Moving the Chicks Out to Grass

When the 16 chicks hatched out of our incubator, as soon as they were dried off, we moved them out into the garage.  We have a makeshift brooder with a heat lamp set up.  I put newspaper on the concrete and then covered it with hay so that the chicks don't make too big a mess.  We always aim to move them out on grass in a natural setting as soon as possible. 

Besides, they share the garage with Ginger, our cat.  She aggressively hunts, recently killing a bird that got trapped in the garage.  I don't want her to eat our chicks.  Tricia did not like that I suggested that Ginger would do such a thing.  I didn't mean to impugn Ginger's character, but I don't trust her, fully, so I loaded up the 16 chicks in a tub.

We're moving the birds out to our chicken tractor that will be the chicks' home until the hens lay their first egg and the cockrels identify themselves as males.  At that point we'll move the hens out to the pasture with the rest of the flock and the roosters into our freezer.

Since it can still get chilly at night, I moved the brooder out and set it up in the chicken tractor along with the heat lamp dangling from a chain to keep the birds warm and toasty.

They seem to really like being on grass.  Their instincts kick in and they began scratching and pecking at grass seeds and grass.  Pretty soon, we'll have an onslaught of beetles.  They are attracted to light and so I catch them and feed them to the birds.  Good protein for them!

The chicks look healthy and alert.  We want them to get a good start.  They will start laying somewhere between 18-24 weeks.

Just this week, for some reason, we've lost 2 chickens to drowning in the water trough and one to predators.  I'm already itching to get the incubator running again to hatch out some more!

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.

2020 Chicks in the Mail!

I post this every year, but here is this year's rendition.  Early this morning before chores, Tricia got the call from the Post Office that we had a package waiting that was ALIVE!  The 50 baby chicks we ordered from Ideal Hatchery in Cameron, Texas had arrived.  Tricia drove to the US Post Office in town to pick them up.

The motto of the US Postal Service states:

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"

Well, Coronavirus can be added to that list.  The pandemic did not stop the post office from delivering our chicks.  Tricia peeked in the box to find that all was well!:

They seem a little tightly packed, but that keeps them warm.  They were all alive and seemed to be in perfect health, but it was time to get them out of the box.

This year we're actually raising them about a month or so late.  Before this virus outbreak, we had a wedding to attend in Houston and wanted to schedule their arrival for AFTER the wedding.  You can't leave baby chicks for a weekend without food and water.  This is the first year that we don't start them off in the brooder in the garage on top of wood chips.  This year, on Day 1, they are going on grass - actually clover.

Tricia took them out of the box, dipping each one's beak into water to ensure they drink.  While she did that, she counted them.  Usually the hatchery will throw in a couple or three extra chicks as lagniappe in the event that a few die during transit.  Not this time.  There were exactly 50 of them.

They began eating the chick starter in the feed troughs immediately and scattered out in the brooder.  If they are cold, they huddle up in a pile under the heat lamp.  Some get trampled and die.  They are evenly spaced, signifying that the temperature is perfect.

The chicks' brooder this year is in the chicken tractor where they will eventually reside without the brooder for their 8 week expected lives.  The chicken tractor still has its covering we topped it with as we used it for a greenhouse.  Sitting atop the tractor is Ginger, our cat.  She is apparently guarding things in "the cat-bird seat."

As I hold the little fluff-ball in my hand, I always say to myself every year, "You are so cute now, but in a short while, that changes.  This chick is a Cornish Cross Meat Bird and will change very quickly into a big, muscular meaty monster.

We will track their growth each week.  The goal at the end of Week 8 is an Eight Pound bird that will yield a Six Pound Carcass.  (We calculated the amount of feed we'd need for the next 8 weeks to raise them to maturity and purchased it all in advance in preparation for the possibility of feed stores being closed.  We're all set!)  Some people are hoarding toilet paper - we're hoarding 20% Protein Chick Grower.  Strange birds, indeed!

Week 1 The Cornish Cross Project

The baby chicks have been in the brooder for a week now in the garage under heat lamps on pine shavings.  They are eating 22% protein chick starter and have a waterer that we mix 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar into.  They were all pretty healthy when they arrived in the mail from Ideal Hatchery in Cameron, Texas.  We ordered 50 of them and once we counted, they shipped 51.  They normally do this in the event that a few die in transit.  We did have one chick that appeared to have "pasty butt."  It was smaller than the others and eventually died.  Nothing we could have really done about that, though.

We learn from our mistakes, right?  It was the middle of the work week when they arrived and I figured, "Instead of setting up the brooder, I could just put them in the 150 gallon cattle trough."  It would be easier for now.  "Easier for now" isn't a good philosophy for raising chickens or pretty much anything else, for that matter.

They look happy enough, right?

The chicks were happy enough for the first several days.  The water trough brooder was getting a little small, however.  The chicks didn't have a lot of room to move around.  And then a cold snap hit pushing temperatures down into the low 30's.  Whenever it gets cold, chicks bunch together to warm up.  Despite having the heat lamps, the chicks were still cold.  They proceeded to pile up on one another.  This is not good for the chicks on the bottom of the pile.  Two more chicks bit the dust!

Tricia told me about the smothered chicks and I resolved to move them out of the trough and into their bigger brooder.  In the bigger brooder, I could set up two heat lamps and spread them out a little more.  When I got home from work, I trudged out to the barn, got the materials to set up the brooder, and did what I should have done last Thursday night.  We learn from our mistakes and move on.

The cramped water trough brooder

I set up the new brooder and moved the chicks into their new home.  It was amazing how much it made a difference.  The chicks spread out and seemed genuinely happy with their new place.  Plenty of elbow room.  They'll stay in this brooder for a couple more weeks and this brooder allows you to expand the diameter to grow along with them.  Around the beginning of Week 4, we usually move them out on grass in our chicken tractor.

I turned off the lights in the garage and the red glow of the heat lamp was the only light.  It showed them comfortably sitting - not piled up on one another.

We started with 51 birds and now have 48.  We'll try to keep our mortality rate low.  Next week we'll begin weighing the chicks to chart their growth against previous years.

We'll begin with the end in mind.  These chicks aren't pets.  They're food.  Our goal: In approximately 8 weeks, we want an 8 pound bird.  An 8 pound bird yields a 6 pound carcass.  See ya next week!

The Cornish Cross Project - 2019

As spring approaches each year our thoughts turn to preparing for yet another Cornish Cross Meat Bird crop.  Each spring we order baby chicks from a hatchery, raise them for approximately 8 weeks and then butcher them.  We freeze them individually and enjoy homegrown chicken that is antibiotic-free and hormone-free all year long.

This year I ordered them from Ideal Hatchery out of Cameron, Texas.  I ordered 50 baby Cornish Cross chicks.  They are straight run, meaning that the chicks aren't sexed (there will be both males and females).  The day old chicks will be mailed via the United States Postal Service from the hatchery in Cameron, Texas.  The town of Cameron is a little northwest of College Station, Texas.  Cameron, Texas is 303.1 miles away from our home in Jennings, Louisiana.  The total cost for all 50 chicks was $116.50, and that includes tax, title, and license.  Simple math tells you that the cost per bird is $2.33.

This morning at around 8 am, Tricia got the call from the Post Office that our package had arrived.  Tricia motored to town and accepted delivery of a box of live one day old chicks.  They were all alive and appeared to be healthy.  After counting there were 51 birds.  They normally give you an extra bird or two in the event one or two die during shipping.  The night before we readied a Rubbermaid trough that had sprung a leak to be used as a brooder.  We put wood shavings down, feeders, a waterer, and checked out the heat lamp.  After watering them, Tricia set the chicks down into their new home.  They'll outgrow this in a couple of weeks and we'll move them to another brooder and then ultimately out into a chicken tractor outside.

When they are spread out like this, you know the temperature is just right.

I always like to pick up baby chicks.  They are so cute and innocent.  They don't stay like this for long.  Soon they'll be UGLY.

Are you my mother?

They are cute little fluff balls, weighing only a few ounces and fit perfectly in the palm of your hand.  These monsters grow fast, though, and in 8 or 10 short weeks, they'll weigh 8 pounds and once dressed, they'll produce a 6 pound carcass.

A bird in had is worth two in the bush...

Dr. Tricia, Medicine Woman, identified one chick that was not doing well.  She quickly quarantined him into a private room.  It looks like "pasty butt" to me.  That is an ailment that is very common with baby chicks.  We'll work on him and try to get him better.

Since the birds are out in the garage, we are fortunate to have the services of Big Boy, our Great Pyrenees Livestock Guardian Dog to watch over the chicks and ensure that no predator gets to the chicks.  Here he is now, diligently working, alert and attentive.  To Protect and Serve.

Oh Wait.

We'll post weekly to update you on the chicks' growth.  It is always neat to watch the metamorphosis of a cute baby chick into a carcass ready for gumbo.

2018 Meat Birds - 1 Week Old

We're one week into this year's edition of the on-going experiment of growing our own poultry.  We learn something new each year.  Sometimes when we try to incorporate things learned, we solve old problems and new ones crop up.  Here's a brief narrative of what has transpired in the last week:

The fowl (err... foul) smell emanating from the brooder lets you immediately know that the little boogers are eating a lot.  We add fresh shavings to the brooder, but it doesn't take them long to soil the fresh shavings.  The portion of cattle panel over the top of the brooder is a semi-protective measure that we added to help dissuade our cats from eating our birds.  In the first two days we lost 8 birds and then one more on the third day to bring the death count (so far) to 9.  Not good!

Since last week, we've added a gallon sized waterer in addition to a smaller one and a second feed trough.  I would think that we'll be adding a third trough and perhaps a second waterer as the chicks need for feed (and water) increases.  Although not captured in the photo below, we've expanded the size of the brooder.  Maybe I'll illustrate how we did this later this week.

I randomly selected an averaged sized chick and put him on our kitchen scale.  First, a sat a scrap piece of paper on the scale to protect it from poop.  The chick is at an awkward stage of growth with his cute fuzz being replaced with tiny feathers.

He weighs in at one week old at 7 ounces.
2017 birds at one week old weighed 7 1/2 ounces.
2016 birds at one week old weighed 8 ounces.

Although the weight is a little off over previous years, I'm not going to worry about it.  We have some time to make that weight up - about 8 weeks, to be exact.  Oh, I wanted to show you the baby feathers I spoke of earlier:

Here they are, the first white feathers growing out on the wing tips.  We will post again next week and compare notes on growth and the life and times of a meat bird.

2018 Meat Birds - Baby Chicks Arrive!

Two weeks ago I did an inventory on our chickens in the deep freeze and I counted 28 birds in gallon sized Ziploc bags.  I told Tricia that it was time that we go ahead and order the 2018 birds.  I looked at the pricing and delivery schedule of three competing hatcheries and finally settled on Cackle Hatchery.  Cackle Hatchery is in Lebanon, Missouri.  Cackle had the second best price, but the best delivery schedule for Jumbo Cornish Cross meat birds - not sexed.  You can order all males, but they are a little more expensive, since they grow bigger, faster.  Not sexed means you get an assortment.  Ideally, 50% will be male and 50% female.  They would hatch on 2/28 and be shipped out the same day, arriving at our house on 3/2.  You can see the pricing below.  I ordered 60 chicks priced at $2.15 per bird and there was shipping and handling of $36.20 involved.

I received tracking information that told me that the chicks would be delivered on Saturday, March 1.  That would be good.  I would be home and be able to set up the brooder.  That was the plan.  The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, however.  I received two calls on Friday morning from our town's Post Office alerting me that we had a package that was making noise.  I called and let Russ and Tricia know.  They went to the post office and picked up the package.  They come shipped in boxes like this:

The shipping label on the bottom right of the box tells me that this box came from MCI (Kansas City Airport) into BTR (Baton Rouge Airport) and then trucked to Jennings.  These day old chicks have a lot of mileage on them!  Tricia and Russ got the brooder all set up with wood shavings, heat lamps, feed, and water.  For safety, they put a piece of a cattle panel on top to keep the cats from feasting on the baby chicks.

They ensured that each drank water and then set them in the brooder.  Cackle Hatchery has a guarantee on the birds.  If any of them are dead when you open the box, they will give you a dead chick credit.  All you have to do is call them.  It is strictly the honor system.  All our chicks were alive.  Usually they give you a few extra in the event some of the birds are dead on arrival.  We counted 61, so they gave us one extra - a 'Baker's Dozen,' if you will.

Unfortunately, the next day there were 3 dead and then the following day, there were 5 more dead.  Today, there were no more fatalities, thank goodness.  All I can figure is that some of them were stressed during shipment and although they were okay, they eventually died a day later.  They were promptly removed from the chick brooder and composted in the garden.  RIP baby chicks.  We barely knew you.  A 13% mortality rate right off the bat is not good.  The only good thing is if your birds are going to die, now's the time to die - before you've fed them a bunch of feed!

We will keep them fed and watered and keep the bedding dry and clean.  We'll also keep the heat lamp positioned to provide them enough heat, but not too much.  Each week, we'll follow their progress and show you the rapid progression these birds take from a cute fuzzball to a monster in 8 - 9 short weeks!

Reclaiming the Garage

For the past month or so, our garage has been invaded by almost 100 birds.  Two brooders have occupied a spot that normally houses our vehicles.  One brooder was full of Cornish Cross meat birds.  Those were moved out to the new chicken tractor over a week ago as they had outgrown their brooder.  The 17 Rhode Island Red pullets don't eat nearly as much food and don't grow as fast, but by this weekend, they needed some more room.  Not to mention the fact that we wanted to  reclaim our garage.

Saturday was moving day.  I caught each pullet by hand.  Unlike the meat birds, these really run around and were hard to catch.

Eventually I captured all 17 of them and packed them like sardines into a homemade carrying case for critters.  I used this to carry all of them out to the pasture and to their new home - the chicken tractor.

The chicken tractor that I'm moving the Rhode Island Red pullets to is nothing fancy.  In fact, it is old and in need of replacing, but it will serve its purpose as temporary home for the pullets for the next 20 weeks.  When they lay their first eggs, we'll open up the gates and set them free.  Until then, they'll run around in here on grass.  I'll push them to fresh grass each day.

I placed them inside the chicken tractor and they didn't know what to do at first with all the "elbow room"  they now enjoyed.  They were nervous and disoriented and ran to the corner, huddling up.

Overnight we got a nice rain.  I went out and checked on the pullets first thing in the morning after milking.  I brought along some chicken feed to put in their trough and refilled the water containers. They were acclimated to their new environment by this time and were running around inside their new home.

This week I'll move the last remaining brooder out of the garage.  I would have moved it out this weekend, but we were watching a Cornish Cross meat bird that was looking sick.  We were going to move this bird into the former Rhode Island Red brooder as a sort of Urgent Care facility to attempt to save it.  However, it seems to have made a stunning recovery

I'll go ahead to move the last remaining brooder out of the garage, reclaiming it for our use.  The birds belong out on pasture anyway.

2017 Meat Birds - 3 Weeks Old

This evening Tricia cooked up some fried rice with a couple of fresh eggs and then stir-fried some chicken with snow peas, carrots and water chestnuts.  I haven't tried to grow water chestnuts, but everything other than the rice came from the pasture or the garden.  But let's REWIND things a bit.

That chicken in the recipe tonight at one time were not in the pot, but in our brooder... like these birds.  They look to me like they've grown, but we will confirm that in a moment.  They are filling up the brooder.  They are also filling up our garage with a strong stench of chicken poop.  Soon we'll move them out to the pasture.

Before I even put them up on the scale, I know they have increased in size.  I rescued the bird below who had gotten greedy and his head was stuck in the feeder. Tomorrow, I will remove the lids off of the feeder.  There are pros and cons to doing that.  On the plus side, the birds won't get their heads stuck anymore.  On the negative side, the clean feed you see in the feeders won't be so clean anymore.  The lid keeps the birds from sitting in the feeder and pooping in it.  They certainly don't have good table manners.

Last week I mentioned that I would find a way to mark the birds so that I would be able to quickly pick out the bird we are weighing each week, and ensure that we are weighing the same exact bird.  Initially, I was thinking about just spray painting a dot on one of their heads.  Then Tricia encouraged me not to as the paint might be toxic to the bird (as well as us) when we ate him.

Plan B: I found a maroon ribbon in Tricia's craft box and tied the ribbon around the bird's neck.  I'll pick him out each week from here on out.  As he grows, I'll have to cut the ribbon off and put a new one on so he doesn't get choked.  You can see the ol' boy with his bowtie standing on top of the scale.  When I picked him up, he was markedly heavy - and warm.  I turned off the heat lamps as I think they are generating enough body heat to keep each other from being cold.

Let's take a look at the scale...

Here are the results from Week 3 :
*Week 3 2017:  1 pound 9 ounces
*Week 3 2016:  1 pound 15 ounces
*Week 3 2015:    14 ounces

So to summarize, last week they weighed on average 13 ounces and this week 1 pound 9 ounces. That means they gained 12 ounces over the last week.  They are still 6 ounces shy of where they were at this age last year, but 11 ounces heavier than what the 2015 birds weighed at this age.  Next week they'll likely be out of the garage (Yes!) and out on grass in the pasture.

2016 Meat Birds Arrive! (Day 1)

Yesterday we posted about preparing for the the delivery of our meat birds.  It's a good thing we did. This morning at work I received a text from Tricia that they had called her from the Post Office and our chicks had arrived.  All 60 of them were in a box - 35 Cornish Cross on one side of the box and 25 Red Rangers on the other.

After she got them home and opened the box, she took them out one by one, counting them, and then put their little heads into water, making sure they drank. Usually they send you a few extra, but not this time.  There were exactly 60 chicks.

The last one...

The last bird in the box was dead, unfortunately.  That's all part of it, though.  We'll compost the dead bird and hope that more don't die.

A Dead Chick

They seemed very lively and healthy, making 'cheep, cheep, cheep' sounds and eating the chick grower that Tricia sprinkled for them.  Only a day or two old and they already have the scratching reflex.  The heat lamps kept the chicks warmed perfectly - too cold and they would be all piled up on one another.  Too hot and they would be scattered away from under the light.  As you can see, they are distributed nicely, comfortably.  If they could talk, they'd tell you they are happy in their new home.  I'm really liking the way the new brooder is working out.

Under the heat lamps

They are fluffy and cute.  At this stage, the chicks are just perfect.  In a few weeks, though...  Ugh!

Chicks!

Now you can see the difference in the chicks.  The Cornish Cross chicks are yellow in color and the Red Rangers are a brownish-red in color.  They run around playfully on the sawdust.  The brooder is set up in a circular shape.  That is important.  If it is a square shaped brooder, the chicks are prone to piling up in a corner where they crush each other, and the chicks on the bottom die.

Happy birds

Now, in a weekly installment that we'll do until these birds are butchered, we'll weigh these guys and chart their growth.  First up, we'll weigh a Cornish Cross.  I put a paper towel on top of our scale and placed the healthy little fellow on top.

The Weigh-in

It is a little hard to see, but the Cornish Cross, at two days old, weighs 3 ounces.

Cornish Cross = 3 ounces

Next I placed the Red Ranger on the scale and he promptly pooped on the paper towel.

Red Ranger Chick on the scale

Red Rangers take a couple weeks longer to mature than the Cornish Cross chicks. This fellow weighs 2 ounces at 2 days old.

Red Ranger = 2 ounces

Here they are both up on top of the scale.

Cheep, Cheep, Cheep!

We'll report on their growth each week and we'll keep track of all our expenses.  At the end of the project we'll give statistics on total expenses, total number of pounds of meat, cost per pound, average dressed weight per bird, etc.  We'll compare our statistics with prior years to see how we did in comparison.  I realize after looking at the cute picture right above, it seems a little cruel to talk about butchering them, but that's just the way it is.  We don't get attached to these birds at all.  They aren't pets.  They are meat for the freezer.  Join us over the next 8-10 weeks as we watch them transform from fluffballs on feet to ziploc bags of meat for us to eat.