Yep, 50. As my good friend, Kent would say, I now have half-a-hundred of these tiny yellow chicks in the brooder already eating me out of house and home.
Meyer hatchery was running a sale but I had to place a minimum 50 chick order to get the deal. I called a local farmer friend who raises these same jumbo Cornish cross for meat, usually right about the same time I do in the spring and fall. She never called me back (it's a busy time for farmers right now). The longer I wait to place my order, the further I push my harvest out so I wanted to get them growing asap.
I figured I'd just place the order and if she decided that she wanted them they would already be on their way. And if she didn't, I'd just sell them on craigslist; wouldn't be hard at all this time of year.
Then they arrived and I started to feel all greedy about them. I wanted to have them all in MY freezer. I was feeding more people this year, wasn’t I? I need to make certain my larder was full, right? Yeeesss, you really never know when the lean times are upon you until they’re looming down… and quality organic meat is really expensive. So I decided to keep them All. For. Myself.
Yes, all 50.
This is where you might be scratching your head... "how will you harvest 50 chickens with your little operation?" Well, I figure 25 one weekend and 25 another. I'll sell the usual amount to offset my cost and put the rest in my own freezer. Then you so sweetly remind me, "but you haven't finished your duck harvest that the hurricane brought to an early conclusion..." YesYesYes... I KNOW that. I'll do it. I'll do it soon.
OK… ummmmm... next year I'm only doing the Spring and Fall harvests. Three is clearly too many for me to handle {she says woefully while holding her head in her hands}.
So sometime in the next 6-8 weeks I need to finish my waterfowl harvest of Cayuga and Muscovy (those Muscovy drakes are on my last nerve and on the short list for the first to go), then 2 more weekends dedicated to sending the jumbo Cornish cross to freezer camp. We WILL be eating healthy, protein filled meals this winter.
Now I just need to get the winter veggie garden planted...
You know... sometimes I wish I could get rollover minutes to add to the days I really need to cram more time into my time.
Meyer hatchery was running a sale but I had to place a minimum 50 chick order to get the deal. I called a local farmer friend who raises these same jumbo Cornish cross for meat, usually right about the same time I do in the spring and fall. She never called me back (it's a busy time for farmers right now). The longer I wait to place my order, the further I push my harvest out so I wanted to get them growing asap.
I figured I'd just place the order and if she decided that she wanted them they would already be on their way. And if she didn't, I'd just sell them on craigslist; wouldn't be hard at all this time of year.
Then they arrived and I started to feel all greedy about them. I wanted to have them all in MY freezer. I was feeding more people this year, wasn’t I? I need to make certain my larder was full, right? Yeeesss, you really never know when the lean times are upon you until they’re looming down… and quality organic meat is really expensive. So I decided to keep them All. For. Myself.
Yes, all 50.
This is where you might be scratching your head... "how will you harvest 50 chickens with your little operation?" Well, I figure 25 one weekend and 25 another. I'll sell the usual amount to offset my cost and put the rest in my own freezer. Then you so sweetly remind me, "but you haven't finished your duck harvest that the hurricane brought to an early conclusion..." YesYesYes... I KNOW that. I'll do it. I'll do it soon.
OK… ummmmm... next year I'm only doing the Spring and Fall harvests. Three is clearly too many for me to handle {she says woefully while holding her head in her hands}.
So sometime in the next 6-8 weeks I need to finish my waterfowl harvest of Cayuga and Muscovy (those Muscovy drakes are on my last nerve and on the short list for the first to go), then 2 more weekends dedicated to sending the jumbo Cornish cross to freezer camp. We WILL be eating healthy, protein filled meals this winter.
Now I just need to get the winter veggie garden planted...
You know... sometimes I wish I could get rollover minutes to add to the days I really need to cram more time into my time.
Unlike this poor womans family, my minutes would never get old enough for me to consider ever throwing them away.... those minutes are still good, man!
Yeah, OK. So the hurricane… my power was out for several days and all the eggs I had in the incubator were officially a no-go. Luckily, I was gearing down for the season and only had about 30 set at the time. And in retrospect, I really don’t need any more chickens. But I was looking forward to a few more Welsh Harlequin girls for next season.
.
Yeah, OK. So the hurricane… my power was out for several days and all the eggs I had in the incubator were officially a no-go. Luckily, I was gearing down for the season and only had about 30 set at the time. And in retrospect, I really don’t need any more chickens. But I was looking forward to a few more Welsh Harlequin girls for next season.
.
So I decided that while I had my Welsh Harlequin pair in the garden alone I would put all of Miss Blush's eggs in the incubator to see if I could get a few more girls to add to my flock for next season. I set every one of the eggs she laid, waiting until I'd gathered about a weeks worth each time. That should give me a week for slow hatching babies before I open the hatcher to put in another set. I don't expect high fertility on these eggs since it was really late in the season, but I'm likely to get a handful of ducklings from this hatch, which should net me at least 2 or 3 girls to add to Duck Dogers harem.
The first of those eggs came due last week and this little cutie hatched out from the 4 eggs I set on August 31 - looks like a pretty silver phase girl (the black head = silver phase & pink bill = girl). Luckily, the night after this lone duckling was born my 50 Cornish cross arrived and I just popped this little one in with her new bunk mates. Everyone is getting along perfectly.
I have another set of Welsh Harlequin due to hatch this week so I'm looking forward to a few more fuzzy butts to add to the giant, fluffy yellow brooder bunch soon.
**Update: 2 more WH ducklings hatched on Oct 16! And based on the dark brown color of their bills, It looks like I have two boys. One appears to be a silver phase and the other probably gold phase. I've also determined that Miss Blush's eggs consistently hatch 3 days early... LOL!**
The first of those eggs came due last week and this little cutie hatched out from the 4 eggs I set on August 31 - looks like a pretty silver phase girl (the black head = silver phase & pink bill = girl). Luckily, the night after this lone duckling was born my 50 Cornish cross arrived and I just popped this little one in with her new bunk mates. Everyone is getting along perfectly.
I have another set of Welsh Harlequin due to hatch this week so I'm looking forward to a few more fuzzy butts to add to the giant, fluffy yellow brooder bunch soon.
**Update: 2 more WH ducklings hatched on Oct 16! And based on the dark brown color of their bills, It looks like I have two boys. One appears to be a silver phase and the other probably gold phase. I've also determined that Miss Blush's eggs consistently hatch 3 days early... LOL!**
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