Chicken Wrangler To Be

[pabst79]

So... 2 questions, I ordered 40 chicks due here in a month. 20 black stars and 20 white rocks. I've heard survival of chicks is anywhere from 50-95%, I really only want about 25 chickens. Neighbors may have to take some if survival is good? Wondering if anybody has experience with raising week old chicks? Vague question I know... Question 2, I'm going to try to raise the meat and laying birds in the same pen/coop, any tips? One of my cousins used to raise birds and said as long as you butcher the cockerels before they turn into roosters it shouldn't be a problem. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Gary_C]

We have raised batches of 50 many times. We many times had survival rates of near 100%. Keep them protected and warm under a heat lamp when little and protected from skunks, dogs, coyotes and coons when they get bigger. Don't know if you will have a pecking problem with two size birds, but you might. Buy or make good chicken feed for best growth and don't forget the grit, not Grits.

At some point the two different breeds will have different feed needs, one for egg production and one for growth. You may have to separate them sometime.

If you let them free range, you must lock them up at night from predators.

[WV Sawmiller]

P79,

   Good luck. My family tried raising them when we first moved here while I was working overseas. We even tried guineas and such. I think we fed every coon, possum, fox and bobcat in Summers County WV before we were done.

    I haven't tried it but I am told by one of my chicken poaching friends  ??? to catch them at night when roosting in trees you keep real quiet and ease a long pole up and gently tap or push his toes and he will step off on the pole without ever waking up, lower him down and ease him into the gunny sack then repeat till you have all you want or need to catch.

[barbender]

You should have better survival rates, as Gary pointed out- unless they are cold and wet or you have a predator problem. I have a buddy who raises around 1000 rock/cornish a year, he loses a few but probably less than 50 in that amount. I always wondered about raising meat and laying birds together. I think if there were some perches available, the lighter laying breed could get up on them to get away from the meat birds. They are too fat to get off of the ground.

[sandsawmill14]

if you have white rocks it will be fine but they are a dual purpose bird not a meat bird if you have the white cornish x rocks aka broiler chicks it will not work they will out grow the black stars so much they will end up mashing the smaller black stars at the feeder :-\ at 2 weeks age the cornish x will be the size of the black stars at 4-5 weeks and at 8 weeks the cornish will weigh 6-8 lbs and and the stars will be 1-1 1/2 lbs. look at your order and you should be able to determine if it is white rocks or white rock x cornish the only reason i question is you called them meat birds. i just started my broilers yesterday so im getting a late start this year 

[thecfarm]

I have chickens 4-5-6 times. I only lost 2. One drowned in the waterer or got stepped on.Than I ordered 24 batems from a hatchery and one died within a day. Keep them WARM and DRY. No DRAFTS. Lay down newspapers for a few days,then swap over to pine shavings,no cedar,those can be dusty. They need a light to keep warm. Hanging out under the light,alot of them,making alot of racket,too cold,trying to get away from the light,hanging around the edges,too hot. They should be just moving around,making just a little noise. 95° is just right and that 95 is in the pen too. I work in a hardware store and tell the new chicken people,heat,no drafts,fresh food and clean water and they will do fine.

[sandsawmill14]

here is a pic of my first ones for the year i planned to get 25 at a time but tsc only had 13 :-\ but i will get more when the truck runs wed i usually raise 100 or so but decided to stagger them in groups of 25 instead of 100 at one time to make the chicken killin a little less of a chore  ;D 50 at once is alot of chicken :D the shipping on small orders makes them higher than the tsc price so i went that route this year for the first time just have to wait and see if i regret it or not   

  

 
here are the chicks and brooder ring sorry for the bad pics but the red light doesnt do well


 
and here is a pic of the ones we raised last year at eight weeks old  the pig in the pic was 230-240 lb live weight for size reference ;D

[gww]

I incubated about 40 mutts and put 6 bought cornish cross meat birds with them.  I kept them together under a 200 watt bulb in a big plastic bin for about three weeks with the light about 15 inches high.  They will figure what distance they need to be from the light heat wise as long as they have the room to do so.  I think you lose some of the meat birds at times due to them being a freak of nature and sometimes growing so fast that there heart and legs can't keep up.  I lost one.  After the 2/3 week period under the light, I just put them out in the chicken pin with the old ones (who will pick on them)  I gave them a an encloser (cabnet with chicken wire on it) with a entrance to small for the big chickens to get in.

They say you should not feed the meat chickens all they will eat but I kept full food out.  I don't beleive you need to worry about mixing them.  The egg birds are quick and the meat birds are not going to move far from food.  When they get old enough to have a big differrance in size it will be time to butcher the meat birds (8+ weeks)  the egg birds will be a long ways off from making anything even if roosters unless you want nothing on bone.  You will be tied down cause they do need closed tight at night.  I probly lost ten to preditors and cars over a couple of years but lost 14 in one night when the pen wasn't closed.  Mine go everywhere and you don't lose many but you do have to button down at night.  Don't even try to let the cornish cross meat chickens grow to old age.  Thier bodies won't take it.  Get them to weight and then eat them.
Make sure they always have water.
I hope this helps.
gww

PS Sandsaw, I made a chiken plucker but find it still takes me forever to do eight to ten at a time.  But the chickens are now plucked in about a minute each.  My grandma hung them on a tree and could almost pluck them by hand as fast.

[plowboyswr]

Gww what style was your plucker? I built one out of a 55 gallon drum works really well.

 


 
the plate in the bottom spins and bounces the bird off the sides taking off the feathers.  On most birds 45 seconds and they're done.  I added more guarding after these pictures were taken so little fingers can't get into the moving parts. Think I had $80 total in the build and paint.

[gww]

I haven't got pictures handy but mine is like yours but it is made with a stainless steel washing michine tub and probly has a few fewer fingers.  I used a dc motor and need two batteries to use it well.  It will clean with 12 volt from a car but does better with 24 volts.  I think I paid $70 for the fingers off of ebay.  I finished off a small drill making the finger holes :laugh:.  I have only did about 15 chickens in it and have to do one at a time but it takes about a minute as long as you keep a water hose putting water to it.  I use a burner on the bar-b-q to heat the big pot of water to scald the chicken.  Get a regular assembly line going but since my wife is squeemish and I work by myself and am slow, it still takes me a long time to prossess 8/10 chickens but the plucking goes fast.
cheers
gww

[sandsawmill14]

i am working on a plucker like plowboys today. i made a scalder out of an old water heater that works real good the water stays at perfect temp all time ;D only down side is having to have 220 v to run it but i have it at the shop so i just made me a cord to run it.  got 22 more broiler chicks this morning so 35 total. i will try to put a pic of the scalder and plucker later on this evening

[sandsawmill14]

i have 2 cornish cross left from last years batch that are now 13 months old i will get a pic of them to  they were about 12 weeks old when i put them out with the other hens and in 2-3 weeks they were slimmed down and acting like normal chickens the hen lays but not as good as other hens and it is a medium to large light brown egg

gww we do feed only 12hrs a day after about 3 weeks but it depends on the weather and how the chicks look as to the exact age. if you raise many you will have cripled legs and some flip overs if you dont. the first year we raised them we had 5 flip overs and 7 criples out of 25 chicks we never restricted feed and were feeding feed specially for meat birds from nutrena . last year we raise 125 and had 3 flip overs and 1 criple but he had a bad leg when we took him out of the box :-\   they are just like any thing else after you raise a few 100 of them you will know what works for you also they live good when they are young we havent lost one before it was a month old in 2 years

[sandsawmill14]

 

 
the rest of the broiler chicks 35 total


 
the white 1 is a cornish cross hen that is 13 months old standing next to a RIR hen that were hatched the same day  quite a difference in size but the meat bird has good legs and flies to the roost just like the rest of them but you cant keep the on the feed schedule of a broiler and expect this they will eat till they kill themselves if it is available

[gww]

sand

but you cant keep the on the feed schedule of a broiler and expect this they will eat till they kill themselves if it is available

I find this to be true.  I haven't did meat chickens in two years cause I am too lazy to regulate the food.  I just keep about 35 mutts and keep feed out all the time and do my best to close them up at night.  When I was butchuring my wife was all for the ideal but ended up getting attached to the chickens and couldn't eat them though she still cooked them for me.  I go through heck every time a chicken looks sick and I seem not to care that much.  It still hasn't got bad enough that I have to take them to a vet and I would quit raising them if it gets that bad. They are fun as hell to watch though I fight continually to keep them out of the garage/shed when I have the doors open.

Cheers
gww

Ps  I want to take a couple of pictures but my camera is such a peice of junk that I have to be really motivated to go through the hassles of getting it to work.

[pabst79]

Holy Cow! There are lots of chicken wranglers around here  . I got the white rocks for eggs and the Black star pullets for eggs and cockerels for meat, I wanted rhode reds but they were sold out and my neighbor tried the pioneers and wasn't happy, so the black stars were 3rd in line of meat birds according to Mcmurray. I also got 6 Dark Brahmas coming, 5 for not sure ? and would like to keep 1 for a rooster, I've been told the Brahmas are usually more of a gentle rooster and the Black stars get ornery, but the Black Stars will lose their heads before they get the chance, or at least that's my plan. Should be a interesting Summer!

[gww]

P
I read that the Brahmas are more likly to make good mommas.  If one or two of mine go broody, I usually let them try to raise a few chicks.  I haven't been good at culling old stock but atleast keep a few good young layers this way.
Have fun this summer.  The chickens will be your best freind everytime you step out your door if you give them table scraps.  If nothing else, it is funny to watch them run when they get excited.
Cheers
gww

[sandsawmill14]

p79 those breeds will do fine together until slaughter around 18-24 weeks depending on the size you want  also full feed 24 7 for those until they are ready to turn out in yard or slaughter
gww i agree they are alot of trouble but i use hanging feeders so i just have to pick up feeder and hang on hook from ceiling we like to raise some of them up to 8-10 lb dressed weight  for bbq and baking digin_2 and i love the broad breast and you just cant do that with any other chicken    for me they are worth the trouble but i can see them not being for everyone

[pabst79]

Thanks for the advice! Should I try and feed the layers on a shelf or in part of the coop itself and put the meat birds feed out in the pen? That way they they eat what their supposed to? Maybe I will have to put a divider of sorts in? I'm also curious if all 6 Dark Brahmas live what to do with 5, 1 for a rooster. Are they okay to eat? Otherwise I always have neighbors looking for free pets.

[sandsawmill14]

those are dual purpose birds so they will need no special attention they should all be eating a good  quality starter/grower feed until about 16 weeks (most say 22-24 but we swap to layer ration at 16 for the pullets) and keep feeding the meat birds the starter or swap to a grower finisher. i cant tell a difference between the 2 i start mixing cracked corn in with the starter at about the 16 weeks for the cocks it saves some money on feed and i cant tell that it slows them down at all  
everything i was saying in the first post applies only to the cornish cross broiler chicks and alot of folks get them confused with white rocks and when you called them meat birds i thought you might have the cross ;D i have seen the broilers sold as cornish rock, white rock x, white cornish and likely some im forgetting so it easy to get confused.
the chicks you have will be hardy and easy to raise just dont let them run out feed or water and keep em warm and they will do great. the white rocks will be bigger than the black stars but they will also grow a little slower so the size will stay close enough to the same you shouldnt have any trouble as long as they are not overcrowded

[gww]

P
I do believe that if you let them run all over the place that the duel meat/egg chickens are a bit tougher by the time they reach eating weight.  They are still good though.  I would listen to sand as he is hitting on all cylinders on the birds.
Nothing need be too special for chickens except that they are food for everything and you need to close the door at night.
Good luck and good eating.
gww

[sandsawmill14]

thanks gww  but i orta have learned something by now if im ever going to we hatch 1000s every spring but have cut way back this year only running 3 of our incubators at my brothers so only 900 eggs set now i have 4 inc. here 3 hold 600 eggs each and 1 big one that holds 2200 eggs and we have had them all full ;D  but i dont have time to peddle the chicks anymore since i started sawing full time. so i sold most of my hens. we have never bought eggs to hatch so we had ALOT of hens we fed about 1500lb of layer pellets a week when we were at full capacity  and for the record we have never had broiler brood stock that is a complex cross of breeds so we just ordered the broiler chicks

[gww]

sand
And I thought I was bad with my 40 egg styrofoam manual incubater :D. 
Cheers
gww
PS I like when a chicken decides to raise 6 or so on her own.  I am not sawing full time per say but am sawing a little quite a lot.

[sandsawmill14]

yea i let my bantams run loose and hatch what they want to  i enjoy watching a hen and a little herd of chicks following her around scratching in the yard :D

[sandsawmill14]

gww i just noticed you were from mo  we buy 90% of our brood stock from cackle hatchery over there and have always been well pleased

[plowboyswr]

Sands the hatchery wouldn't happen to be in Springfield MO would it?
much like gww I use a turkey fryer burner to heat my scalding water. But I had 4 people cutting after I disrobed them. So as fast as I could kill em and pluck em they was cleaning them. Did 45 birds in 2 hours. My plucker has a 3/4 hp motor that the plant was throwing away along with the control box that has a timer in it to shut it off  ;D comes in handy. The lumber was old shipping crate re purposed and the barrel was discarded also.  :D