CCX

[CrealCritter]

Pic from last night. I bought their last bags of feed yesterday (50 lbs meatbird 21% and 50 lbs cracked corn). Feed prices jumped up so no longer does it makes sense to continue to feed them. I'm going to hay them in one last time today. I'll most likely process the remaining 3 or 4 roos tomorrow and let the hens go untill I run out of feed.

 

[CrealCritter]

Finished up processing the 10 hens this past weekend (Feb 6 & 7) parted out 6 cut 4 in half because like the roos, they wouldn't fit in large vacuum seal bags whole.

We got some chicken to eat for a while now. I gave my favorite daughter in law 4 hens cut in half for helping. Right Proud of my Favorite Daughter In Law. She never butchered chickens before. She was a little leary but came around real quick.

Lot of work processing all those big fat fatties but well worth it in my mind. They are delicious, plus I know what went in them and they were treated very well, lived a good life for a meat chicken.

I guess the chicks were a good week old when I bought them. I raised the hens for 76 days and the roos 69 days. So I guess the Hens were around 12 weeks old and roos 11 weeks old. Quick way to put meat on the table.

Fermenting 21% meat bird feed and adding 1/2 dry cracked corn about the 6 week to their daily feed schedule. Really did work to lessen the feed cost and put some fat on the birds. The chickens all were healthy and I had zero problems out of them. Just something to think about if you are gonna raise your own CCX for the table.

After about 6 weeks I left the man door cracked open and opened the window all day long, closed it at night. I had a 1300 watt electric milk house heater set at 50 degrees on a shelf and had two heat lamps on at all times.

When I could smell ammonia. I limed the hay real well and added another layer of fresh hay overtop. I think I did this 6 times. 50 lb bag of Barn Lime is cheap, I used 3 bags and hay was free.

I should have a killer garden this year. All the poopy limed hay is all going to be spread out in the garden within a week or two to rot and get tilled into the soil early this spring.

 

[Mini Horses]

Me? I wouldn't have needed to get them on 2nd trip -- they would have been with others already!

You will mellow. I passed up a group of free hogs today, after I talked to myself a while. 😁

 

[CrealCritter]

Me? I wouldn't have needed to get them on 2nd trip -- they would have been with others already!

You will mellow. I passed up a group of free hogs today, after I talked to myself a while. 😁

Free Hogs as in beer free?

 

[baymule]

Ferment their feed. They will drink less water, eat a little less and the meat tastes better. I keep 4-6 small buckets with lids going at a time when I raise them. I usually have 30-50 of them. I start the buckets off with a live culture buttermilk and always leave some to start the next batch. I put in the feed and add water.

 

[farmerjan]

They are dumb.. Brains mostly all bred out of them to make room for the EAT- DRINK -POOP gene inserted there!!!!

 

[CrealCritter]

Dang it's cold outside! I went in the coop this morning. No dead CCX but they met me at the door and had their little I'm hungry temper tantrum. I looked at the thermometer and it was 50 degrees in there.

I gave them feed and when they were preoccupied acting like pigs. I moved a shelf and installed my milk house heater. it's lowest setting is 1300 watts and I set it on temperature of 60. I just checked in the window yep the big thermometer says 60 and that's as warm as I'm going. I also got a good look at the chickens, they are all feathered in. In my estimate, they appear to be every bit of 3 weeks old. I only raise them to 10 weeks and even then I start feeling sorry for them. So I guess I have about 7 or so weeks of tending for them.

All this would be fine, if it were warm out but no... I must make it hard on myself and play momma to a bunch of big fat stinky couch potato chickens, throughout the winter. I mean why don't I just take a hammer and dull up all my tools to make the work harder for myself while I'm at it?

I guess I could end it all here and now and just have some tender delicious cornish game hens or let them go another 3 to 4 weeks and have some nice fryers. But I'm really wanting to go 7 weeks for broilers. We shall see what becomes of all of this madness.

 

[FarmerJamie]

Mc-NastiesView attachment 15080

I can literally taste that smell right now. Lol

 

[CrealCritter]

I'll be changing out some of the hay tomorrow. Just around the heat lamps, feed and water. That's were stinky couch potato chicks hang out. I'll also toss in a small amount of barn lime for good measure.

It's very interesting how the hens hang together under one heat lamp and the roos under the other heat lamp. I think I have some gender biased chickens 😂

My wife said I got plenty of room for more. I said shhhh... hush, this thought from your mind!

 

[CrealCritter]

I sent him the link to TikkTokks blog site that answers all the questions on FF. I keep my FF on the back porch/mud room in the winter...it stays about 40-50 in there and the FF will still ferment right along as long as it's properly backslopped and all. I keep two buckets going so that it has plenty of time to ferment well prior to feed out.

CC, that brooder space wouldn't be near so stinky or wet if you used a deep litter of leaves instead of hay or a goodly mix of both. Can you get your hands on any leaves? It also won't stink as much if you add some low down ventilation and keep your window open up above. That will move that ammonia right on out the window.

Another tip is a nipple bucket...very little water mess when using a nipple bucket vs. a traditional chick waterer. Don't remember how you have that set up but I can't say enough good about a nipple bucket for chicks.

The room is inside the barn, it was a tack room. It ain't wet at all, the hay is dry. I had access to lots of leaves before the windstorm came from the south and blow them all into my neighbors place north of me I love it went my yard gets cleaned up for me. My wife was all about the raking and on the night before she was going to rake the windstorm came.

I have the window cracked and the bottom of the plywood door ajar. It don't stink so much in there now. As a matter of fact I didn't even change out any hay today because it don't stink so bad anymore.

I don't care what anyone says... CCX are nothing but stinky couch potato chickens.