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Author Topic: Getting ready for my baby chicks  (Read 30418 times)

Offline Horns Pure Honey

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Getting ready for my baby chicks
« Reply #20 on: February 23, 2005, 05:39:38 pm »
Yeah, my liittle americana hen was very tame, followed me all over the yard. One day when she was done laying her egg she even followed me into the house and sat down on the dinning room table! Mom didnt like that too much but thought she was funny. Sadly, since we raise free range, one night when I came home a fox had got her and all that was left was a buch of feathers :cry:  bye
Ryan Horn

Offline amymcg

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« Reply #21 on: February 23, 2005, 08:21:52 pm »
This is very interesting. My family has never farmed chickens. So, I don't know much about them, though I have always wanted my own chickens for eggs.  Unfortunately, where I live right now, I can't have any. . .:-(

Offline Beth Kirkley

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Getting ready for my baby chicks
« Reply #22 on: February 23, 2005, 09:31:35 pm »
Firetool - sure, I'll let you know how I like the cornish rocks. I'd raised some before, a few years back. I don't know what hatchery they'd come from though because I got them at the feed store. Those grew up very fast. Almost too fast. I did have many die due to leg problems and I think heart attacks. But I think there are two possible reasons why - 1) it's suggested not to raise them above 5,000 feet, and 2) I didn't give them the high protein feed. I didn't know either of these things would be problems at the time, and I lived at about 7,500 feet in the mountains of Colorado.
I agree about the medicated feed. I'll be giving it to them while they're small, but then switch to game bird feed. When they're old enough, I'll let them free range and add some corn to their diet. I had free ranged the last cornish rocks I had, and I think it's what improved on the taste of the meat.

and Violacea -

I love the look of an americana rooster too. :) They're very pretty. But my silly mind wants to do purebreds this time, so I can't have him messin' with my girls. :) Now if you know someone cheap who could neuter a rooster, I think he could stay. LOL He'd get a good home anyway. I have lots of friends that have chickens, so I'd still get to see him grow up.

Beth

Offline amymcg

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Getting ready for my baby chicks
« Reply #23 on: February 24, 2005, 06:53:25 pm »
Neutered rooster = capon

Offline Horns Pure Honey

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Getting ready for my baby chicks
« Reply #24 on: February 25, 2005, 12:28:26 am »
It is tricky but I can do it. The first time you do it you usally end up killing the chicken. You make ann incission on the side and go in and cut out the testicles but the tricky part is that there is a vein, or artery, what ever, right next to it that if cut kills them fast. They heal pretty fast. The exact way is in one of my chicken books, bye :D
Ryan Horn

Offline Jay

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Getting ready for my baby chicks
« Reply #25 on: February 25, 2005, 05:23:02 pm »
Speaking as a vegitarian I'll just say...all this is why I'm speaking as a vegitarian! :lol:
By the rude bridge that arched the flood
Their flag to Aprils breeze unfurled
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world
-Emerson

Offline Michael Bush

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Getting ready for my baby chicks
« Reply #26 on: February 27, 2005, 12:44:08 am »
Well, speaking as a carnivore, all of this is why I'm a carnivore.  ;)

I don't mind vegatarians, although I think one should really only eat things that have the chance to fight or flee, but I'm a bit afraid of humanitarians.
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
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Offline Horns Pure Honey

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Getting ready for my baby chicks
« Reply #27 on: February 27, 2005, 01:18:17 am »
As the great Ron White once said, "I didnt fight to the top of the food chain to eat carrots". bye :)
Ryan Horn

Offline TwT

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Getting ready for my baby chicks
« Reply #28 on: February 27, 2005, 01:35:54 am »
if them babies were game birds, they might look like this when they grow up







I have been raising game birds for 23 years, 4 years ago had 330 birds on my yard now only have about 30, it was like working 2 jobs for the last 10 years, I had to quiet bass fishing because I had no time to fish , so now im starting back fishing and going tend to some bee's, seems like I have nothing to do now with hardly no birds. :cry:  :wink: now I got a hog

Here's a pic of my "Hog"




And here's a pic of the "Hog Dog" her name is maggy but i call her Mutt

THAT's ME TO THE LEFT JUST 5 MONTHS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!

Never be afraid to try something new.
Amateurs built the ark,
Professionals built the Titanic

Offline Horns Pure Honey

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Getting ready for my baby chicks
« Reply #29 on: February 27, 2005, 03:08:12 am »
Yes game birds are very nice, tend good cooker too, lol. Nice pics, I like your hogg dog, lol, bye :D
Ryan Horn

Offline peggjam

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Getting ready for my baby chicks
« Reply #30 on: March 03, 2005, 03:09:29 pm »
The Cornish Rock crosses are prone to "flip", caused by growing too fast.  The way to elimiate the problem is to take their feed away at night.  Let them eat all they want during the day, but remove the feeders at night and allow them to have their water.  Never let them run out of water.  This won't completely cure it, but it will decrease the amount of losses you have.  We raise our own birds: RIR's, BR's, Blue Slate and Burbon Red turkeys.  This year we're hatching out our own.  It's been fun so far. :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

peggjam

Offline Beth Kirkley

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Getting ready for my baby chicks
« Reply #31 on: March 03, 2005, 03:45:03 pm »
Peggjam-

Yeah, I've read that about the cornish rocks. They're nearly two weeks old now.  :?:  Is it too early to start doing that, or should I start it right away? Just today I seperated the cornish rocks from the partridge rocks because of their size difference. Also because I want to feed them different feed - higher protien for the cornish rocks. AND the chick feeder I have isn't really big enough now for them all because of the size of the meat birds.

You mentioned hatching out your own. Is that just on the chickens, or are you hatching turkeys too? Just asking because we'd looked into raising turkeys, and when we found out that you have to artificially inseminate the turkeys........ we said Forget It! :)

Beth

Offline peggjam

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« Reply #32 on: March 03, 2005, 07:26:42 pm »
Beth:

No it's not too late, the sooner you do it, the better luck you'll have.  Yes we are raising and incubating our own turkeys.  The AI for turkeys, is part myth, part fact.  The only breeds that need to be AI'd are the broad breasted ones; like the white and bronze.  We raise heritage turkeys which will breed naturally.  The problem with the broad breasted ones is they were bred to get really big, really fast, and it's their weight that prevents them from being able to breed.  In your McMurray catalog they carry heritage breeds.  Ours came from a hatchery that is in the same state, called Welps, and the turkeys were cheaper, and no added shipping cost, it's figured into the price.  Our first shipment got hung up in the postal system when Pres. Reagan died, and we lost most of them.  Welps reshipped the whole order.  It's been a fun project.  You should incubate your eggs, not only is it fun, but you save $$$$$$$ too!  It's not at all difficult to do either.  But this is just one of many ongoing projects. :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

peggjam

Offline Beth Kirkley

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Getting ready for my baby chicks
« Reply #33 on: March 03, 2005, 09:42:22 pm »
I do have an incubator. It holds 200-300 eggs. Unsure on the amount it holds because it's hand made, so it doesn't have standard racks. I recently hatched out 56 eggs for a neighbor kid, and now a friend and I are going to hatch out more. She currently has about 70 RIR/Crochin mix in it. I do enjoy hatching them out, and now that I have the specific breed I've always wanted (partridge rocks), I'll be incubating them as soon as I can.

Raising a turkey or two would interest me, but I'm not sure if it would work with my plans. I plan to free range the chickens with some dairy goats on a 1/2 acre. I know turkeys can fly even over a 6 foot fence, so would probably get right out of the pasture. If I did do a turkey, I'm guessing I'd have to put them in a pen (with a top) by themselves. Right? Which is an option. I have thought of having a seperate, small chicken wire fence area (with a roof) for times that I might have birds I need seperated --- because of age, or different breed, or for a broody hen to be secluded.

Beth

Offline peggjam

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Getting ready for my baby chicks
« Reply #34 on: March 03, 2005, 11:32:53 pm »
Beth:

Yeah, these turkeys can fly!!  But you can always clip their wings.  The way you do that is to clip the primary feathers on one wing only.  Makes it so they are unbalanced, and can't fly.  They should freerange alright with chickens.  I plan on building a seperate pasture for the turkeys I am going to raise.  They are about the prettiest birds I have ever seen.  The hens get to about 16-18# and the toms get to about 22-25#.  We are running two incubators that hold 210 eggs each, and have 120 chicks in brooders right now.  Plan on doing as many as I can feed.  Sell the roosters in the fall for meat birds and keep all the hens for eggs.  If you deciede to get turkeys get the Burbon Reds, they are a very calm bird and easy to work with.  The Blue Slates are hyper, and don't like to be worked with.
These turkeys just started laying eggs,  we get 3 or 4 a day out of 12 hens, I hope it picks up. :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

peggjam

Offline Beth Kirkley

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Getting ready for my baby chicks
« Reply #35 on: March 04, 2005, 01:29:37 am »
Thank you for all these tips. I have another question. How old are they when they start laying, and what is a good age range to raise them for meat?
I would probably start with just one to see how it went. Turkeys make me a little nervous. :) I've been around some that were pretty mean. A friend of mine when I was a teen had a couple turkeys that were really bad about getting out of their pen and attacking people. They even got a couple tickets from the police because they attacked people walking in the neighborhood.

Beth

Offline Jay

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« Reply #36 on: March 04, 2005, 02:22:35 am »
Was that a personal fowl?!? :lol:
By the rude bridge that arched the flood
Their flag to Aprils breeze unfurled
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world
-Emerson

Offline Horns Pure Honey

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Getting ready for my baby chicks
« Reply #37 on: March 04, 2005, 08:34:09 am »
Some can take 18 weeks when others can take up to 24. Meat is one of those things you have to watch whill it is still on the bird. For us it is usally 6-8 weeks depending on what breed it is. Bye :D
Ryan Horn

Offline peggjam

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« Reply #38 on: March 04, 2005, 12:14:02 pm »
Beth:

Our turkeys are about 10 months old, they started laying about 2 weeks ago.  Turkeys only lay a certain number of months during the year, from about March thur July or Aug.  The heritage breeds take longer to mature than the broadbreasted breeds, which is why they no longer raise them commercially.  Right now our toms weigh about 18#, which is a good sized turkey.  "Good Eats" as some say.  I tend to feel that these turkeys taste a whole lot better than any turkey I've tasted, except maybe wild turkey, but I'm proably baised a bit.  The Burbon Reds that I have are about the calmest turkey I have ever seen, bar none.  I can move around inside the pen and they never seem to take exception to that.  I can't say that about the Blue Slates however.  Toms get mean with age, so if you don't let them get too old before they reach the table you should be ok.  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

peggjam

Offline Beth Kirkley

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Getting ready for my baby chicks
« Reply #39 on: March 04, 2005, 07:29:22 pm »
Thank you for all the advice. We're trying to move ourselves toward more self-sufficiency (gardening, eggs, goat milk, and meat). A couple turkeys a year would be a nice addition. I really knew nothing about them though, other than the AI issue. Which..... I find out now isn't an issue if I get the right turkeys.

Beth :)

 

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