We got the call this morning from the post office. Our chicks had arrived. There's about 30 in the picture. This year we ordered Colored Range Broilers from a new place we hadn't tried before: J.M. Hatchery, thanks to a tip from my friend, Embrace Create.
These are “meat birds”, which means that they should grow quickly and by November or so be ready for slaughter and our freezer. Last year, we had a terrible time. We had gotten Cornish Rock crosses and put them out on pasture in a portable coop that I rigged up with PVC and welded wire. But those chicks never got very fat. I thought perhaps they were getting too much exercise, but at the end of the summer, another friend said it was the grain we were feeding them, and that they had had the same problem.
So, this year, we are trying new chicks and the same grain. Doesn't seem logical, but there's no alternative provider of organic grain. Supposedly, they have changed the formulation, but we'll be watching more closely and won't be so willing to blame ourselves if the chicks stay scrawny.
Oh, I am so sorry I missed the chicks! They look like fun.
ReplyDeleteI got buff orpington day olds in May, only five of them as it was my first time. I was relying on good luck which was with me - I got three layers and two cockerels! I dispatched the cockerels in September just as they started to crow, they were very meaty and fatty, though I think my meat processing (first time) may have added to their being a little tough. I feed them on; boiled veg trimings, boiled beans, wheat, barley and oats and some milk - I had two or three eggs a day till two went broody in December, I'm still getting one though. I didn't want to go with commercial food as I prefer a natural approach
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