More Chickens

[MadTripper]

I ordered 15 Cornish Slow Grow's and 10 assorted brown egg layers from Welp Hatchery today. They should be in by next friday which is good timing for the meat birds but not so good for the layers. I'll hopefully see some eggs around the first of the year. I'm not sure why I always end up getting my layers this time of year. I just end up feeding them more during the winter without any egg return. I do have plans for a light in the coop this winter so they will do a better job at laying. Of course my last batch was that assorted bargain from Murray's which only had a few layers in it. I haven't used this hatchery before so I'll post back as to how I make out. Here is a link for those interested:

http://www.welphatchery.com/

Tripper

[AlchemyAcres]

Please let us know how the slow cornish do.
I've been tempted to order some.


~Martin

[Drawbar]

You can use a light inside the broiler house too. That is what meat birds are called...broilers and that was what we raised mostly (50,000) with a few layers thrown in. Anyway you probably knew that, but you probably did not know that a favorite trick of the chicken farmers is to keep the lights on in the broiler barn.

The chickens cannot tell if it is night or day out and thus they just eat and eat. It screws up their natural clock and eating schedule. Since the slaughterhouse picks the birds up every 8 weeks, the farmers that had the fatter birds in the same amount of time, won the game so to speak.

That was quite a few years ago, but I know its something they still practice today. Just letting you know that for a few cents more on your power bill, you can get a fatter bird a lot faster.

[MadTripper]

I'll keep that in mind however if I feed them that much, I'm not sure I'll make out very well. Not to mention there is so many bugs and so on floating around, I really want them to have their fair share as well. I plan on sticking to 21% protein for their feed. These birds are supposed to handle their feed needs better than the normal cornish so they don't end up with heart attacks and broken legs. The sacrifice is 10 extra days to get to the same weight, no big deal.

I'll let you know how I make out Martin. By the way, I added my third section of fence today. Weaving that chain link is getting easier. The first day I had it on the ground and kept getting the long grass caught up and that slowed me down. Tonight I did two pieces standing up and what a difference. Much faster.

Tripper

[walls0stone]

So this year I'm growing 100+ pumpkins. I was told you can feed pumpkin to chickeens in winter and they will lay more. I was also told that if I give them warm water, they will lay.. any truth to this? Do I need to block all the drafts or is temp not an issue?

I had so much squash that I don't know what to do with it all. So I feed some to the Cal' Whites...they love it.

[MadTripper]

How do you keep 100 pumpkins from rotting?

I feed our chickens anything "extra" from the garden. They really enjoy watermelon. I'm not sure if they will increase their laying but I doubt it would hurt and save a bunch on feed costs.

As far as warm water goes, I read an article about a guy that used his compost pile to preheat his water that he was giving cows I think, in the winter. There were some numbers about production but I haven't heard of this for chickens. Its hard enough to keep water from freezing, let alone warm in the winter. I can't seem to find the article at the moment.

Tripper

[Drawbar]

That sounds odd to me. Warm water freezes a lot faster then cold water. It does not sound true but on a blistering cold day take a cup of near boiling water and toss it into the air...it will come down as snow.

If you have snow though,and have beef cows or sheep, you don't even need water. When pressed, they will get all their water needs from eating snow. Chickens are a bit different though,they are like dairy cows and like that warm barn and plenty of free flowing water.

[MadTripper]

Warm water does freeze faster but if the temperature is maintained by an outside source it doesn't freeze. I wish I could find that article.

Chickens will eat snow but it is a bad idea to let them get that far from what I have read. Last year I replaced the water in the morning and evening which was sufficient. This year I will have a lightbulb warmer installed so I don't have to worry about it. Just change the water every so often.

Tripper

[cinok]

Where did you get your chick

[MadTripper]

There's a link in the original post.


Tripper

[MadTripper]

Our new batch of chicks came in yesterday. We lost two so far which seems to be about average for us. One of each, the layers and the meat birds.

Overall, they appear to be healthy and active. I gave them some fresh water this morning and more feed. They went through about a quart of feed in just under 24 hours so they are apparently hungry little devils.

Hopefully, the rest stay on the up and up.

Tripper

[MooseToo]

alchemy - what are the promised or anticipated advantages of the slow cornish ?

[walls0stone]

How do you keep 100 pumpkins from rotting? *

When I saw the guy again I remembered to ask, he looked at me like I was from the moon, shrugged and said "keep them dry. " but he's kinda hard to talk to sometimes.

Guess he grew them for the chickeens not for sale er whatever.

[MadTripper]

alchemy - what are the promised or anticipated advantages of the slow cornish ?


From what I gather, they don't eat to kill themselves. There is an extra 10 days to finish but you should be able to allow them to feed as much and often as they want but they won't end up with the broken legs and heart attacks. At this point, butchering will be around the 22nd of October for these birds however I'd be willing to let one go for another couple weeks to verify this if anyone really wanted me to.

Tripper

[MadTripper]

In addition to the new chicks, one of my friends dropped off 4 roos the other night. They don't butcher any longer so I told him we would take them. I need to feed them a bit longer and get them in shape for freezer filling but they appear to be quite healthy. I'm thinking a few weeks and they'll be set. In addition, I have one of my own I need to put in the freezer so that will make 5 additions. Good stuff!

Tripper

[MadTripper]

So a total of 3 lost chicks out of 25 as it stands. That seems to be about average for us. The cornish slow grow birds are getting big fast. They have easily doubled in size in about a week and a half. Their food consumption is quite high from what I remember of my first batch of birds. The 23 birds in total go through about 2 quarts of food per day.

Tripper

[MadTripper]

Over the past weekend I moved the layers into the coop via a dog kennel so they can get acclimated. I borrowed a chicken tractor from our neighbor and the cornish reside there. They are up to about 3 quarts of food per day and I'm planning on switching them to a grower tomorrow.

I'm still amazed at how fast they are growing. A little over a month left till butcher time! They aren't as active as other birds but they are getting around just fine. I've moved the tractor every so often as all the food has to end up somewhere.

Tripper

[MadTripper]

A couple of pictures of the cornish slow grow birds. They are doing well. I have been moving the tractor every 3 or so days. They are eating the grass quickly however you can see the laziness as they lay around and barely attempt to sit on the perch. Overall, we are happy with their production. I have them on a 21% protein ration and feed them about a half gallon of food per day. I am upping this the next two weeks before they are ready for butcher. It looks like I'll keep them an extra week and a half due to my schedule.

http://www.madtripper.com/gallery/d/11268-2/october2008+025.JPG

http://www.madtripper.com/gallery/d/11271-2/october2008+026.JPG

http://www.madtripper.com/gallery/d/11274-2/october2008+027.JPG

Tripper

[mungsurfers]

MadTripper, can you update us????

Thanks

[walls0stone]

hey tripper I found a hatchery in our neck of the woods.. no more chics by mail, I'm going shopping! ;D ;D

[MadTripper]

Pass the info on when you get time walls.

Chickens are doing well. They are definitely ready for the freezer however I haven't been able to find butchering time. I was originally looking at doing it last weekend but I ran into a good deal on honey and 10 gallons of cider to put up. Anyways, they look to be 5 or so lb birds but I'll get a better number on that when the butchering is finished.

Tripper

[walls0stone]

wolf farms in East Smythfield Pa!I got some sexlinks from them last week, 2 hens, 6 bucks each! they lay like a machine gun.