Color Range Broilers arrived

[UncleHoot]

15 of the 16 shipped chicks were still alive. They were in transit for 2 days, and with a smaller number I had questioned whether or not I should have ordered the minimum. I've never lost a chick in shipping before. Honestly, I think the box was too big. But anyway, sometimes that just happens, and losing 1 is by no means a big deal. They really sat under the heatlamp for quite awhile in a huddle, so I think they probably did get kinda cold during shipment. Luckily, it's summer, otherwise I don't think they would have done so well.

So, I added them to my 54 cornish X which arrived on Tuesday. They're only 2 days apart, but the Colored Range are quite a bit smaller. But cornish x chicks do grow quickly...

69 total chicks... I'm starting to wonder if I've finally gotten in over my head.

 

[dangerouschicken]

You are meat bird crazy!

Where did you buy the CRB from? Ideal?

 

[UncleHoot]

Colored Range from JM Hatchery. Cornish X from Townline Hatchery, which is the closest to me. I got the cornish x chicks 1 day after hatch, but I also paid a lot more than I would have from Meyer per chick as well as shipping.

I just had the chickens from my last batch processed a couple weeks ago, so now my customers are wonder why in the world I want to know how many chickens they want from this batch. "We still have several in the freezer." "Yeah, but will you still have them in October?" Lots of folks can't think that far out, I guess.

So, I'm a bit concerned that I might not be able to sell enough. Twenty some might fit in my freezer, but 50 won't!

 

[AnthonyT]

Got my color range today too. Had 100 come in with 2 DOA and 1 that was very out of it. Got it to drink but it just would not come back so I lost 3 total. I think they either got chilled or over heated on their way to KY. They drank over 3 gallons of water in a little under 6 hours so they were thirsty! Have been really hammering the chow too. They are active little chicks and seem to be fairly eay going and not too flighty.

 

[dangerouschicken]

That's good to hear. I may try these instead of CC next time.

 

[UncleHoot]

I lost another of the colored rangers. He seemed ok right after arrival, but started to slow down on Saturday. Discovered him Sunday morning.

All of my cornish crosses are still alive.

 

[greyfields]

I always worry because it takes them 2 days to get here. I had about 10 droopy ones when mine arrived. We put them in the oven and all but 2 came back. But over the course of the last couple days, we've had about 6 more drop off.

We've just had a cold/drizzly snap here, and I'm pretty certain that's the issue rather than the birds themselves.

 

[AnthonyT]

I have had five out of 100 die, 3 in shipping (all in the same corner so I am thinking it was due to handling in transit) and 2 in the brooder. The 2 in the brooder were smaller than the rest and I could find no definative cause of death. An interesting thing is that they were all Jaunes. The rest seem to be doing fine and have tripled in size and have pretty much feathered out wings.

 

[UncleHoot]

Had one Jaune die in transit, and one dark brown (whatever they're called) die.

Yesterday, I saw that one of my cornish x's was sick, so I took him aside and gave him some water. Well, that finished him off within about 2 minutes. My daughter was trying to help, which made the whole episode a little more emotional than I would have preferred.

 

[Gallina]

I had my 102 Color Range chicks arrive last Friday also. There was only one dead. I had another one die last night, but I attribute that to the others trampling over them running to the feeder! I almost lost one today, it was sitting there looking like it had been trampled also, but I have 3 separate brooder containers, one large one with the biggest chicks, two smaller ones with the smaller chicks. I transfered him over to the preemie ward and he came back to within an hour. I can't tell which one he is now! I still am not sure if I am feeding them too much or too little. I just sent my son to weigh my bag of feed I have left as it seems incredulous to me that they have eaten 24lbs in 7days!! Is this normal? Should I continuously feed them or what? HELP!!!!