3 brown.

Talked with neighbors, they'll do head count henceforth. proper amount of feed for young birds didn't really get addressed, I told them the run rate was less than half what I expected. As for the confined hen I thin one of the other birds must have knocked the lid on top of her. She's recovering, but the pecking order is definitely upset. i gave her an egg to help her recovery, had to keep other birds away and give her chance to eat it. Bad precedent, but she needs food and fluids to recover her strength and egg is pretty good food.

5 brown on Sunday.

I'd been away from Monday-Saturday. Neighbors were "taking care" of my livestock and cat. They weren't doing well, perhaps by ignorance - one of the Aracauna hens somehow was under the lid of a feed can (I use trashcans to store feed, plastic lid was covering the hen). She smelled bad, had been stuck in what amounts to a sauna for an unknown number of days - 3 eggs there with her (one had been eaten) so I'm guessing 3 or 4 days. Today she appears to be recovering, yesterday the other hens saw a chance to change the pecking order and were challenging her in her weakened state.

the juvenile birds were underfed, and had no water when I got home on Saturday. I've been going through about 80 pounds of feed per week, only 30 pounds had been fed during the time I was gone. In addition one of the Cornish X Rock birds from the first cohort had leg problems - I'd called to check on Wednesday and was told no problems... that bird was not able to easily get to food and water (not that there was enough of either) due to leg weakness - Sunday it was attacked by other birds and died - I don't butcher chickens that I didn't slaughter as I have no good way to tell how freshly dead they are in that case, and salmonella, etc can proliferate in short order.

So I will need to either get the neighbors to learn how to really care for live stock or find a new caretaker for when I travel. thankfully next time I travel my son will be here. He knows how to take care of chickens - his mom had fowl in Alaska when he was in middle school and high school. In addition the flocks will have merged which will make some things easier.

The Buff Cochin (exotic) chick was killed by local fauna and partially eaten. It was not in the chicken yard. I saw a rat eating carcass, but this could just be opportunistic on the rats part, although I do think a rat could kill that a chick that size. I will secure the chicken yard to keep the young chicks from foraging today. I hope that takes care of predators.

Slaughtered 3 chickens today.
Live weight -> dressed weight
8 lbs, 4 oz -> 6 lbs, 3 oz
6 lbs 11 oz -> 4 lbs, 7 oz
6 lbs 5 oz -> 4 lbs , 2 0z

Having 3 fewer large birds should take some pressure off the younger pullets. I think the older cohort of pullets will be going into production in the next month... will be moving them out of segregated area soon.

Saturday 5 brown eggs.

3 brown

Thursday 1 green, 2 brown.

It's been hot. Slaughtering 3-4 meat birds early Saturday so as to be able to stand the scalding water used for plucking. Should see some decrease in feed intake from the other birds... remaining meat birds from the first cohort will be slaughtered next week.

One of the 2nd cohort of meat birds appears to be a runt - growing much slower than its figurative brothers and sisters, in fact it is only slightly larger than the RI and Barred Rock birds, and might be smaller than the buff cochin exotic bird in that cohort. The cochin is supposed to be a poor layer, so it will be slaughtered at 3 months old or so depending on how it gains weight.

4 brown

Haven't posted for a while.
4 brown Tuesday.

Monday 2 brown, 1 green.

Chicks have been thriving... but yesterday one of the RI Reds (2nd cohort) was killed - something removed most of its head - it was under a tote in the chick segregation yard. Thinking about how I found it might have been a rodent.