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| These chickens were born on the same day and the size difference is about 4 pounds! |
This year on the farm I have decided to raise meat chickens. I chose a Cornish Rock cross meat bird, and started out with 16 of them. I lost one several weeks ago to an unknown cause. (It is thought that that these birds have heart attacks easily due to their massive weight gain over a short period of time, so I am guessing that is what happened.) I really wanted to try it last year, however I was nervous that it would be too complicated and I would be unable to do so. It really has been very easy to do so far, although I will say that these beasts can eat! Actually, that is all they do: eat and poop! It is impressive how fast they grow and feather out. They have 3-4 pounds over my egg layer chicks and are completely feathered by 5 weeks.
We are trying buff orpingtons this year, our first attempt at dual purpose birds. We love the eggs but never processed them for meat before. I'm afraid I'm a little attached to the chicks though. I guess I'll have to get over it! I saw you on the blog hop- I'm your new follower.
ReplyDeleteBuff Orpingtons are my daughter's favorite breed of chicken, so I know we couldn't keep them at our house as a dual purpose bird! However, my friend has processed them with great success. We have had a hard time keeping them though as layers though. It seems as if they do real well for the first few weeks and then they suddenly die. We had 2 of 4 die last year and then 2 of 3 die this year. Have you had any difficulty with the breed? I don't know what it is at our house, because all of the other breeds do just fine. It is a mystery that I wish we could solve! Thanks for following me!
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