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.