Chickens Part 6!

I wanted to give everyone an update on the Chicks that we have been following on the blog. Tom is holding an Americana (Blue Egg Layer) and the white chickens eating are the Cornish Cross (Meat Chickens). I wanted to give everyone a good side by side of the chickens and the size difference. These chickens are all the same age. They live in the same coop, eat the same food, and have the same living details in every aspect of their lives. The Cornish Cross are bred to be big and to grow fast. They have not had any vaccinations or get any special treatments or hormones to grow big and fast.

So we have learned a few lessons with this round of chickens. Next time we will not be buying chickens so late in the fall. It wasn’t intentional that we bought so late. But with all the drama with neighbors and the raccoon that was breaking into the coop, we had to post-pone buying the new chicks. We will be buying chicks in the early spring from now on. I am not looking forward to dressing the chickens in the cold winter. It really isn’t the most ideal time to butcher chickens. With in the next few weeks we will be taking on that adventure. The birds will be a little older than we like. But with the Cornish Cross growing up in the colder weather, they didn’t put all their energy into growing big. They put their energy into growing feathers and staying warm. They really haven’t started growing big until the last 2 weeks.

I hope you enjoyed the 6th Chicken Update. It will most likely be the last one this adventure!