Hi from New Hampshire

[NH Homesteader]

Do it!

 

[CrealCritter]

Look like I'll have to do some additional prep work to keep the wild ones away from my turkey poults in the Spring - thanks @NH Homesteader and @CrealCritter

I'm raising bourbon reds, an old heritage breed. My understanding is they used to be "the" table bird in the 20'. They are about 1/2 wild anyways so I tend to believe it. I started off with broadbreasted both brown and white. Their behavior was way different and a lot more friendly than my Bourbon Reds. But Bourbon Reds are just so delicious.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Nope my dark Cornish roo was psychotic! The hen was great though! The roo was the meanest thing I've ever seen and he met an earlier than planned demise.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Really helpful suggestions - thank you. I found this site from the backyard chickens sister site. I've gotten similar advice there as well. I plan to isolate the breeds initially to see how it goes for each breed. Because I can only eat poultry and fish, we eat a ton of chicken. I only processed 12 of my own this first year, and know that we'll be closer to 50-75 chickens per year for the two of us...plus what we end up giving our 3 adult kids.

I don't think I can genuinely "Free" range - we do have a high predator load. We have a lot of abutting land with coyote and bobcat as the local apex predators, but we also live on an exposed ridge, with raptors drifting overhead often. I've been successful (so far) with my first egg / dual purpose flock - they have a very solid coop and run that I think will keep out anything but a bear, and let them range within about a 1/2 acre surrounded by electric poultry netting. So far (please don't jinx me) - no losses. I also use game cams, and if I notice either tracks or a picture of a predator, I lock the chickens down for a few days or weeks , and try to change the pattern of when I let them out. And a great big dog that wanders amongst the chickens, and around the fence. He barks at any raptor, and even the planes or helicopters that might fly by - not sure how he does it....

With the DR - are you suggesting that I'll need to bring in a new rooster every year or two, or start an entire new roo/hen combo to keep the size up?

Also.... do you know if they would eat gypsy worms and tent caterpillars ? I'm thinking of putting the DR in amongst the apple trees, in hope of keeping the bugs down and fertilizing? Really curious about creating a symbiotic system if possible?

I did well with electronet, until the birds decided they could fly over it. When they started doing that, I had a Northern Goshawk that moved in. He would have killed a hen every day if I'd not have changed things up. I ended up building a permanent run, 6' tall fence, covered with bird netting. Then, when hawk load seemed to be decreased, I started letting the birds out to free range for a few hours, mid day. Fox moved in and killed a lot of birds. He was brazen. Even when I kept the birds penned up, he would come back in the middle of the day, looking for a meal. I put out one of the corpses, hoping to make a personal acquaintance with him, and show him some lead. He always moved too fast. At one point, I was within 10' of him, and he stared me down, before he decided to move on.

Good that you have a dog. Sounds like he will be your greatest asset in defending your poultry. My dog? She is a good mouser, not worth much else.

I didn't keep a DR roo, so, I can't tell you how long you would expect successive generations to maintain their form. Generally, you should get 3 good breeding years out of a roo. And, your best breeding year with a hen will be her second season. While she may continue to produce for a number of years after that, her egg quality, and perhaps her fertility/hatching rate will go down. So, if you decide to do a breeding program with DR (or any other breed) I suggest that you keep your best roo, hatch the best eggs from your best hens, Then, long about year 3, save his best son, and continue. If you find carcass size decreasing, then you could bring in new stock.

My chickens won't eat hairy caterpillars. I've tried to get them to, and they just stand around talking about them, then wander off. My chickens won't even eat a mouse. Nor will they eat potato bugs or squash bugs. But, they LOVE tomato hornworms.


Putting chickens in your orchard: Good idea, unless they fly up into the trees and decimate your fruit. Let me know how it works out.

Roos in a bachelor pad: I've found that eventually, they do decide to kill each other.

I will raise up a replacement roo in the flock with the alpha roo. Usually, they get along well until the son is about a year old. Then... comes... the... day... They decide that one of them must die! At that point, I have to say good by to the older man, and let the younger one take over.

 

[Britesea]

Interesting. We have 2 Speckled Sussex roos (Cogburn and Duke) and they've gotten along just fine for the last 3 years or so.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

DR are not at all flighty. They quickly get too heavy to even consider that option. As for dealing with your electronet, it would be an excellent option in your orchard for your DR or CXR. It will keep out all land predators. All you would then have to worry about would be aerial preds. I've found that it's fairly easy to thwart them.

You would do well to put up the electronet, then run some fish or mason's line between the trees. You could even tie strips of mylar to those lines. Any open areas could then be further booby trapped by driving fiberglass fence posts into the ground. Also, give them several covers to duck under. Trick is to place these in such a fashion that the birds can't use them as platforms to launch themselves over the e-net. I feel fairly confident that this would provide decent safety for any full sized birds that stay INSIDE the electronet.

(Knock on wood). I've had huge hawk issues over the last 4 years. Brazen, bold evil creatures they are. They hang out in the woods to the west of my yard. They would often sit in the trees, and taunt me. I could get within 10' of them, and they'd just sit there and yack at me. They would perch on the top rail of the chicken run. They would run back and forth on the ground in front of my cockerel grow out pen to terrorize them.

My neighbor feeds the birds, which attracts the crows. In spite of other neighbors shooting the crows... (in an ignorant attempt to keep them from digging the grubs out of their lawns. HELLO???? Those crows are doing you a favor!!!) The local crow population is a bit higher than in previous peak hawk years. So... last year, I put electronet around my covered chicken run in a dual attempt to thwart Mr. Fox, and give the birds access to grass. In the open electronet area, I placed fiberglass fence posts about every 5 - 10'. While hawks can easily fly into an electronet enclosure, I've found that when the enclosure is littered with "spikes" they are not willing to risk injury to their wings to do so. The hawks are still around, but I did not sustain any hawk losses last summer.

Finally, if you don't have a good population of crows, I suggest that you attract them. A platform feeder with corn would do the trick nicely. You might have to put up some sort of baffle to keep the wild turkeys from breaking your crow feed budget!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Yes, I have raised Cornish Cross, I got chicks. I kept them past the golden standard of 6 weeks and let them get to a hefty carcass size. I have raised them twice and documented it right here on SS. Here's links to my threads.

Cornish Cross Spring 2018 Cost/Profit/Loss or Freezer Meat

I got 30 Cornish Cross chicks this morning, one was dead, leaving 29. They cost $1.60 each. We got week old CCX chicks at TSC a few days ago for FREE. We got 25, one died leaving 24. So now we have 53 CCX chicks. I will post cost, any sales, and freezer meat. Y’all join in...

www.sufficientself.com

Cornish Cross Spring 2019

I ordered 50 CCX chicks through Tractor Supply on April 8,2019. There was very little information, such as, where they were coming from or when they would ship, like you get when dealing directly with a hatchery. I finally got a notification that they were shipping and would be here on April 12...

www.sufficientself.com

If you want to stock the freezer in a short time, it is a great way to do so. I still like the meat of a scrawny young layer breed rooster better. LOL I haven't found my "it" breed. I currently have Easter Eggers and they are fun for the colored eggs. I have a line on two breeders for Jubilee Orpingtons, which I love for their beautiful coloring. The two breeders will be at a chicken swap in April and I am going to buy a trio.

The Dixie Rangers sound interesting......I'll have to check into those! @Lazy Gardener how do they compare to the Cornish Cross for growth rate and taste?

My DR came from MMc. I've no doubt that each hatchery sells it's own "brand". (different parent genetics to produce the particular hybrid they are marketing.) MMc no longer carries a bird similar to the ones I had. An extensive hatchery search came up with Rainbow Rangers at Meyer. The photo shows color patterns and description matching the DR I had from MMc. In the photo, all MY pullets resembled the 3solid light red birds at front left of the pic, while all the males resembled the very light red/buff.white bird with tail pointing at 2 o'clock.

https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=RRBS



I wonder how Freedom Rangers would compare to the DR?

Thanks for posting your results with CXR. I think that the grow out stats and results are well worth posting! The DR do not grow out quite as fast, nor do they yield quite as large a carcass. They are ready for freezer before the cockerels reach sexual maturity. I would plan on processing at about 12 weeks, while a similar CXR carcass would likely be processed between 8 - 10 weeks. DR are a bit longer through chest, and much longer through the leg than a CXR of similar dressed weight.

IMO, the benefit of DR: They are sex linked or auto sexing (not really sure which) The females are a light red, solid color: similar to NH Red. IIRC, the females have yellow/willow colored legs. The males are lighter in color, with a combination of red/buff/white feathering. Kind of like a muddied barred pattern. Their legs are bright yellow. And their legs are massive in diameter compared to the pullets. I found the distinct coloring of the males carried through in the second generation even when the chicks from DR were sired by a red based EE.

Dr pullets make great layers. CXR: Not an option!

Taste: I really can't speak to that, since I've not been able to do a side by side comparison. It's been decades since I raised CXR. I found that the DR were great, perhaps not quite as mushy tender as the CXR. CXR easier to process b/c of the white feathers, and they are being processed while a few weeks younger, thus more tender, easier to pluck.

The DR are more active than the CXR. I would be willing to bet that the viability is higher. It would be interesting to see a side by side comparison, of feed conversion rates, with each flock being given access to the same housing, range, same feed schedule. If one were to raise them without access to range, the CXR would win the feed conversion race. On range, I bet it would be equal, or perhaps the DR winning the race.

If I wanted to get a lot of meat in the freezer on a tight time schedule, I'd most likely opt for CXR. I also think they are cheaper to buy. If time was not an issue, and if I had plenty of SAFE range available, I'd opt for the DR.

 

[NHMounttainman]

Hi!! You will definitely learn a lot from our forums. please stay active and enjoy!

I'll try to stay active - just set notifications! being retired, I've got nothing but chores and time!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

retired with nothing but chores is really not like work at all

Amen! I find that I have time now to actually enjoy the chores!

 

[Chic Rustler]

hello from Texas! I'm a newb to homesteading as well. the folks here have always been helpful and I dont know where id be without them.

we have a small place just outside of town. small garden, a few chickens, some rabbits and a small orchard thats still pretty young.