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Happy May Day!!  This morning, we picked up one hundred Cornish Cross meat chickens.

When the post office called at 6am to say "your birds are here" Peyton was excited and ready to go.
When the post office called at 6am to say “your birds are here” Peyton was excited and ready to go.

Upon bringing them home, we divided them into four troughs, each with food, water, and a heat lamp.  Dividing them up helps them not to crush and suffocate each other as they fight for heat to stay warm.

New meat chicks divided up
New meat chicks divided up

When we brought them into the barn, we still had out 17 surprise birds in the barn that had to get moved to the ground.  They will get moved outside, in another 4-6 weeks. We originally started with 19, but two did not make it. One was a runt to begin with, so she was not expected to last.  The other one got out of the trough (which happens) and got too cold overnight. We have emergency food and water down on the ground for any birds that do get out of the trough to help them survive.

Layer chicks moved to the ground
Layer chicks moved to the ground

The Cornish Cross chickens will live divided in the trough for about two weeks and will then be moved to the ground in the horse stall for another two weeks. After that, they will go out the poultry tractor. Greg spent a lot of time recently rebuilding it after a cow got into the pasture and crushed it and a racoon tore open the side to kill turkeys. Look for a future blog on the poultry tractor.

Unlike laying chickens which are slow to grow, meat chickens are fast growers. They only live for a total of two months. They are scheduled to be butchered on July 11th. If you want to come see the action, mark your calendar. It is a lot of fun for everyone. Also, if you want to reserve your chickens (try to make it a minimum of 10 chickens), let us know.