Sue returned home from work yesterday with 11 chicks!
They had come from the mass production unit I mentioned the other day and someone had brought them into school to show the children. Because of biosecurity, they cannot go back into the unit. I knew this was happening but wasn't quite expecting eleven.
Completely by coincidence I was actually reading a blog on rearing these commercial meat birds last night. They have a reputation for going lame, never moving and having heart attacks. It seems that if you want a decent breast on your chicken there is a price to pay for the poor bird. But this blog claimed that if they don't have constant access to food their growth will not be so obscene and they will forage, thus exercising their hearts and legs.
This seems like a perfect opportunity to experiment.So these chicks had better be tough. They are going straight into an outside pen.
Where they have come from they were kept at a toasty 30 degrees C, so Fenland's late November weather will come as a bit of a refreshing surprise.
Thursday 23rd November 2017
The chicks survived a cold night and came out to feed and drink in the morning. Fingers crossed. They are very vocal and their cheeping is the first thing you hear as you near the poultry pen.
A word more on keeping meat birds. The Ixworth hens that we breed and rear for meat are ok, but they don't have much breast on them. Big legs though. I do wonder whether they are the best stock with regards producing birds for meat. They taste very nice indeed, but I suspect this is more to do with the way they are reared than the breed.
I'll see how these new monster chicks do and maybe even keep back a trio to breed up, but only if they appear healthy and mobile when kept properly free-ranging. If keeping a breeding trio is not an option, at least this will be a good opportunity to assess the viability of buying in commercial broiler chicks each year rather than breeding our own Ixworths.
