An Incredible Journey

They’re here!  It’s been 48 hours since I brought these little chicks home to live with us here on the homestead.

Three or four weeks ago I decided to order 50 chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery.  My dilemma was how do I get enough Cornish Cross chicks to feed us without paying more in the long run than I would to just buy packaged chicken at the grocery store?

My preferred method is to raise 12 chicks and starting when they’re 6 1/2 weeks old, begin harvesting a bird every 3 to 4 days to meet our needs.  That gives me a window of time between 6 1/2 weeks and 11 weeks to harvest those 12 birds.  If they reach 12 weeks they have gotten very large.  The last bird I harvested from the last batch dressed out at 9 1/2 pounds.  When these birds begin to get too large, they begin to have health problems with joints and heart.  That’s not good for either of us.

I have all sorts of reasons why I prefer to harvest the birds on an “as needed” basis.  The first being that it is less traumatic for me.  I can be more present, during the process and there is less stress for the bird.  Another reason is that all the birds we eat are fresh.  If I take multiple birds at once, I have to package them in plastic and find room for them in my small freezer.  I don’t want to rely on a freezer.  That method of storage can fail.  I don’t want to generate plastic packaging because, then what do I do with it when I’ve finished with it?  I can’t compost it on my land (or anywhere else for that matter).

In the end, I decided to order 13 Cornish X in order to ensure that I would get the full dozen I needed.  Any more than that is too many for me to handle.

I wanted to order at least 25 birds.  25 birds are better able to stay warm and safe on their journey through the mail.  But 50 birds was more affordable for me due to the cost per chick.  I wasn’t expecting sales tax, but there is was since I live in a state that has a sales tax.  Now other states are charging sales on items shipped to our state.  That is definitely new and adds to the cost.  Since I think of these birds as food, I have to adjust my thinking to paying sales tax on food now.

Having decided on 50 birds, I needed to order another 37 birds.  Transitioning to a dual purpose bird has been my plan since I first began raising Cornish X, but I knew it would take time.  Cornish X are the fast food of chickens.  Dual purpose birds as layers/meat birds grow slower.  Having taken this into consideration, I ordered 37 unsexed Buff Orpingtons.  Good layers, good meat birds, and best of all, good moms.  Getting a flock that self replicates is my main goal.  Chicks through the mail is not optimal for me.  It causes stress on both the birds and myself, it costs more than is practical for me to pay, and it uses more resources.  Plus until I started raising Cornish X, nature took care of increasing my flock.  A hen goes broody and hatches chicks.  She tends them and they get a good start in life.  No brooder boxes, no heat lamps necessary.  The hen does all the work.  Most of my flock was killed off in a Coyote attack, and my young rooster was killed and the older rooster was injured.  The end of the line for my flock.

So I settled on 13 Cornish X and by the time they are all harvested 12 weeks later, the Buff Orpington roosters should be large enough to begin harvesting.  I will save out one or two of the best roosters for breeding and can harvest the rest of the males as meat birds.  I will also save out a dozen hens to begin laying eggs.  I won’t need more grown meat birds for another 10 weeks or so.  By which time I hope to have gotten a second batch of birds raised to fill that need.

I am hoping in the final analysis, to receive only 3 orders of birds through the mail, while I build a flock on the homestead that will meet our needs.  Moms raising staggered batches of chicks will allow me to provide my family with the eggs and meat we need, and maybe even to have a surplus of eggs to sell.