March 7, 2010

More Chickens

Are you sick of hearing about my chickens yet? Well too bad, it's my blog! :P

I spent a few hours yesterday making an outside pen for the meat birds, they were getting cramped in the box in the garage, plus they stink to high heaven.



I don't think it's too bad, considering I have absolutely no construction know how! They seem happy enough. I need to put some dowel rods under the tarp to support it so it doesn't sag when it rains, and I need another tarp to cover the open part during the night to keep predators out.


I put tarp around this corner too, and laid down pine shavings so they have something besides cold ground to lay on at night, and the tarp gives some protection from the cold and elements.


Can you believe they're only 4 weeks old??


I'm very happy with the cornish roasters so far. They're calm and gentle, fast growing, hearty and healthy. I'm sure they're going to taste great, too! Another 4 weeks and the pullets will be ready to butcher, and in 8 weeks the cockrels will be ready.



4 comments:

Amy said...

Cool. Once you have these butchered, will you buy more? How are the egg layers doing?

Katie said...

Right now I'm thinking I'll do an order of meat birds twice a year. I want enough to get us through the whole year so I don't have to buy store bought chicken anymore! I'll have to see how much processed meat we get out of them, I think next time I might do 20 or 25 instead of 15.

Katie said...

Oh and the egg guys are doing fine, much smaller though of course! They won't start laying for another 4 or 5 months.

Shelley said...

They look sooo funny crouched on those wood shavings under the tarp, like they're waiting at a bus stop or something, lol!