Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[CarolynF]

Hello All,

I have 3 RIRs. I think this one may be a rooster. They were 5 weeks old in April. What do you think?



Rena

Looks like a girl to me, too.

The big kids- unnamed as yet, I'll have to think about it for a while. There's a Splash Quail cockerel in front and a Blue Quail pullet in the very back that I'm keeping, and a silver Quail pair (pullet to the left, cockerel to the right) which I really shouldn't...



And the teenies, or some of them: Cheery absolutely doesn't trust the camera around her babies. Week old today.

Adorable little cuties!

Olympia Craigslist, a lady hatched them for a friend of hers and decided they weren't going to work to with her Jersey Giants. I haven't seen anymore, but if I do I'll let you know =) and yes, spangled, autocorrect

Olympia Craigslist, a lady hatched them for a friend of hers and decided they weren't going to work to with her Jersey Giants. I haven't seen anymore, but if I do I'll let you know =)


Nope, that's mine then: this is a picture of the parents of yours.

Darn.

Small World!! Beautiful Birds!!!!

 

[CarolynF]

Hello all, my name is nick and I am in camas, wa. We have been raising layers for a couple years and would like to get into meat chickens for our dinner table. If anyone knows of local resources for advice for our climate, feed schedule, ect it would REALY help in this new venture! Oh yeah, this is an AMAZING forum!!!!

Hi Nick! Welcome!

There's one guy up near Monroe for sure, his name is Paul. I haven't seen him around much lately though. JustBugged, and TurtlePowerTrav. There are several, I just can't think of them right now.

Good to have you here, make yourself at home.

 

[lovinchickypoos]

d, this year I did 3 Cornish x chicks. My first attempt. They get huge FAST! They were given non-medicated chick start the first few weeks then switched to flock raiser, but I had ducks geese and a turkey at the same time. They make broiler feed also. If you are gonna process yourself, make sure you prepare well ahead of the 7-10week mark. I didn't get my setup done until they were 16wks, due to other circumstances. They were the size of a small turkey!!! They still turned out ok, just a bit tough on the thighs of one of the cockerals. I watched many videos on how to humanely butcher, but I still wished I had hands on training. I will probably try Rangers next time as these guys were ridiculous in how they move due to their size. I was thankful, though, that they were not nice as it made it easier to do the deed. As hard as it was for me to kill them, it made me feel good that they were able to live like real chickens rather than cramped together in a gross environment. I will most likely do it again.
Hopefully someone with more experience will share their thoughts.

 

[Totalcolour]

Hello all, my name is nick and I am in camas, wa. We have been raising layers for a couple years and would like to get into meat chickens for our dinner table. If anyone knows of local resources for advice for our climate, feed schedule, ect it would REALY help in this new venture! Oh yeah, this is an AMAZING forum!!!!

We do about 50 meaties a year, with a loss of about 4 chicks. It's best to do them in the spring, because they grow very fast and the heat would be terrible for them (if you are doing broiler, Cornish X). We slaughter using kill cones. It's fast, and the birds bleed out cleanly.

DO NOT WRING NECKS OR CHOP OFF THE HEADS! When the heart stops pumping, the blood stops flowing and you won't get as nice a bird; it's got residual blood in it! Unless you like the taste.

The CornishX aren't active, so won't need a lot or room. If you do rangers, they take longer but can forage.

This is a link to a hatchery that does meat birds only. They are a bit more spendy than some others, but the quality is great, and you have a choice of several varieties.

http://www.sandgpoultry.com/aboutus.html

We usually do half (about 24) at a time. It goes really fast when you have had a bit of practice. Hubby and friend do slaughter, and I vacu-seal (after a couple of days aging).

Good luck with yours - they sure are better than supermarket!

 

[Totalcolour]

Quote: Nope, that's mine then: this is a picture of the parents of yours.

Darn.
Yep, they were yours; but they sure were nice little chicks! Wish I could have kept them, but himself said no! (He likes great big birds)

 

[d11b]

We do about 50 meaties a year, with a loss of about 4 chicks. It's best to do them in the spring, because they grow very fast and the heat would be terrible for them (if you are doing broiler, Cornish X). We slaughter using kill cones. It's fast, and the birds bleed out cleanly.

[COLOR=FF0000]DO NOT WRING NECKS OR CHOP OFF THE HEADS![/COLOR] When the heart stops pumping, the blood stops flowing and you won't get as nice a bird; it's got residual blood in it! Unless you like the taste.

The CornishX aren't active, so won't need a lot or room. If you do rangers, they take longer but can forage.

This is a link to a hatchery that does meat birds only. They are a bit more spendy than some others, but the quality is great, and you have a choice of several varieties.

http://www.sandgpoultry.com/aboutus.html

We usually do half (about 24) at a time. It goes really fast when you have had a bit of practice. Hubby and friend do slaughter, and I vacu-seal (after a couple of days aging).

Good luck with yours - they sure are better than supermarket!

Thank you all so much! Totalcolour, do you have a rough guess on how much feed ( pounds of ) for 25 chickens start to finish? Also do you think a fall run ( sept-nov ) would be to rough climate wise?

 

[Stumpfarmer]

OK, I'm officially interested (although given the number of hatching eggs I've given out this year, not hopeful): where did you get Silver SPANGLED Hamburgs? I need to get a second rooster, so it's a matter of some interest to me. These are some of mine:

Olympia Craigslist, a lady hatched them for a friend of hers and decided they weren't going to work to with her Jersey Giants. I haven't seen anymore, but if I do I'll let you know =)

Nope, that's mine then: this is a picture of the parents of yours. Darn.

Yep, they were yours; but they sure were nice little chicks! Wish I could have kept them, but himself said no! (He likes great big birds)

I'm just glad you took care of them and found them a home. As insane as I knew things were going to be when they hatched is as nothing next to how ugly/crazy things are now that I'm among the walking wounded. I goofed, badly, this morning, while taking a mostly-full gallon of milk out of the fridge; I did it as if I wasn't injured, leaning over a tiny bit, balancing on my right foot, and lifting it with my right hand. Most of the upper body damage is on that side, and I heard a crunch in my rib cage and got a momentary replay of what it felt like to hit the gate and increased pain although still no pain associated with breathing or coughing, so I suspect something unbent rather than bent more. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid but in all fairness, it was before I'd had any coffee or anything.

 

[lizpj]

Hey everyone! Relatively new to backyard chickens and looking to buy some hatching eggs in the Seattle area. Right now my flock consists of an ameracaua, a black cooper marans, a silver laced Wyandotte, a mottled houdan and 2 silkies. I'm open to any breeds. Only looking for about a half dozen as my incubator only holds 7. Willing to travel, i work in auburn so I'm down in the south sound most days. Thanks everyone!

 

[mikeyb]

Good morning everyone! Yay, woke up looking down at the grass, whoot!

A REALLY BIG WELCOME TO ALL THE NEW PEEPS!!!!!
Well, I'm off to Westport for some fishing off a charter boat. Yipppee

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

We do about 50 meaties a year, with a loss of about 4 chicks. It's best to do them in the spring, because they grow very fast and the heat would be terrible for them (if you are doing broiler, Cornish X). We slaughter using kill cones. It's fast, and the birds bleed out cleanly.

[COLOR=FF0000]DO NOT WRING NECKS OR CHOP OFF THE HEADS![/COLOR] When the heart stops pumping, the blood stops flowing and you won't get as nice a bird; it's got residual blood in it! Unless you like the taste.

The CornishX aren't active, so won't need a lot or room. If you do rangers, they take longer but can forage.

This is a link to a hatchery that does meat birds only. They are a bit more spendy than some others, but the quality is great, and you have a choice of several varieties.

http://www.sandgpoultry.com/aboutus.html

We usually do half (about 24) at a time. It goes really fast when you have had a bit of practice. Hubby and friend do slaughter, and I vacu-seal (after a couple of days aging).

Good luck with yours - they sure are better than supermarket!

Thank you all so much! Totalcolour, do you have a rough guess on how much feed ( pounds of ) for 25 chickens start to finish? Also do you think a fall run ( sept-nov ) would be to rough climate wise?

I agree, the heat is not a good time for meaties. But I had Cornish X and only fed them I. The morning, then turned them out to free range with the layers. If they are hungry, they forage fine. But they do prefer the sedentary life style. But a ranges bird has more flavor, IMO