kenman: Well, here goes...

[kenman]

Today was a good day. Finished my first full week of school and planned to sleep in for a good long while. At 5:30am I'm wide awake. Well I get up, make coffee, and go outside. It's perfect, 50 degrees with a beautiful sunrise.
It energizes me when it begins to cool off in the fall. I hope this cool weather lasts all the way to spring. Things done before 10:00am: went to feed store, clipped the turkey's wing feathers and moved them to another pen, clipped several duck wings, processed 14 rabbits, laughed a lot with my wife, all while drinking good coffee and enjoying life.
Then, I was able to spend most of the day with my youngest daughter, doing homework, and just "hanging out."
Today was a good day.

 

[Henrietta23]

Whoa! After being up with a sick kid until 3:00am, I woke up this morning at 10:01! :/

 

[kenman]

I've been there with the sick kid! No fun at all.

 

[Henrietta23]

I've been there with the sick kid! No fun at all.

Nope. And somehow 90 degree temps and 75 % humidity don't help I can't keep him hydrated. We had a much more normal day today but I still didn't get done all day what you did before 10:00 yesterday!

 

[punkin]

Today was a good day. Finished my first full week of school and planned to sleep in for a good long while. At 5:30am I'm wide awake. Well I get up, make coffee, and go outside. It's perfect, 50 degrees with a beautiful sunrise.
It energizes me when it begins to cool off in the fall. I hope this cool weather lasts all the way to spring. Things done before 10:00am: went to feed store, clipped the turkey's wing feathers and moved them to another pen, clipped several duck wings, processed 14 rabbits, laughed a lot with my wife, all while drinking good coffee and enjoying life.
Then, I was able to spend most of the day with my youngest daughter, doing homework, and just "hanging out."
Today was a good day.

Sounds like you had the perfect day. I'm with you on the cooler weather. It's 67 here this morning, kind of crisp. I do enjoy Fall, but I know that nasty Ole Man Winter is on his way - I hate cold weather.

 

[kenman]

I hear you, Punkin. When I was a kid, I loved winter. Extra blankets on the bed. Running to the stove in the morning to heat up because it was so cold in the house. Playing in the snow! It was a blast. Now it just hurts. It hurts the fingers every time I smash a chunk of wood on them loading the stove, it hurts the pocketbook for extra expenses, and the rest of the body with extra aches and pains.
We decided to not run the gas furnace this year. We have an electric cook stove that my Mom gave us and the bums at the gas company are contemplating raising the cost to receive gas nearly $6 a month to over $30 per month. So, the only thing that we use gas for is the furnace. Last year at $25 base price per month, we payed over $300 just to receive their precious gas. We spent less than that on actual gas usage. So we will burn wood, and when necessary, turn on small electric heaters.

 

[kenman]

We picked a few late strawberries and raspberries today. They are so sweet and delicious. Not enough of them to make anything, so we just ate them. I planted these plants, 5 red raspberries and 40 strawberries in September of last year. The chickens ate them back some but I think next spring they should be loaded. I will have to move the strawberries to a larger bed , however. I have them in a raised 4X8 bed and that is not nearly enough room. Over the summer, while cruising Craigslist I came across a guy giving away landscape blocks. My daughters and I picked up approximately 150. They were the size of concrete blocks. I made a new strawberry bed that is 4X24. Once everything is in place I am going to transplant. Hopefully that will be enough room. I am going to use the old bed for asparagus (don't love spell check!).
Tomorrow we are going to process 16 CornishX that are between 5-8 pounds each. I plan to skin them, fillet the breast meat off, cook the rest of the meat off the bone and freeze it. The meat already cooked is wonderful for a lot of recipes. This way doesn't take nearly as much freezer space as whole birds are even cut up pieces.
It been quit an ordeal to get them grown. I purchased 25 of them 12 weeks ago. They were great birds and started great. Then I got "a good deal" on some chicks from a hatchery. These were Welsummer and Black Giants and I was very excited to get them for $1.50 each. I put them in with Cornish. A week later the Welsummer and Giants began dieing. They would be fine and an hour later, fall over dead. I lost all but three of them and lost 9 Cornish before I got it stopped.
The virus stunted the Cornish growth for at least three weeks. It has drove the cost of these birds to well over super market price. Hopefully the taste will make up for it. My daughter at college says she has come to point that she doesn't like the chicken at school, "it tastes funny" she says.

 

[punkin]

Sorry about the troubles you had with the chicks. My DH and I contemplated about raising cornish cross this year. However, we decided against it. First, because we would have to build a place for them, and second, because neither one of us could "do the deed". Although, since we have found out that a friend of ours has no problems with butchering. So, maybe next year . . .

 

[TTs Chicks]

Sorry you lost those chicks. We have our first batch of cornish rocks now, they are about 2 weeks old. I have to say they are the hungriest, nastiest chicks I've had.

 

[kenman]

Hey TT, all I can say is a big "YES!" Around two -three weeks, they are beginning to feather out and that's when I begin to pull their feed at night. Around four weeks, I put them in my covered chicken tractor and let them mow my yard for me. People do it differently, but this makes the most sense to me.
Well, the job is done. We processed 15 of 16, kept one small pullet back, may breed her to my Delaware rooster and see what kind of cross I get. Or I may let her get a bit bigger and then have a nice Sunday dinner.
We skinned all the others, cut off the breast meat with separate tenders, cut off the thigh/leg quarters, and wings. We boiled the bones, got a little meat from them. Wound up with 35 pounds of semi/boneless chicken meat. Not bad, but I don't want to think about the cost per pound. We usually can raise them for around $4 to $4.50 per bird. But these, counting losses, extra time and feed would be closer to $7. That figures to about $3 per pound. OUCH!
Punkin, if you can get it set up with someone to help you, I would go for it. The hatchery's are still selling Cornish X reasonable. The price of feed around here is dropping. I would try 25 to start. On previous attempts. We have been able to grow 25 crosses for 8-9 weeks, and have 6-8 pound birds. Nasty, yes, hungry all the time, yes. However, 25 birds can fill a big chunk of freezer in a hurry.
And thanks both of you for feeling my pain.