These things stink, its Tractor Time! Video Update pg3 #29

[chickenwhisperer]

So its been a few hours now, and I am quite amazed!

These cornishxs can actually run!

They seem to have gotten good balance, even the biggest fattest ones who used to waddle a few steps then plop down are running around like chickens . . .

I put my 2 roosters in with them to see if they wont fatten up with the broiler feed.
Those 2 are kinda showing the cornish how to be chickens!

 

[2ndtimearound]

That's cute as can be, Chickenwhisperer.

I raised nothing but cornish when I was growing up - that's why I'm 2ndtimearound - this time it's layers only! And boy! Did those Meaties S T I N K!

Very foul fowl.

By the time the weeks are up, you can't wait to get them off to be dressed and slap em into the freezer!

Good lunck fattening up your roosters too.

 

[chickenwhisperer]

I am soooooooo glad these chickens are outside!!!

I cleaned the mess up in the garage, and that sickly-sweet smell of digested feed is finally gone.

I swear, I have a rack full of mice and rats, and I never thought Id be glad to smell them, but its so much easier to deal with than those stank chickens.

The cornishx are doing great in the tractor and are adjusting to a somewhat "free-range" lifestyle rather quickly.
I opened the coop door this morning at 8, and by 830 they were all down and out scratchin around!

I did have to put them back up in the coop this evening, but they will get it, and 1 of the roosters ran up the ramp on his own, so they should all learn how pretty quickly.

I swear, just a couple of days out moving around on those fat drumsticks and they already look cleaner, healthier, and more like regular chickens, running and jumping at each other, and even flutter-flying!
On Friday, I was worried I was gonna have a bunch of fat chickens with leg problems very soon . . .

These cute little chickens are gonna taste great!
I want good, dark thighs and drums . . .

 

[jpace]

Quote:
Excuse me? My meaties produce very little odor. And there is nothing wrong with my nose either. You are welcome to come check my pens any time. I think the reason my meaties don't smell is because I make sure the bedding stays fairly dry. If your meaties stink it is because you are doing something wrong. Like you have them too crowded and the bedding gets wet. I don't use a tractor. Just a box stall in the barn bedded with shavings.

Do you want a cookie?

I guess you are just a better chicken keeper than the rest of us, cause everybody elses STINK.

I do not need a cookie either, nor am I any better than anyone else - but mine do not stink. To tell someone they are full of it because they do not agree with you is a bit rude.

 

[chickenwhisperer]

Quote:
Do you want a cookie?

I guess you are just a better chicken keeper than the rest of us, cause everybody elses STINK.

I do not need a cookie either, nor am I any better than anyone else - but mine do not stink. To tell someone they are full of it because they do not agree with you is a bit rude.

Occasionally, Ill watch that Hoarders show on tv, and I totally understand why SOME people wouldnt consider the smell of 2-week-old cornishx offensive . . .

I, on the other hand, do not live like that so I do find the stank offensive.

I guess its all in what we are each willing to put up with.

Or, maybe you got a new breed of non-stank cornishx, everybody else and I all have the regular old stanky ones, I dunno . . .

 

[tinyscrafts]

what feed did the non stinkers get? Maybe that's it?

 

[Bossroo]

Simple law of decomposition. When one has copeous amounts of excrement + little ventilation + feed mixed in + WATER ( spilled or just moisture in excrement) + bacteria and fungi + add HEAT to the mix + a little time = STINK. (Nitrogen gases)

 

[jpace]

Quote:
So now those who do not agree with you are used to living in filth?

 

[chickenwhisperer]

Hey jpace, quit trollin my thread please.
You involved yourself.






After 4 days in the tractor now, there is a remarkable improvement of these chickens.

When they were in the smaller brooder inside, their bellies were bare, the could hardly stand, and they were lazy, STANKY(that will never go away ), chicks.

Now, they all have nice clean feathers and even seem to be feathering out pretty quickly, tho that may just be the cornishx, I never raised em before.

They also seem to have better digestion now, as there are no more signs of runny droppings, just good big solid turds.

But I think even the 4x8 run and the ladder to and from the house is doing wonders for these chicks.
They are scroungin around in the tall grass and finding tasty bits and bugs everywhere.
Im definately lookin forward to some tasty dinners this summer.


I am also really starting to rethink the whole "not moving the tractor but once or twice the whole time" idea, the house part stays cleaner but they just go outside now, and with the dampness that is not good.
Still, I might just put down a layer of sand and call it a day . . .
I can bring them grass clippings when I mow.

Its sposed to rain tonight maybe, so hopefully thatll wash the run area out, with the chicks high and dry in the henhouse.
And the front that just moved in brought some really cold temps today, and when I finally got home I was a little worried that they mighta succombed to the cold, but there they were all huddled up and the 2 roosters were still gorging on the broiler feed.
They are looking nice and plump I think too.
I changed their light to a 125 white for the night and added food and water, battened down the hatches and they should ride this storm out just fine, this is after all California . . .

It has been MY experience so far, that it seems to be much easier and healthier for everyone/thing involved to put these guys outside as soon as possible.
My NOSE thanks me, and my eatin-chickens thank me!

 

[jpace]

Quote:
Sorry, I am not a troll. I originally picked up the thread because I raise meat birds (CRs) and use tractors to do it. I pretty much read every post in the Meat Birds ETC forum and have for years. I read them all because I want to learn all I can about raising chickens for my table. I learn from the good ideas and what other folks say works, or did not work for them. What I did not like was being labeled filthy and full of it just because my opinion differed from yours. I will not reply to this thread again.

By the way - I am glad that your chicks seem to be doing better now. Mine are always happier when they leave the brooder (about 2-1/2 weeks) and hit the tractors. That always seems to be the thing that spurs full feathering.