WooooooooWhoooooooooooooooo / Growout Journal To Come Here....

[anthonyjames]

Well first batch of birds arrived healthy as far as I could tell at 6am this morning.

50 Naked Neck Cockerels for Meat

13 Americauna Pullet
12 Random Large Brown Egg Pullet.

Was nice to hear all the chirping they do. Can't wait for the remaining 50 Naked Neck Cockerels that should be arriving on Thur/Fri.

Process day is officially on the calendar for July 1 for these birds. Yum, Yum.

Now starts the grow out journal.

 

[gocrow77]

Congrats on a safe arrival. I am curious to see how these turn out - I was told many people buy LF NN for meat purposes because there are fewer feathers to pluck. Are you going to continue your journey on this same thread? If so I would love to subscribe to watch the magic!

 

[anthonyjames]

Just added that a growout journal will be added to this link as well.

 

[anthonyjames]

So I have been watching these guys in the brooders and are they scavengers. They have scratched divets in the wood chips looking for feed. I can't wait to get the brooder outside and into my tractor as soon as I get the siding on it this weekend. Then I will wrap it in plastic at night to keep the cool breeze out. But it has been in the mid 70's here the past few days.

My tractor ( 8 x 12 x 4) is here along with some images of the chicks:
http://gallery.me.com/anthonyjames420#gallery

 

[anthonyjames]

Well I am down to 49 naked necks. Came home tonight and one was dead.

My other 50 should arrive in the morning bumping me up to 99 naked necks and 25 new layers to add to the current 15. Plus, of my current layers I have 1 hen that has been sitting on 4 eggs for pretty much all of march. So hopefully they will be hatching very soon.

How long does it take a hen to hatch a clutch out? I was hoping she would be hatching them sometime this weekend to have them grow out with the current batch of chicks.

Cost of Chicks:
100 Naked Neck Chickens $0.72 each = $72.00
Shipping $28.00
$1.00 per chick total to purchase

Feed:
50 lb bag of 28% Poultry Starter Crumble $16.00
50 lb bag of 21% Broiler Mash $9.00
As soon as this is close to the finish I am will be ordering 945 lbs of custom broiler mash for $181

Hopefully I will be moving my brooder and chicks out to the tractors this weekend as it is supposed to be in the 70's and I can wrap in plastic to keep the breeze out and they are on grass and thin straw then. And having them outside already will make it easier for the transition later I am hoping.

 

[anthonyjames]

Well my new 50 arrived today and 15 were D.O.A. I ended up with 35 in the box and no fillers. Cackle asked me to wait until tomorrow to see if any other die. Seems they over packed with straw in the box. Temps were supposed to drop there to the 40's and they never dropped that night below 60. So hopefully they will be sending me more on Monday after tomorrow's final count.

Also, had 2 of my layers drop dead all of a sudden. So that number is now down to 22 and I have 3 of them and 8 of the meat birds in their own brooder as they are tiny and lathargic.

 

[ghulst]

Why are you growing out NN instead of the cornishX which do a much better job??????

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
How many reasons do you want and how much time do you have?

One reason people like NN as meat birds is because the fewer amount of feathers make them easier to pluck. They also supposedly have translucent skin. The taste of any heritage breed is superior and the texture excellent. Chefs especially like the flavor of the NN.

If he wants to keep out his best roos and hens, he could also develop his own meat line and not have to ship them in every season and that makes them [you knew it was coming!] more sustainable.

And that is without saying anything bad about the Cornish Cross.

But if you want...

 

[Brunty_Farms]

How many reasons do you want and how much time do you have?

 

[gocrow77]

Love your tractors - sorry about your DOA's. The chicks are adorable, and will taste great when they are ready- that's a good combo! I also like the idea of a sustainable meat flock, and the less plucking the better IMO! I am watching this thread and wishing you great success!