Week two has been a bit of a blur for me, since I had to have an emergency appendectomy. During my recovery over the next several weeks I am told no lifting anything over 10lbs... So that means I'll have to just give orders and blog!
Anyway, their care has remain fairly simple, especially since obtaining the larger feeder and waterer. Mostly they just need attention once or twice a day. We are still on the same initial bag of chick food. Josh had to make a larger box for them today in the garage since they are growing at a rapid pace, but still not ready to be placed outside. He just did this from scraps we already had laying around, so no money spent! With the weather getting into the 80s this coming week, we might be able to get them into the coop during the day, once it's made. But 60s at night is probably still too cold since they aren't yet fully feathered.
This top picture is the beginning of the week. They have grown an amazing amount in just 5-6 days, it's incredible! With this breed of chicken(Cornish Cross) basically all they do is eat, sleep, and poop. They are bred to put on the pounds fast! Growing to butchering size in just 6-10 weeks!
We started restricting food at night after the first week, as I have read from multiple sources that this can help moderate growth and avoid leg and heart problems. They have no off button and will keep eating and gaining weight so fast that their internal organs cannot keep up, leading to health problems.
These two pictures are just a few days later than the top one and they are in a much larger pen. They have grown so much that Waylon got me this morning to tell me the chickens have "grewed up overnight!". We have two chicks of the 25 that are not growing nearly as fast nor looking as healthy as the others. We've been thinking they may not live, but so far they've survived.
This is the larger box that Josh built today. It's probably close to three times as big as their previous Amazon box, so much more room to grow!
As far as expenses this week we have purchased just a couple of things...
1. A set of wheels for the coop for $12. (Hoping to build the rest of the coop with things that we have mostly laying around)
2. A turkey fryer pan set off Amazon for $12. I mostly got this bc it was so cheap that I felt it was worth it to go ahead and purchase it. It also came with a thermometer that we would be needing and is by itself $5-6. So we'll see how it works, planning on trying it out before butchering day bc a couple reviews said they had burners actually burn a hole in the pan. Mostly it was really good reviews, but for $12 it does make you wonder. Since we don't need the water boiling, but just a scalding temperature, I really think it will do just fine.
So there's week two! I'm guessing over the next week or two they will be losing all signs of being chicks and turn into ugly chickens. From what I've seen they are not the most beautifully feathered bird and many times don't even get all their feathers in before being large enough to butcher. Which is fine because we definitely aren't raising them for their feathers or beauty.
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