What About Broilers?

A couple weeks ago I asked for your thoughts on getting some chicks ... specifically some chicks that would eventually grow to be a new laying flock for the farm and at the same time do a bit of pasture sanitation for us. But, laying hens haven't been the only kind of fowl running through our Stoneyfield Farm discussions lately because we have also been talking about guineas and, as today's title suggests, broiler chickens. So, I thought I would throw the topic out there for discussion.

My biggest question is this: What do you raise for broilers? If we were to go ahead with some this were we are talking about doing a very small amount, mostly for ourselves and a few customers that are interested, but I'm not really sure what to get when it comes to ordering chicks.

I have read Joel Salatin's book, "Pastured Poultry Profits", and I know that he (and others) are successfully raising the Cornish X Rocks birds because they have found that that is what the consumers want. But, I'm just not totally convinced on this "franken-bird". It almost looks like a chicken on steroids.

I was able to find this discussion over on the Homesteading Today message board dealing with just this question and I notice that there are quite a few people that raise things other than the "super bird". Do you guys have any suggestions for breeds/crosses/specific places to order from? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Chicks By the Book...

I love my wife! When all these crazy farm ideas started hatching in my head and we began talking about buying 40 bare acres and building a house/farm she was okay with it. When we talked about having wood heat (kind of dirty bringing all that wood into the house) she was okay with it. When we discussed the possibility that we would have to move into the house before it was done she was okay with it ... as long as it had a working bathroom! And, when it was her birthday a bit over week ago I knew that she would love getting "The Encyclopedia of Country Living" by Carla Emery.

So, after I posted my question about chicks the other day I got to think, "Duh! I bet my wife's new book has information on raising chicks". I was right! The book had information on breeds, mail order companies, how to start chicks, brooders, feed, water, and so much more. I have combined all of that information with all of the great information that I received from you all (the readers) and the added bonus of having a wife that raised plenty of chicks and chickens as a child (what can't she do!).

I think I'm going to spend the next couple of weeks seeing if we can get everything cleaned out to do this properly. It isn't an issue of having the space or the right equipment, but rather the fact that we have boxes stored where we would put the chicks. Maybe getting chicks would be a win/win situation. The house would get a little closer to being completed and we could have a beginning to the end of store bought eggs (our chickens are pretty much old and on winter strike).

There is still plenty to think about and get ready, but it would be nice if we could add some egg layers to the farm. One thing that I do have a question about though is specific breeds. After doing a bunch of reading last winter I kind of had my heart set on Barred Plymouth Rocks, but I'm finding that they are a bit difficult to find (at least in the three Iowa hatcheries I know of). Beyond that we would like some of the standards. What are some of your favorite brown egg laying breeds and are there any heritage breeds you are especially fond of?

Picking Up Chicks...

How is that for a title? That is the kind of post title you get when I have a lack of sleep from spending the weekend in cabins with high school kids and the time to think about a title because of a late post! But really, we are thinking about picking up some chicks and I would love to gather some advice from those of you that are more chick inclined than I am. More specifically, I would love to know how it would work to raise them in the situations that we have available.

We can start them in our mud room which is insulated and warmish (60's) if we leave the door open. Of course we would have as many heat lamps as needed and plenty of fresh newspaper or bedding or whatever you need. Does that sound like a location that would work as a brooder?

The next question then becomes where do I put them next? Or more specifically how long do I leave them in there? I would love to get them as soon as we can so that we have some new chickens laying this summer, but I'm not completely sure what we can do with our facilities. I suppose the next natural transition we would have on the farm would be to take them next door to the storage area which is not heated, but is of course completely out of the weather and the wind. We can have heat lamps over there also.

How long does it take until we can have them outside? As you can see I'm pretty clueless when it comes to these things. All of the chickens we have had so far have been already laying so we didn't have much to worry about. I would appreciate any of you answers or ideas that I missed.

Oh, one more thing ... I know that our bloggy friends at Sugar Creek Farm order from Hoover's Hatchery in Rudd, IA and of course there is Murry McMurry which is also in Northern Iowa. Does anyone have thoughts on either of those places?