Turkeys and Chickens

[Bettacreek]

Ha! That'd be awesome. Taking from BB, I'm looking at Welp hatchery. $1.65/bird, shipping included. Supposed to dress out at 6lbs at 8wks. I'm sure that was one of their max size birds though, lol. I'm thinking about getting 25. Let them all eat for the first week or two, vent sex them and tag out a few for a breeder group, then start with the diet. The rest will be frozen and canned after eight weeks. Speaking of which, Walmart just set up their canning section again... $6 something for a dozen pint jars... I need to start buying cases to prep for birds, HOPEFULLY venison and some garden goodies.

 

[BarredBuff]

Hey Bettacreek, I'd rather just get sexed hens anyway for the CX. I like working with them better than cocks.

 

[Bettacreek]

I didn't really have a preference when I raised my tiny "flock" of Cx. I had straight run, with mostly hens, but didn't notice a difference, lol. Plus, I want to actually keep a roo or two to breed to the girls. I'm not planning on adding any other breeds, just try to breed Cx to Cx, so I need a mixed lot.

 

[BarredBuff]

I didn't really have a preference when I raised my tiny "flock" of Cx. I had straight run, with mostly hens, but didn't notice a difference, lol. Plus, I want to actually keep a roo or two to breed to the girls. I'm not planning on adding any other breeds, just try to breed Cx to Cx, so I need a mixed lot.

Oh Okay. Only problem I had was the males were the nastiest, and had more health problems.

 

[Bettacreek]

Yeah, they grow faster and bigger. I'm hoping to keep the roo(s) under a stricter diet to help prevent issues, including health issues and mounting/breeding issues. When I raised my first batch, they were free-range all day, then were fed a small amount to get them into the pen for bedtime. I gave them more than I plan to give them this time around though, because I was plumping them up for meat last time. I will have some that will be fed like last time, possibly more though, but still being ranged during the day. My problem will be seperating everybody for feed time, since free-range time, they'll obviously be together.
The broilers are naturally bred at the hatchery, however, BB turkeys are AI'ed. The people I got my poults from, however, have a BB bronze tom who breeds freely with the hens. So, if they can get BB toms to breed naturally, I'm sure I can get broilers to breed naturally.