wyodreamer - we're not in Wyo any more

[wyoDreamer]

New chicks seem to be doing good - I have to actually enter the stall and look into the brooder to make sure they are alive because they are so quiet. I may need to get some heat on them tonight though; heater is set up, just not turned on. They have been fine so far, running around doing chick things - eating , drinking, pooping, scratching shavings into the waterer. They are all sleeping together at night, not piled up at all - no peeping, no climbing to the center of the pile or anything like that. When the sun comes up, they wake up and start moving around.

I am starting to look forward to getting these little gals out of the brooder and into the tractor. I hope this batch will be good foragers. I want to be able to let them out to free-range in the evenings after work. They are scratching around in the shavings already. I need to get some treats in there for them to find.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I hope to get some cornish cross in about a month - when the weather will be cooler. We really like the ones I raised last fall, I think I will plan on keeping them for 10 to 12 weeks again. We eat more white meat than dark, so the extra size to the breast meat is a good thing. They were not tough at all.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

I like this idea too. I was going to get some this spring but waited too late. I like the idea of getting them now and then having cool weather for when I want to cull them.
I'm glad your chicks are doing well.

 

[wyoDreamer]

The temps were going to get pretty low last night, so i plugged in the heat plate for the chicks. I grabbed one of the EE and placed it on the heat plate and held it there for a moment. It stayed there, so I tried to herd the rest of the gang over to the heat plate. They were standing next to it, so I figured "close enough" and went back into the house for an hour to let them settle down again. DH went out and there was still only 1 on the heat plate and teh rest went back to the far corner where they had been sleeping. He moved 6 more over to the heat plate and got them settled on it. The last little EE wouldn't let him grab her so he figured she would eventually join the others. As soon as his giant arm left the brooder, she ran over to the others, climbed over them and laid down.
All up and peeping this morning looking for feed. They sure are active little girls. The little brats had scratched all the feed out of the feeder and into the wood shavings...

 

[Lazy Gardener]

How old are they?

 

[Lazy Gardener]

You might consider a wool hen for them, if you think they need night time heat. Or a huddle box. Perhaps even a hybrid wool hen/huddle box.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I got them from Tractor Supply on Sunday. I think some of the Sapphire Gems are a couple of days older than the rest, as only a couple have tiny little feathers on their tails and feathers on their wings. I will post some pictures tonight, they are going to be very pretty.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

You can find info about huddle boxes and wool hens on BYC. Should be fully sufficient for them at night.

 

[baymule]

I let my Cornish cross grow extra weeks. I got mostly 6 pound carcasses, a few 7 pounders, a few 5 pounders and one 4 pounder. The breast meat alone was 3+ pounds. If you’re gonna raise meat, raise some meat!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Yes, they do pack on the weight. And, when I've grown them, I tend to let them get pretty big before processing. However, always wanting to tweak, and experiment, I'd love to do a feed conversion comparison between early harvest for finished carcass of 3 - 4# vs. waiting for those 7 - 8# carcasses.