Mob 2, Week 5

Mob 2 has reached the five week mark and are, against all odds, still forty-three birds strong (for the moment, see below)*.

Two feeders

We are finding that forty-three chickens present unique challenges that thirty-three birds did not.  For one thing, they didn't all fit around our extra-large 30-pound poultry feeder which resulted in a MMA, winner-take-all attitude at feeding time.  It was getting seriously violent and as much as we want strong (read lots of dark meat) birds, feeding times were becoming the kind of activity from which you'd hide your children's eyes.  So we bought another feeder and for the moment, dinner in The Fortress has become a much more civilized affair.

Another issue we've encountered with the larger mob is they produce a heck of a lot more poo.  In addition, this flock has continued in their intelligent ways and graze like crazy on whatever patch of ground their chicken tractor rests upon.  As a result of the increase in au naturale fertilizer and quick denuding of the ground, we've taken to moving The Fortress twice a day.  This is probably excessive, but at least it means the chickens get more fresh "pasture" and aren't sitting in their own excrement.  Plus I'm hoping for a really green lawn come spring so we're spreading the love around, so to speak.

Chicken in a box (again!)

*Speaking of our miraculous 0% mortality rate, we're pretty sure we have one chicken who is at death's door.  We're not sure what the problem is but about two days ago she started acting off and was being "hen-pecked" by the rest of the flock.  As a result of her not feeling well, therefore not getting out of the way, she was run over by the chicken tractor on one of the twice daily moves and to add injury to insult, now has a bum leg.  She's still eating (and pooing) but honestly, she's not well.  I keep reminding myself that this is the way of chicken raising and seriously, we're waaaaay ahead of the curve right now, but it's still sad (especially since we've put 5 weeks worth of feed into her).  So we again have a chicken living in a box, just not on my kitchen counter this time.

Because he's so darn cute and really believes we pay far too much attention to the chickens

A Couple of Ways to Save When Eating Gluten-Free

I got an interesting email in my in-box today and after looking it over, felt it was worthy of sharing. 

I subscribe to BeFreeForMe, a gluten-free and food allergy conscious website that shares coupons and deals with the food allergy community.  They also maintain a blog which discusses gluten-free foods and tips, post articles and maintain a recipe database; in addition, they don't clog your inbox with lots of email so when I get something from them, I know it's worth a look.  Anyway, today's email was about a gluten-free "groupon" style website called Gluten-Free Saver.  Being a big Groupon and Amazon Local fan, I admit I was all over this, and after an initial review of the site, I decided to sign up.  Many of the deals have potential, so if you're interested head on over and check them out. 



* We get no compensation or benefit from recommending these sites or the products they offer. As always, sign up and use at your own risk.

If a picture is worth a thousand words... (chicken edition)

So if a picture is really worth a thousand words, than all these pictures today will save me from coming up with anything to say (witty or otherwise).  With the start of school, life has throttled into full gear with both boys starting their virtual academy studies, the husband going back to work, and me wrangling everyone and the ensuing chaos.

The short feathery report on Mob 2 consists of 43 chickens (still!) eating about 50 pounds of food a week and now big enough to be moved outside.  The change of abode from garage nursery to outdoor chicken tractor (aka The Fortress) will happen today because (1) it's warm enough, (2) the chickens have their adult feathers and (3) and probably most importantly, they're stinking up and making a mess of the garage. 

So without further ado, the chickens.

Chickens in the nursery, sans brooder

Their newest hobby, standing on the waterer plotting their escape

Why yes, I AM king of the pen

Chicken Update

Almost 2 week old chick

Ack, I thought we were supposed to be in the lazy, hazy days of summer, sliding slowly into autumn.  Not so at our house!  We're in a mad frenetic dash leading up to the start of school, and with the husband beginning a new job, it's been more like an out of control free-fall into September.  Thus the absence of blog posts and chicken updates... Really, I do have some amazing topics in the offing just waiting to be crafted into brilliant and witty discussions about the benefits of being gluten-free.  In addition, the husband and I are contemplating eating Whole30, so there's whole 'nother topic of potentially scintillating posts.  We'll see.  I have a feeling this crazy schedule we're currently on may not ease up until well after Christmas.

Anyway, back to my favorite subject, chickens.

The chickens turned two weeks old this past Tuesday and miraculously, we have not lost a single one.  NOT ONE!  43 chicks arrived and 43 chicks happily remain.  Seriously, from our previous experience with Mob 1 and from what we've read about how delicate this breed is, not losing a single chick might truly qualify as a small miracle.  Conventional knowledge among backyard chicken enthusiasts claim the average loss for Cornish Rock cross to be 15%; with Mob 1 we had 5 out of the original 38 die so 13% loss, most in the first 2 weeks.  Seriously, 0% loss is unheard of and has us scratching our heads a bit about what we are doing right.  I'm guessing it's the really healthy chick stock from Jenk's Hatchery, good feed from Patriot Farm, and plain old dumb luck.

At two weeks in, we've entered the gawky adolescent stage where the chicks go around half dressed in their adult feathers and the males bump chests and attempt to crow.  Plus they've developed the voracious eating habits of a teenager and are attempting to eat us out of house and home.  First week they consumed about 22 pounds of feed; the second week we're up to about 42 pounds with a noticeable increase in the last 2 days.  I'm occasionally letting the food trays run out so they get used to not always having food in front of their faces since once they go "out to pasture" they won't have feed available 24/7.  We're also cutting down on feed availability at night.

Feeding frenzy

On a proud mama note, I have to say this group of chicks is smart.  Seriously, we're raising chicken einsteins here.  Cornish Rock cross are famously (or maybe notoriously) known for being dumb... really, really, REALLY dumb.  Because of the intensive breeding for high feed to meat conversion, quick maturity, and larger breasts (I know, that sounds bad, doesn't it?), the breed has lost most of its smarts.  For example, Cornish Rock cross will supposedly not forage on pasture.  You hear stories of bugs that other breeds would snap up in an instant walking across the feet of the CRX, and instead of taking advantage of the mobile snack, the CRX will RUN away in fright (though in the case of a large hairy spider, who can blame them?).  Now after our experience with Mob 1 who happily ate up our lawn, I would take issue with the notion that they can't learn to graze.  In addition, we've seen this new flock enthusiastically fight over a spider that strayed into the nursery and an inchworm we threw in for kicks.  Plus they industriously scratch and dig for food that falls into the liter.  My guess is if they are given the chance to exercise their dormant yet still present natural instincts, they can and will learn to act like normal chickens instead of just mindless eating machines.

Depending on weather, overnight temperatures and feather development, we're hoping to put our little flock out of pasture around week 3.  We'll keep you updated (hopefully).

Uh-oh, we did it again!

Or subtitle, Chicken raising take 2.

43 chicks in the garage nursery

Since the first round of chickens went so well, we've decided to try it again with the goal of having a year's worth of chicken in the freezer.  I have to say, we've been most impressed with the quality and taste of the meat from our first venture.  It was a bit of a stunning realization to look down at my dinner plate earlier this week and know that every item, except a bit of cheese in my salad, was something we had grown ourselves (chicken, swiss chard and green salad).  It made us feel all self-sufficient (and a little smug).

Boxes of chicks

Are you my mother?

So our current batch of Cornish Rock cross chicks arrived on Wednesday from Jenks Hatchery in Oregon.  We ordered 40 chicks (43 were sent), and we'll be splitting the bounty, butchering and cost with some good friends of ours.  This group of chicks display a much different personality than the original mob, being more spunky and curious.  They are currently working on digging a tunnel through the deep liter in what we're guessing is an effort to get out to the world beyond.  They also think our dog is their mother.

So here we go again.  I'm not sure how much I'll blog the process this time because we're roughly doing the same thing, but who knows?  Baby chicks are pretty darn cute so they might get more then their share of air time.