Everybody Roots for the Underdog

I think every farmer has a runt they secretly root for. I've been around farming long enough to know that most runts won't make it. Nature is cruel and honest at the same time. Survival of the fittest usually involves being bigger, stronger, and faster than the others in their group.

I write this because one of the little 236 hens is about half the size of the rest of her brood, but man is she fearless and plucky. (She's in the top left of the picture.) She fearlessly scoots in and around the hogs picking up loose hog pellets and table scraps. She negotiates the older Rhode Island Red hens with ease and is smart enough to give the rooster a wide berth.

Who knows if she'll make it to laying, but I'm rooting for her, and I'd be lying if I didn't own up to throwing her extra scratch grains from time to time.

Ideal 236 Chickens

On July 28^th we had 55 chickens show up at the local post office. 30 were Cornish Cross and 25 were the Ideal Nursery’s 236. The 236 is a proprietary breed that Ideal has been selling since the 60’s, apparently involving a Leghorn crossed with a couple of other chickens. The 236 chickens will become the foundation of our laying endeavor.

The 236’s on the other hand were all fully feathered by the end of week three. Zero have died of natural causes, and even though their coop isn’t 100% snake proof, I haven’t lost any of them to snakes since week 3 due to their ability to fly and roost as high as they can. The FrankenChickens on the other hand have had 2 succumb to snakes over the last 3 weeks, in part, I think, due to their inability to fly and/or roost above ground level. The other thing I’ve been impressed with since I started letting them free range during the day is how little feed they’re consuming.

We won’t know until they actually start laying how truly efficient their egg production is. That’s the real baseline I’m concerned with is how close can I come to breaking even on my feed costs through selling the excess eggs. They love going outside to forage and as it starts to get dark they head back into the coop without too much prodding. They all sleep off the ground, roosting like chickens should.

Overall, I couldn’t be any happier with the 236 chickens. They have been easy to raise and vigorous growers. 

We’re 5 weeks in and what a difference in the 236 chickens from the FrankenChickens. They’ve been vibrant, active, curious, and healthy. They were the same size as the Cornish Cross when they arrived, and while the Cornish are now roughly 4 times bigger the Cornish look rough, and are nowhere near being completely feathered out.  Yesterday I found one of the Cornish who looked as though he’d just gone to sleep and didn’t wake up. No abuse from his buddies, just dead.