Meat Birds - 2021

Checking out the deep freeze, we tallied up the count of our frozen chickens in inventory.  There are only six left!  With the supply chain issues and inflation and general craziness in our economy, we don't want to be running out of protein.  So, I made an order from Ideal Poultry in Cameron, Texas for Cornish Cross meat birds.  They are a hatchery that we like to use.  

The price has gone up since the last time we ordered, but what hasn't gone up?  The price per chick was $2.64, not counting the "tax, title, and license."  All in cost was $2.78 per bird.  We ordered 50 baby chicks from them and they shipped out last week, December 8th, to be exact.  Over the next 8 weeks or so we'll be raising the chicks.  At the end of eight weeks, if all is on schedule, they'll weigh 6 pounds and yield a 4 pound carcass.  We'll report their growth each week along with a report of how things are going.

The chicks are shipped by the US Postal Service and when they arrive, we get a call telling us to come pick up the package quickly.  The hatchery guarantees their birds to arrive alive or they'll make them good.  Usually, they'll throw in one or two lagniappe.  We got 51 birds.  After two days, however, one of the chicks looked noticeably smaller than the others.  It was kind of getting pushed around by the others.  I told Tricia that as soon as we got back from church I was going to put it by itself to allow it to get bigger and stronger by itself.  By the time we got back from church at noon, it was too late.  Sad?  Yes, but it's part of the deal.  You lose some sometimes.

I have the chicks under a heat lamp in the garage in a temporary brooder we like to use until we move them out on grass.  You'll notice that the chicks are scattered, pretty much evenly distributed.  That is a good sign that the temperature is right.  If they are too cold, they pile up on one another.  You don't want them to be cold.  They'll expend calories trying to stay warm versus GROW.  Since we're raising them in what is our winter, this will be an important thing to watch.  We have two waterers in the brooder as well as two feeders.  You'll see that the capacity of feeders and waterers grow along with the birds.

One other thing you'll notice in the photo below is the fencing that we have spread across the top of the brooder.  Why do we have that, you ask?  (Scroll below for the answer)

Answer:

Ginger the cat would like a two piece chicken dinner, I'm sure.  Tricia doesn't think she'd kill our chickens.  She trusts Ginger.  I tend to take the position that Ronald Reagan took in the Cold War.  "Trust, but Verify."  So 50 birds are on site.  Let's see how things go.  We'll report back weekly.