As the Homestead continues to progress the next step for us are chickens. On July 28th 2016, 25 Ideal 236 laying hens and 30 Cornish Cross broilers arrived in the mail from Ideal Nursery down in Cameron, Texas.
We've had a couple of very small batches of chickens between us, but never this many at once, so we're learning a lot. The Cornish Cross are amazing to watch grow so fast. In a week, they've already doubled in size compared to the Ideal 236s.
We're using shredded paper as bedding and have re-purposed a leaky 100 gallon water trough as their temporary home.
As with any venture, there are going to be losses, and they always break my heart. The first loss died straight away, from an unknown malady. The second appeared to have gotten himself wedged under the water and then crushed by others. Tonight I went outside to terrified chirping to find a 4 for long snake attempting to eat one of the Cornish. The snake meet his fate at the business end of a flat head shovel.
Hopefully the next 5 weeks will pass peacefully for the Cornish, before they graduate to the freezer.
