>>9008029

>>9007957

>>9008069

>One question though… How the hell do you grow a 6 lb chicken in 45+- days?! My chicks from around that time are like half the size of the chickens in the rest of my flock.

Use the meat chicken. It is the Cornish-Rock Cross. (pic related left compared to same age egg chicken on right)

It will put on so much meat so fast, all the energy goes to meat building and it is always behind on feather production.

Some caveats:

Males, at 8-10 weeks, females 10-12 and do not let them run around much. They can grow so fast, some have heart attacks literally just fall over and die.

Also, do not mix with other chickens. Their body temp is so high that the other chickens think they are running a fever from high metabolism. They are very warm to the touch from growing so fast. The egg chickens think they are running a fever and will try to kill them in my experience.

Body meat a bit too big for the heart as they get older. You have 8-10 weeks for males, and 10 to 12 for females tops. They don't live long.

Grass is ok, but, feed them well, and pen them for safety…. Also, when really young, limit feed somewhat. They can eat so much they butrst their crops and die.

If you let them go too long, they grow so big they outgrow their hearts, and die. They are a cross meant for meat only, not eggs, and not breeding. (Not sure if they are like a cross between a horse and a donkey making a mule, and they are sterile. Very gently easy to care for though. I keep mine penned like pets in my greenhouse in the winter to keep me company while planting, so they are comfy warm, and I let them out in a very small grass pen in the summer. 8-12 weeks, start to finish.

>>9008545

Cornish rock cross on left, egg layer on right, same age

>>9008548

Pic 1 related is a Cornish Game Hen, a large bird, I believe. They sell them as babies at the grocer.

Pic 2 is the White Rock. (Think FogHorn LegHorn from Warner Brothers, a large white egg layer)

When you cross these two you get a monster genetic set that puts the meat on the white bird at the wild bird growth rate, it seems. The Cornish Rock Cross (pic 3 related)

To give you an idea of the size difference, the two chicks are the same age. Left is the classic Buff Orphington Brown egg layer, as large as a White Rock. The one on the right is the Cornish Rock Cross at the same age. They are monsters compared to egg layers.

Yes, they are outrageously large…. and just about every day, you will walk in to feed them, and find yourself saying "OMG they grew an inch last night! But, think about those little cornish game hens you buy at the grocery store that look like mini chickens. Those are baby cornish game hen chicks!

Just little babies!

Look at the breast meat on those little game hens.

For some reason the White Rock does the corss, dont know why. You get a ridiculously meaty but not gamey tasting bird in about 8-10 weeks. And they have pretty cool personalities. Laid back. Like to greet you. Especially if you feed them bags of crickets. Man… they are like dogs when they hear that cricket bag crumple.

>>9008673

See

>>9008699

>>9008667

Kek.

I have seen this look before! Many mornings. Roosters can give a farmer the business if they decide they do not like what you are doing around the hens. Lol.

>>9008694

I have raised about every breed except those cut polish moppy heads. In my experience, any rooster that is old enough to have three inch talons CAN (but may not be) a bastard, especially with each other. I have seen one rooster drop another one dead with one peck to the back of the head. It is rare. Usually they have a pecking order.

You have a choice to make, because mean ass rooster can be a good thing. You have to decide if you want something to protect your hens. If you do, keep a rooster who likes people. It's more a matter of individual personality than breed I found.

I have watched my roosters scare all the hens under the horse trailer. WTF??

So I watched.

He puts his wings out full, starts dancing in circles around the yard, looking up at the sky.

I think…. Did Big Red lose his mind???

I look up.

There it is. A red tailed hawk getting ready to take a dive for one of the hens.

He was having NONE of it, and would have killed that hawk in a heartbeat.

Now, if a rooster comes after you, he will fly at you with his feet swinging up in front of his face. Put your knees up and give him a fast kick, enough to lift him away. Let him know who is boss. He Will only come at you a couple times, until you have established yourself as the head of the pecking order.

They are like dogs and horses. They will make you part of the flock, but, you have to talk to them in language they understand, so they respect you.

>>9008694

>I think I'm going to have a hard time looking into the eyes of a peaceful chicken right before I cut it's head off.

If you have any respect for life at all, that day is sad, hard to tolerate, and while it must be done, you console yourself and your partner, friend whoever is with you, the whole time. Respect for life is the norm, at least in America. All life. That is one of the reasons I am as good to my animals as I am while they are with me. (Well, most of them)

Pigs start out screaming baby cowards, bout 40 lbs of panick if you so much as touch them. About 80 lbs they turn into puppies who race around want to play with you every time you go into the pen.

Then.

One day.

And it happens in one 24 hour over night, you go to feed them, look into their eyes, and they get "the look"….

Like

"Hmmmm, guys…. you think we can take em down?"

Predatory stare. From that DAY, they will kill you. They let you know it. If they get your T shirt they will try to gang up on you and drag you into the pen to finish you off.

A pig raised alone seems to be able to be like a dog… a friend.

But in groups, it is YOU or THEM, from about 150 lbs out. Can not tell you how many pig farmers have had hear attacks in the pig pen, and disappeared, all but the teeth.

Yep. And the stupid chickens. (Did I mention chickens are stupid cuz it is just the facts)

The chickens see the fence around the chickens and they ALWAYS think they are on the wrong side. My pig pen was 200 feet from my porch. Everyone saw the chicken jump into the pen, but, no matter how fast we ran to save the chicken, only the feathers were left, still floating in the air when we got there.

Pigs will kill you. Your instinct will kick in. You will not mind killing them. Not one bit.

>>9008840

That is our hope. That is our prayer (when we are done praying for our guys, every day) There will be a huge sigh of relief, when that day comes, and we will all know it arrived.

>>9008732

>My best friend and I butchered 60 meat chickens today in fact. There's another 40 next week with 30 Cornish game hens behind them and 120 new chicks just arrived pa last week.

Holy cow. I get exhausted just doing a few. Wow. So do you grow yours for the community?

>>9008786

Sustainability database.

Kek.

So they tried to send around a "Farm Census" a number of years back. How many fruit trees you got…. how many dogs, horses, cows, pigs etc etc.

Just pissed people off.

Rural people mean something entirely different by the word "sustainable". It is a question of whether you can use your land organically, and keep it producing and healthy. It's more a survivability, long term kind of thing.

The UN can kiss our asses. They can report their own shit.

Second the notable!

Our General.

>>9008927

>>>9008927 >>9008928

That's China. I was testifying at the Ohio State house bout ten years ago. Texas called us and told us to look for the "chipping bill" that went out to the states. I stopped the head of AG, asked about it.

OH yeah, farmers going to be reqiured to chip their animals for health reasons.

I said

"First, no chip can take an animal to the vet, which is what sick animals need. Second, you never put the location of the American food supply in a database. Do you know what Hitler did to Poland first?

He says "Yeah, he went through, took all their guns"

Nope, I said "He rolled through, middle of the night, shot all the farm animals. Six weeks later, Poland trading guns for food"

He stepped back.

I said "Do not put the location of our nations food supply on any database. The government does not need to know, unless they actually need to know, at which point, we will talk with them. Otherwise, not a good idea.

He says "Oh, well, dont worry then. It is a private company that is gathering the information".

I said "Oh Great… for sale to the highest bidder Globally then… to who? What would China pay for a little CD Rom giving them exact coordinates for a three day bombing run across the US on every barn full of cows? Pigs? Chickens?

Yeah.

These people are stupid.

They probably have this all mapped now anyway, so, we have to be ready to open the barn doors, let the animals out if necessary.

I hate Communists. Biggest murderers on the planet by far. Globalists are nothing but Commies on Steroids.

>>9008970

That is because those two chickens are only 10 weeks old, so the layer is a baby. We were discussing the growth rate of the Cornish Rock Cross. That egg layer is much smaller, and takes much longer to mature. The Meat chicken will be 5-6 lbs in 8 weeks.

>>9008975

The taste is great. Highly recommend putting them in the frig for 2 days, before freezing though. These are the industry standard meat chicken "broilers" you buy at the grocery store. Actually a cross between a Cornish Game Hen, and a White Rock Chicken.

>>9008984

I would not be surprised to learn this at all.

We need to get our economy out of Communist China, so they go back to third world status, until they learn to straighten up and fly right. Communists have no real economy of their own, because no one owns anything. Government can attempt to fake one, but, the top down thing leaves them running things like the keystone cops. Always power struggles, never any progress.

They have to leach off of another real economy to survive. Bout time we decided to help the chinese people instead of a bunch of greedy merchants looking for slave labor.