Just do it! You really won't regret it and if you do you know not to do that again. Lukem is right though, cornish X are great at growing and lousy at living... Maybe a dozen?
Yea they do grow fast. I didn't realize how high are until I saw my original post and saw the pics. They are huge.
I found out what their favorite thing to eat is. Oatmeal with a tad of brown sugar, apple cider vinegar and smashed bananas in it. I also put cut up apples in there and they tear it up. boil it for about 3 minutes until it thickens and let it cool off. I have been giving them this for the past 2 days and boy do they clean the plate.
We want pics. Here is a question for you. Will you're so all of these through the winter or will you slaughter them for food?
I picked up some fresh eggs from my Vet - he has more irons in the fire than I can keep up with. Contemplated laying hens for myself but figure they'd get eaten by all the wild animals around here.
My daughter and I started incubating a couple years ago. My advice: Calibrate your thermometer in an insulated glass of ice water (they are typically a few degrees off and 1 degree makes a huge difference). The dry hatch method, don't fight roller coaster humidity and drowned chicks. Simple, effective. -http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/incubation-cheat-sheet
Ok.... I have a question.... How do I introduce my baby chickens to the older chickens? Will the older ones go about pecking the smaller younger ones?
There will be some pecking to reestablish pecking order. Here's what I do, not sure it helps much: I usually put the new chicks in a wire cage, on the ground in the chicken pen. This gives the new and old time to get to know each other through the wire. After a few days I'll turn them out. The hens will jump on them like they've never seen them before but its all over soon.
So Do basically the same as you would another set of adult birds. ... Thank you. How old would you wait for them to get to do this?
Because our chickens free range on 10 acres every day, I let new chicks get about a month old before I turn them into the flock. Not sure if that is necessary though. If they all stayed penned up, honestly I don't know if running them together before 1 month would be OK or not. To summarize: I don't know.
Well they will be 5 weeks tomorrow. I let the older free range when I get home in the evening. But will be pen up during the day...
That's always the way I've done it. I generally wait until they are fully feathered out. Couldn't give you an exact time becuase it seems to vary with breed. 5-6 weeks is about right. I have noticed the pecking isn't near as bad when there are no bare spots on the birds. Bare birds = cannibalism.
