CX. I figured they are still getting around very well, so I’ll give them a little longer.. May do the boys at 9 weeks..

Nine Weeks (day 61-67)
They were hogging all the food at feeding time from EVERYONE, so we processed the largest 10 boys at 9 weeks old. Averaged out about 4.5 pounds. Largest was 5 pounds, smallest was just under 4. Much more breast meat seen than at 7 weeks.

10-11 Weeks (day 68-81)
picture is at almost 11 weeks – I have 28 left to process. 4 are boys, 24 girls. Two of the girls look very small. I think I may keep them to laying age. A strict feeding regime is important to do this.. I want to see what they will give out when bred to a Heritage Plymouth Rock. I know they don’t breed true.

At 12 weeks of age (88 days old) we processed 26 chickens. 22 pullets and 4 cockerels. You can see them in this video at that age. They were still extremely active and a good size. After they were processed (neck, feet and wing tips off) they averaged 5.5 pounds each. Smallest over 5 pounds, largest over 6. One chicken can feed 8 no problem (unless you are feeding teenage boys)

All in all I loved my experience with the CX. They are not the monsters you read about throughout the meat bird forum on BYC.
What they are:

• active,
• intelligent
• healthy
• friendly

​

They are just chickens who just happen to be extremely food motivated, and were bred to gain weight at a 50:50 feed conversion ratio.
The poop smells like poop. The smell is not indistinguishable between any other breed of chicken I have raised. IT smells like poop. Keeping the litter dry and practising the deep litter method surely helps. If it is very humid out, I find Stable Boy helps greatly with the smell. They do poop bigger than other chickens their age because they EAT more.
If they are not allowed access to full feeders at all hours of the day, they will go on a mission, searching high and low for all of the food that our beautiful mother nature has to offer them. They are amongst the best foragers I have ever witnessed.
The only negatives I have noted is that they are food aggressive, so ample feeder space is required. They also do eat extremely fast and to watch them is not pleasant. It’s like watching a starving animal inhale their offerings twice a day. No matter what, they always seem to be hungry. They are not starving. Don’t let them trick you into feeding them at all hours because they INSIST they are starving. I don’t buy it

Please help stop the misinformation about the Cornish X!

 

[camilleathome]

Such a nice place!

Thank you. We are very lucky to be renting this place! I still cant believe I live here everyday I wake up!

 

[Leahs Mom]

AFL - I was going to ask how things are looking with the mites. If you are dusting them tonight by hand, could you look and see if you see anything actually on the birds?

I haven't actually done a good exam on any of my birds in months

. I keep the general eye on them for things like bright red combs and wattles, look at feet and legs "from afar" while I'm out, etc. Everything looks good, but I have the feeling that things could look good and I might not be able to observe a lice or mite problem.

Those are some happy campers in that compost! Last year when I turned mine out onto the compost pile they decimated it and it no longer exists! Flat as a pancake. I imagine the ground under it is probably very fertile but ...now more compost pile. This year we're going to throw it right on the garden so that when they tear it up, it gets worked into the garden instead of the ground where the pile was

 

[armorfirelady]

Great article Aoxa