Recent content by imacowgirl2

Question for the genetics expert out there...based on his phenotype, is there any chance of this guy ever throwing a steel blue/grey chick? Reason I'm asking is because broody just hatched out 3 chicks...we THOUGHT we had stuck 3 New Hampshire eggs under her, but when the eggs hatched, two of...

Meet “Broody”, who is apparently a serial chick collector in addition to trying to be a serial broody :D She hatched out 11 chicks shortly after Christmas…and then two weeks later when we had 3 day old chicks in the brooder, due to a combo of equipment breakdown, extreme temps, and road...

Heat source is a heating pad, no heat lamp.

How does everyone keep fresh unfrozen water available to their very young chicks? Our older birds use heated horizontal nipple waterers but that isn’t an option for the little guys. We have about 20 chicks ranging in age from 1 day to 5 weeks old and I’m not sure how to keep their water from...

This post is very interesting to me! I have Freedom Ranger New Hampshires…I’ve been working with them for about a year now, and I’m seeing some improvement in my carcass size. However, I’d really like to get that last half pound on them consistently — while a half pound doesn’t sound like a lot...

Million miles ahead to do the Freedom Ranger New Hampshire. I routinely get birds that dress out to 5-8+ lbs at 13-14 weeks. All of our layer roosters - many of which are the larger “dual purpose” breeds like orpingtons and australorp (which is what the fry pan specials are as far as I know)...

Broomstick method is my preferred way too. I knew I couldn’t do a knife, I used terre loppers one on a youngish bird that had to be euthanized and knew I wouldn’t be able to do it on a full grown bird confidently. Broomstick method allows me to set the bird, then look up so I’m not actually...

There is another poster around here who had Freedom Ranger NH crossed with Freedom Ranger Delaware (no longer available when I checked) because it produced a sex link chick. He seemed to be very happy with them. I have the Freedom Ranger New Hampshires and I’m quite pleased with them.

I second this. I have a lung remover tool and used it all of two times…once you figure out how to get your fingers around the lungs, they come out so easy!

This is fabulous information! I pressure cooked one for 30 mins and he was still rubbery — I wasn’t sure how long to go for!

This summer has been rough…with our crazy busy schedule we ended up losing more chicks then I had hoped, mostly due to hawks and raccoons. However, we currently have 7 chicks of varying ages in the meatbird run! These birds seem to grow so slowly for the first 3-4 weeks (at least for meat...

Potentially…I need to familiarize myself with IL’s laws about bringing birds in with I have heard are strict.

Does anyone have any good resources for finding breeders of exhibition type leghorns? I’m currently in information overload phase reading ALL THE THINGS after my daughter has decided that she would like to start more seriously breeding and showing leghorns. Right now, all we have is three birds...

Before I purchase a second Nurture Right 360 incubator to use as a hatcher...are there any other (potentially cheaper?) incubators out there that everyone prefers to use as a hatcher? Biggest thing I'm looking for is ease of cleaning, and being able to see in to see what's going on, as well as...

I had wondered how my NH birds would stack up against the other birds at the county fair...turns out, pretty well :) Pretty Boy, the 11 month old cockerel, took 2nd place in his class (and that was even with some unwanted little feathers on his legs...can't remember what the judge called them?)...