Toads, the perfect chicken!

[duluthralphie]

Thanks for the info!

I am sorry I forgot to answer you egg question, No I do not have any eggs. I will not have any for at least a year now that Bert as passed.

 

[Proverb31mama]

I am sorry I forgot to answer you egg question, No I do not have any eggs. I will not have any for at least a year now that Bert as passed.

Thanks for answering! I'm sorry to hear about your rooster passing . Hopefully next year I will have my own eggs .
Do you mind me asking what hatchery you got your original chicks from? It looks like there is a lot of variables between the different hatcheries.

 

[duluthralphie]

I got mine from Hoover Hatchery in Rudd, Iowa. I am getting 70 more this week, this is the 3rd batch from them.

Last night my wife and I were commenting during Chicken TV how big the toads were. They at a month are nearly the size of my adult white rock.

 

[Proverb31mama]

I will check them out, thanks! How long do you let yours grow for to get the bigger processing weights? And how old were they when the reached maturity to breed? How many each of the cx and dr do you order? Thanks for all the info! It really helps me! I am reading through the thread you told me about but there are a lot of pages to read

 

[duluthralphie]

I will check them out, thanks! How long do you let yours grow for to get the bigger processing weights? And how old were they when the reached maturity to breed? How many each of the cx and dr do you order? Thanks for all the info! It really helps me! I am reading through the thread you told me about but there are a lot of pages to read

Bert was "born" July30'th last year, I never did get an egg from the Hens that died in Feb, I have no idea why. BUT from the CX thread I go to it is natural for them to not be overly active birds and they just die. The genetics is against them. (there the disclosure).

I put Bert in a covered run with the Dixie chicks about the first of march and started saving eggs about the 7th of April. I wanted to make sure the sperm from the other roosters were dead.

I hatched eggs until early June. I did not do well on the hatch rate. Bert had a foot injury in early May which prevented him from breeding longer so I only got 6 weeks worth of eggs at most. I am going to try and keep two roosters and 4 hens over winter this year. I will feed them separately from the other birds they will lay in a tractor/brooder.


Yeah, we talk a lot on that thread.

I processed my huge birds at 13 weeks. It really does not cost a lot more to raise them to that age as I Stretched the feed out. They also free range and get a lot of "free" food. Now if you decide to do this be sure to watch the birds closely for heart and leg problems, it is possible you may need to cull one or two early.


As I recall I had 27 birds I held back 4 and processed 19 so that means I lost 4. which is not bad with CX's

If you do look at Hoovers, you will not be disappointed. I love the birds I got. My only complaint was with the straight runs I got more roosters than I thought I should in the layers and more hens than I thought I should in the CX's. BUT that is just the way straight runs go. It is never 50/50. I have not gotten a dead chick from them yet.

 

[Proverb31mama]

Thanks for all the info, it is really helpful!