They got apple cores from the apple pie castoffs ...lemons an limes from homemade iced tea.... squeezed out, of course ...:p
Eventually. The girls are still learning to milk her and I have to learn. Then we need to get a system down that will keep it clean and protected from bucket to fridge. The plan is to drink it ( I love milk but can't drink much cow's milk), make cheese and other things from it. We will be "drying her off" (I am learning milk goat lingo) in the next month so she can be bred, along with the the other female (Boer, meat goat) this fall. We get our 12 rooster chicks this week.
That is so cool ... I love goat cheese ... you really should post some pics for your buddy :D ... I would love to see the roosters too ... what breeds did you get?
Um ...no.... this ain't the south I don't spoil the chickens ... they just get meat bones, salad on the turn and pie discards from the wife's pie business .... I don't hold them, pet them, etc .... they are livestock ... that was confirmed when I tied my rooster upside down and slit it's throat...
Set myself up for that one. We are planning to start on the poultry pen this coming weekend... if all goes well. Still not completely convinced if we want to do turkeys, chickens or guineas. Turkey burgers are great on the grill... but timing seems important if feed cost is considered. We can't afford to feed them T-bones, freshly squeezed lemonade and home-made ice-cream every night like some people who claim they don't spoil theirs.
I'll get some pics soon. The roosters are New Hampshire Reds. We also had only four Narragansett turkey chicks hatch out a little over a week ago. I screwed up with the incubation and we lost at least 8 chicks due to my screw up. The other turkeys are getting kind of big but they still back down when one of the RI red or barred rock hens puts the smack on them.
I look forward to the pics! My "little ones" are now picking on the smaller older ones ...lol ... the table has been turned
PT, Bruce, Christine or other eggsperts, So I built the poultry pen 10x20x8 tall. I decided to start smaller than turkeys for now and got 4 Cornish hens and a rooster from my brother. I'd say they are about 2 1/2 - 3 pounds. He also gave me a real nice incubator that has an automatic egg turner. So we are off and running. I'll get some pics as soon as I can. Here is the game plan. Collect fertilized eggs for 4-5 days then incubate to hatch. In the mean time, I will build a raising pen for the chicks. Once the eggs are incubating, I will start collecting eggs for eating which are pretty small but bigger than I would have thought. At around 2 months after hatching, I will start the raising process again. That should keep us in meat and eggs. Of course adjustments will be required. The hens and rooster are from last spring so I should get a couple years out of them but I guess at some point, I'll have to rotate my layers. We still plan to get the turkeys but have decided to wait until spring when it is neither too hot or too cold. Any other advice? I have never raised a chicken before... ever.
Yes... that's fully grown. The eggs are about 3/4 the size of a regular hen egg. I greatly prefer grilled chicken for supper to eggs for breakfast.
I think Dark Cornish like these pictures. Maybe I underestimated the weight... I am not very good with that but they look just like these. http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...2F78911CB96E1339E5CD534927B3A797C878E&first=1
If you are going to be eating the chickens then I would not let them get much older than 8 weeks or they will be tough to chew. Old chickens make great broth but lousy eating.
The cornish breed chickens are different than the 'cornish game hens' you see in the freezer aisle of the grocery store. The grocery store ones are just four week old 'Cornish X' (AKA Cornish Rock, AKA Cornish x Rock) chickens. That 'X' (cross) makes a big difference. 'Cornish X' were originally a cross between Cornish chickens and Plymouth Rock chickens. You must have bantam cornish chickens. The real Cornish breed is a big chicken. They were originally a game (fighting) chicken from India. And this ends your worthless chicken fact for the day. :D
I just learned a lot there. Before this thread, the only difference I knew was white meat or dark lol
Look at this monster... sat over an inch above the top of the carton ... Look at that little dude I got the next day ... lol
Right now I would say a bit larger than a pheasant, maybe, but quite a bit smaller than, say, a Rhode Island Red. I have seen some Bantams or "Banties" as we say down South and I would say they are a quite a bit larger than what I have seen.
