new home for our chicks
The tiny chicks who arrived just five weeks ago are no longer so tiny.
Ah, meat chickens. What a strange animal. They really do double in size every week, which is a little bit freaky.
I heard this week of a friend of a friend who had a large flock of meat chickens and on processing day one accidentally got left behind. They kept it, and kept feeding it, and it just kept growing. It got as big as a turkey until it started freaking out the farmers and they processed it. (Harvested it. Killed it. Abject apologies to all vegetarian friends.)
I took a couple of photos today of the new pen Adam and Dad built for our chickens, but neglected to take a clear close up of the birds themselves. Will take some over the weekend.
I did, however, manage to get a photo of Adam's thigh.
Someone should really sew up those jeans.
This moving of the meat chickens is exciting for us: it's the first thing we're doing on Mum and Dad's farm. (Although I had very little, er, nothing, to do with the rebuilding of the chook yard and Dad had an lot to do with it. I tended to supply afternoon tea and moral support. The building of stuff is Adam's gig. The generating of ideas of other stuff to build is my contribution.)
These birds are odd though – some ventured out to have a look at the greenery, mostly they stayed all snuggled up on the fresh bedding. They sit down a lot. They don't roost. They have enormous feet.
Happy, well fed, uncrowded, chemical-free birds. We're feeding them garlic to prevent mites, worms and parasites.
I love my chickens. Am hoping to love them even more in approximately seven weeks time (on the table.)
xxx
Cassandra
November 26, 2011 at 1:11 amI don’t know how you do it, eating your own chickens. I know it’s a healthy option rather than eating someone elses, who know what they’ve been fed etc. Good for you. Strong lady.
Jodie
November 26, 2011 at 9:12 amGreat looking finished yard – top work Ad-man (or Malcolm?)! Mmmm, Kylie Kwong roast cinnamon chicken tonight here! xx J.
Luisa
November 26, 2011 at 11:53 amThis is exactly what we need built, but just cant get around to it. There are lots of foxes, snake & lizards on my property, so no chickens till I build a secure coop.
Who is charge of being the gate keeper for when your chickens are fat enough to eat??
A while ago you made your own ice-cream, im looking around to buy a really good ice cream machine, any opinions out there??
Sara (Belly Rumbles)
November 26, 2011 at 9:57 pmWow, they double in size each week, that is absolutely amazing. I always thought it was through hormones that chickens grew so fast, but it isn’t. Being the city slicker I am, would love to have chooks for their eggs, but not sure I could raise them for their, hmm well them 🙂 Looking forward to hearing more of their journey. Also looking forward to hearing about them on your table.
mom24boys
November 27, 2011 at 12:22 pmWe got cornishX chicks this last spring (Northern Hemisphere) and I must say, they are the laziest, dumbest birds I have ever encountered! They taste GOOD though!
It is amazing how fast they grow and it’s wonderful to be able to have a “product” in so short a time. Ours were finished in 10 weeks, our friend’s could have could have been processed at 8 weeks (they kept continuous feed; we let them run out of feed each evening).
Our goal is to begin building a flock of dual purpose chickens so we can hatch and raise our own meat chicks each year and also replacements for our laying stock. Right now we have 24 Rhode Island Red hens (3 yrs old) and one happy rooster. It’s about time to renew the flock…
katepickle
December 7, 2011 at 12:58 pmWe’ve been eating our layers… well the ones that turn out to be roosters, but I am keen on looking at some dedicated meat varieties as well. It has to be more efficient to grow a group and process them all at once rather than the one or two we do when we end up with too many boys.
Can’t wait to hear how you go and how they taste…