Trials And Tribulations Of Suburban Meat Bird Production

[aart]

since the initial deaths from shipping stress, there have been a few more due, I'm pretty sure, to cold.

..or it could have been delayed shipping stress.

That pic is hilarious!
Is the pad not high enough for some to go under...or is it an optical illusion?

 

[Birdinhand]

..or it could have been delayed shipping stress.

That pic is hilarious!
Is the pad not high enough for some to go under...or is it an optical illusion?

It is hilarious, LOL! and yes it is high enough for them to get under but even on the coldest frosty nights, they insist on sleeping up top all piled up together so I have given up on raising it anymore. at this point the night lows have risen into the 40's and some don't even sleep on the MHP anymore. I have 13 Belgium Bearded D'anvers set to hatch on the 1st so me thinks it's time to yank the MHP's all together. I may build some kind of hutch for them to get in but they probably don't need even that at this point.

 

[Birdinhand]

last week I took away the heating pad but geese, this is the late spring that will not end, it's still wet and cold. Most of the birds are doing great, they have gained weight and are running around, displaying a decent level of normal instincts and behaviors.

One more challenge to this grow out was that I got talked into buying turkey grower formula that is a bit higher in protein, by 3%, because they were out of the grower formula that I like when I drove out to Monroe to stock up. this led to their droppings being more watery on average and pretty much all of them have gotten matted feathers. the three runts were so miserable that I took them in and gave them a bath and a blow dry, I can't afford the time to do this for all of them but it just felt like the right thing to do and afterwords they were way happier/warmer. if it weren't for the fact that I have been working over 50 hours a week, I probably would have caught this earlier and started mixing in layer formula to cut the protein down a bit. it has not helped that the colder air has meant more lasting dampness and their bedding mulch never really dried out.

looking forward to warmer weather! we are just a few weeks away from harvest, will probably wait till the end of week 9 to give them a chance to fill out more. I will report back on the final numbers as usual.

 

[RUNuts]

Now that I am looking at some birds, what do you consider when deciding on harvest? Just size of the bird? When you say fill out, what are your key points? Mine will be 6 weeks and are small in my mind.

These 6 will attack me if I have food in my hands, but otherwise, just sit and watch. Active is a relative term. These are actively eating. Open the tractor and they will find a sunny spot after feeding. Not much grazing happening.

 

[GoodwinFarm]

Thanks for your thoughts on raising cx. We don't have the exact same challenges since we live rural, but there is always stuff to learn and improve. Cx are not popular as some think they are frankenbirds, but we have had the same experience with them as you. If you treat them like birds instead of meat, they will act like birds.
One question about your VN: do you ever have them clog? We tried VN in the past but even with a lid, they woukd clog almost daily.
Also, we supplement with a small amount of fermented food and that probiotic helps the runny poops too, even if most of their food is dry.

 

[Birdinhand]

I have not had the VN clog, but I have stuck with the chicken kooler version, their nipples seem to be a better quality. mostly the problem I've seen is leaking, and these don't leak. there is still some water that gets flicked around by the birds and it can add up, but for the most part this waterer works really well: http://www.atwoods.com/poultry-feeders-watering/cheery-chicks-chicken-kooler-35-gallon.htm

Thanks for your thoughts on raising cx. We don't have the exact same challenges since we live rural, but there is always stuff to learn and improve. Cx are not popular as some think they are frankenbirds, but we have had the same experience with them as you. If you treat them like birds instead of meat, they will act like birds.
One question about your VN: do you ever have them clog? We tried VN in the past but even with a lid, they woukd clog almost daily.
Also, we supplement with a small amount of fermented food and that probiotic helps the runny poops too, even if most of their food is dry.

 

[Birdinhand]

Now that I am looking at some birds, what do you consider when deciding on harvest? Just size of the bird? When you say fill out, what are your key points? Mine will be 6 weeks and are small in my mind.

These 6 will attack me if I have food in my hands, but otherwise, just sit and watch. Active is a relative term. These are actively eating. Open the tractor and they will find a sunny spot after feeding. Not much grazing happening.

I tend to harvest in two stages, I harvest some of the biggest around week 7-8 at around 5-7 lbs dressed, then let some of the smaller ones grow out an extra week or so. sometimes the runts never really take on a lot of weight, particularly if they have an issue that is preventing them from thriving.

 

[Birdinhand]

well, finally, some sunshine happiness out here in the northwest yesterday! It's finally starting to feel like spring!!!

 

[Birdinhand]

sheesh, time has flown and I have been working a lot so I have not had a chance to report back. harvest went well at about 9.5 weeks and no new drama in the final weeks of grow out. unfortunately I do not have solid numbers for objective analysis. my guestimate is that the cooler than usual and wet spring weather, combined with an earlier than usual start date and sub par bedding, combined with shipping stress is what caused the initial troubles and cost me some in the final weights, but not by as much as I would have thought. food consumption was a bit higher per pound from my thumbnail sketch. despite it all I did still end up with some 8 lb birds but also had a few more than usual runts. my focus this fall will be on new bedding, as I feel like I have all the other issues figured out and the fall offers a nice temp gradient, warm early on when chicks are young, cooling off as they feather out. I was gifted several yards of quality gardening soil, that is pretty dry and full of ground up wood fiber, it should work quite well. so it's going to be a deep litter approach, up to a point, followed with removal of large mats of manure, all going directly into the tumbler composter and that should result in some stellar soil for the garden!

last night I served up one of our delicious baked birds. I ground a nice big handful of fresh garlic scapes from the garden, added poultry spices, a nice spoonful of salt, half a lemon, with peal, more lemon zest and slathered that with olive oil all over the bird, adding a boiled lemon to the cavity. it was quite possibly my most favorite yet! I'm quickly learning to love garlic scapes. Bon Apatite everyone!

 

[Birdinhand]

well, the freezer has gotten low and Jenks hatchery, my fave, had a great deal on CX overruns so I couldn't help it, I had to order early to get the sale price. so I'm about 3.5 weeks in.

After last spring's annoyances with a wet and all the way around ill suited bedding, I was given a whole bunch, like 3 yards of potting soil mix. I looked at the consistency and came to the conclusion that is was perfect in texture for a base for brooding CX. I set it up in the main brooding area and let it dry all summer. it has a bit of wood chips, which will act nicely as the carbon source when it gets thrown into the composter after being soiled by the birds.

below are photos from more or less weekly intervals. I lost 4 of the 30 early on. two got wedged into the mhp because it was set too low (my bad) and the other two died from unknown causes. overall though, much better than last year.

the fall is becoming my favorite time to brood as it starts out warm, when the chicks are young and as they feather out it cools down. in the spring it's the other way around and the temps are just not predictable here so the spring is generally more difficult.


day 1, August 29th... the cuteness never gets old!

week 1.

almost 3 weeks old in the below shot!