I love having little chicks.. they're soooo cute & foozy & peep peep & everything! But, my DH & I don't eat that many eggs (he doesn't eat them at all and I eat less than a dozen a year), so when they grow up, I sell them. So, I make sure that I buy chicks that people want. It's taken me a couple of years to figure it out, but I think I may have the right set this year. Last year, I got chicks for resale after they grew up & some Cornish hybrids as I was planning on eating them.. but I couldn't kill them. If they were suffering, I could do it. But they weren't suffering.. they were just HUGE. I finally sold them at 12 weeks of age and they were MASSIVE. I had 5 roasters.. 2 roos & 3 hens. The roos were clocking in at about 12-14 lbs each and the hens were definitely over 10lbs each. MASSIVE nasty birds.. will never have them again. I wouldn't have minded the plucking/gutting/prepping part. It was the slaughtering part I couldn't do.
That said & done, this year, I'm doing buff Orpingtons, light brahmas, white silkies, white Plymouth rocks, and Black giants. I've had all of these other than the black giants, so I'm waiting to see how they fair out. Right now, all I have are 2 Orps, 2 light brahmas, & 2 black giants. I'll be picking up the Plymouths on Friday and the silkies on the 28th.
All the babies in their giant tote. I keep this tote in my spare room next to my master bedroom down in the basement. They get regular light plus their heatlamp during the day and I turn off the regular light at night so they can sleep (heat lamp always on). I have them on Purina Start N Grow medicated (
http://poultry.purinamills.com...) and they seem to be doing quite well. No poopy bottoms! Yay!
Black Giant, Light Brahma, Buff Orpington - these babies were 5 days old (hatched on 2/5, got on 2/7, picture taken 2/9)
