I'm very sad I live all the way over in the UK here and can't try any of your chickens, you all seem like very pleasant, informative people and your livestock look very happy and well looked after :) And that always comes through in the taste!
Wow, those Cornish Cross grow much faster than I imagined; they're huge at 2 weeks. I understand that they reach maturity at 8 weeks but I am impressed. They're about the size of my 7 week Easter Eggers. I've only purchased chicks locally but I have 2 shipments from 2 different hatcheries coming in the next 8 weeks. Cool to see how they'll arrive. Great video and thanks for sharing.
I use dirt for litter. Just plain old dirt (or any soil). Never smells and never needs replacing. You can even grow small nibble plants on it - chicks love them.
hi I am so thankful I came across your channel, it gave me a little insight on how to start taking care of my own chicken. I have a few questions, I am raising chickens in my yard to have fresh and eggs and I think they are so easy and adorable to raise with my young girls. where did you order them? and whats the names of the chicken you buy.
The chickens in the video are Cornish Crosses. These are strictly meat birds and do not make for good pets. If you are looking for some to keep as back yard birds you will need something like a Rhode Island Red, Buff Orpington, Wyandotte, or Barred Rock. You can find these through Murray McMurray Hatchery.
That's a wonderful brood house- looks like the cold frames I use, but bigger. The pen is also a great idea! We raised two batches of cornishes last year, and we're just about run out of them now in the freezer so thank goodness spring is coming. We are going to try a later maturing one this year to see what we think about it (Murray's Pioneers). What do you do about predators in the pen, sorry if you've been over this before.
The pins are fully enclosed with chicken wire. For the most part, we don't have too much trouble. If you watch some of our other videos, you will find one that says bear trouble. That has been the biggest predation problem we have had with the meat chickens. Our rabbits are another story. We have yet to figure out how to keep varmints out of the rabbit pins. We had one rip open the wire on the pin last year and kill a breeding pair. And on another occasion rip open a growing pin and release six kits. Thankfully I used a box trap and caught five of them back.
Hi may name is Stephen Waweru Founder of Spread Wing Ministry I like keeping portly farm. Last year I worked out with friends and we purchased 1235 egg incubator from china, Our target is to start a hatchery businesses in Africa, we are based in Nairobi Kenya. Our challenge is how to get money to buy the first eggs to hatch. I need help with money to by eggs. our target is, in two years we will have a chicken lone which we will be giving it out to the poor family, in return. they will pass the same number of chicken they where give to someone ells in the community. +317-997-9445 is my US phone please help me give hope to a willing family in Africa, give them opportunity to put a plat of food on the table. Stephen@spreadwingsministry.com
The French Family Farm maybe use hardware cloth instead of chicken wire? Ive heard pretty much anything can get through chicken wire except chickens heh. I have another question.. how often do you move these grow out pens.. or do you? Im considering this myself... just got tired of reading horror stories.. read one about the conditions of laying chickens and went out and bought me some ISA browns... now i just heard that some of the head cutters on meat chickens "miss" and the birds are boiled alive... yeah thats not cool... so now looking into cornish crosses.. (im the last person to guilt anyone though.. its a very small percentage and they dont sell those birds but still.. if more that are able to grow there own WOULD grow there own there would be less need for factory farms.
Summer Noybn We move the pins everyday. That helps us get pretty even distribution of the manure on our fields. This MUST be done for the health of our birds and our fields.
The French Family Farm hmmm. How long before you can move them back to the spot they started at? I have probably 5 acres i can use for pasture.. the rest is wooded or buildings trying to figure out if i have enough land to move it every day for 8 weeks without repeating spots!
That was super interesting information. What breed are those Chickens? Can I ask where you order them at online? I want to know because my family wants to get a few for eggs since we have a good size yard, but they don't really sell them in our more urban area.
It will depend on how many you plan to raise. Why are you raising them for only three weeks? Ours will spend two weeks in the brood house and the remaining six weeks on our field. Also, do you have a place for them to go at the end of the three weeks or are you going to butcher them?
Thank you for the great information. I just got 6 babies from a feed store and one limps and sits a lot. I checked for any bumps or abnormalities nothing stood out as different. The feed store told me they had gotten lost in the mail for 2 days. We had 2 die hours after we got them so we went and replaced those and while I was there one was dying in the store. I'm thinking during shipping the chicks leg might have gotten hurt. We've had them over a week and all are thriving but the one still limps and sits down a lot. She is eating but is smaller and the smallest of the 6. Any advice you could give would be helpful. Thanks
I'm a total urban dweller so I no nothing about farming, but this is interesting to me. I have a few questions. Do all of your chickens become food eventually or do you keep some for eggs? Or, do you just collect the eggs as they come knowing that all the chickens will become food? Also, instead of ordering chicks, why not just let the eggs be fertilized and produce your own chicks?
I've never had Wyandottes myself. Every thing I have read about them says they are a big bodied bird and are cold hardy. I think they may become stressed in high heat due to their size. Where are you located?
How big is your brooder does it sit outside with a close lid all the time how do u keep it from getting to hot in the inside with the heat lamps running could u send me some pictures of it
I'm gonna get a hutch.Should I just put my chicks in there, or make a brooder that's inside? Also do you have any suggestions for the bedding and the feed that I should use?
That will depend on how cold it is getting at night and how well sealed the hutch is. If it's not and your hutch is drafty, you may want to keep them inside for a few days and then move them to the hutch. You want to be able to keep the hutch about 90°F for the first week. after that you can start to slowly wean them off of the heat. As far as bedding we use pine shavings or sawdust. There are some who have commented on this video and said that you shouldn't use sawdust. We have been using sawdust or pine shavings for several years now and have successfully raised over 3000 chickens bedding them on sawdust. We also use hay, but it doesn't do as well because it mats together.
I would keep them inside for a couple of weeks at least. Your main concern will be later this summer when it gets really hot for you. This time of year should be the easiest for you. In the summer you will want to provide plenty of shade and water for them.
Lol aw i've always wanted chickens in my backyard, but the thought of the work that I would have to put in to take care of them, and also I tend to get attached to animals, so I wouldn't know what to do with a lot of chickens or 4 incase my mother wanted to kill them for consumption. Also living in a urban area is so hard to have a small farm haha.
what I do with my chickens, is just let them out of the coop when they're done laying, they live off the land and natural selection does its course. I don't think it's that much work but it can be, I personally think it's fun.
Florida I read this and decided to order plymouth rock.. can you give any tips from them? Also I heard that it is bad to give new chicks pine shavings bc they will eat it. Is this true?
You can use anything carbon based, hay, wood chips, peanut hulls, yard waste, ect. I will say, though, hay is my least favorite. I only use it in a pinch. I would be careful of using wood chips that have been in a pile outside for a long period of time (ie. mulch). I would be concerned about mold. You don't want your chickens to develop respiratory issues which can lead to poor growth or even death. When it comes to knowing when to add more bedding, the key is if it starts to smell like ammonia you need to add more bedding. When you are done brooding your chickens you can use the bedding for compost.
I like straw instead of wood chips. I am raising layers and therefore have them a lot longer. Straw is better to compost and does not compress down so much.
No, they don't eat the sawdust to my knowledge but it wouldn't hurt them if they did. Chickens will eat some pretty crazy stuff. When we process we will have some drop jaw moments if we open the crop up to see what is in it.
I should have been clear about that. No, none of them died. The twenty six we moved out had come in two weeks earlier. The chicks going in and the chicks put on the field were on the same day.
Hi, my chicken is more then 1 year old but she not sitting on her eggs. I hav done nice place with hays, she goes there and lay and goes away Do u know why she is not sitting on her eggs?
Reva Stephanie Um... I think you are thinking of other breeds of chicken. These are broilers.. probably cornish X rock chickens. They "live" to be about 8 weeks... then they are dinner. They really cant live a whole lot longer without STRICT regimentation; restricting their feed and forcing them to learn to move their feathery butts to forage.. left to their natures they will actually LAY in the food dishes and eat themselves to literal death in less than 10 weeks. Its kindest just to harvest them at 9 weeks or so..give or take a week. Its what they were bred for. Normal egg laying breeds are about like you said; though some can live even longer :)
Algae is naturally occurring. Unless I am to buy filtered or distilled water there is algae in the water. As a matter of fact it is likely that you drink algae on a daily basis. It does not look pretty, I'll admit that, but it is in every livestock water trough, especially if you water from a creek or pond, and will not hurt the animals.
I want to start a poultry farming in Tanzania East Africa let me know the formula for hand mixing chicken food for these called country chicken others termed them as kienyeji ones.
I always love the sound of little baby chicks.
I'm very sad I live all the way over in the UK here and can't try any of your chickens, you all seem like very pleasant, informative people and your livestock look very happy and well looked after :) And that always comes through in the taste!
Wow, those Cornish Cross grow much faster than I imagined; they're huge at 2 weeks. I understand that they reach maturity at 8 weeks but I am impressed. They're about the size of my 7 week Easter Eggers. I've only purchased chicks locally but I have 2 shipments from 2 different hatcheries coming in the next 8 weeks. Cool to see how they'll arrive. Great video and thanks for sharing.
Sure! They are fast growers and yes they are ready to process at 8 weeks.
Good practical information thanks for sharing
Jerry of Pine Meadows Hobby Farm
Pine Meadows Hobby Farm A Modern Homestead cute and little
Wheres this farm at? I have a farm near me called French Creek Farm, and thought it was the same as your farm! Lol
We are in Bland, Virginia.
The French Family Farm I hate how everybody eats chickens
The French Family Farm including you
Chicken, nom nom. Everybody love chicken.
The French Family Farm it doesn't even taste that good I would rather eat a baked potato or mac and cheese or spaghetti
I use dirt for litter. Just plain old dirt (or any soil). Never smells and never needs replacing. You can even grow small nibble plants on it - chicks love them.
Great video. I'm raising 16 cornish cross chicks for meat and 10 road island red chicks to replace my current egg layers.
They are soo cute
I LOVE BABY CHICKENS!!! 😍😍😙
+Farlie Baladraf HI PLZ SEND ME rEQUST FOR FACEBOOK PLZ
I enjoyed this video! So cute!
oh my god their so CUTE!!
THERE SOOOOOO CUTE!!!
Good job
I love sir so nice video
great video what is the size of the brooder
I have chicks and i remember when they were very small:)
Great video! What are the measurements for the brooder box and the tractors?
I like your brooder. do you have a blueprint?
Very nice
hi I am so thankful I came across your channel, it gave me a little insight on how to start taking care of my own chicken. I have a few questions, I am raising chickens in my yard to have fresh and eggs and I think they are so easy and adorable to raise with my young girls. where did you order them? and whats the names of the chicken you buy.
The chickens in the video are Cornish Crosses. These are strictly meat birds and do not make for good pets. If you are looking for some to keep as back yard birds you will need something like a Rhode Island Red, Buff Orpington, Wyandotte, or Barred Rock. You can find these through Murray McMurray Hatchery.
So cute 😘
That's a wonderful brood house- looks like the cold frames I use, but bigger. The pen is also a great idea! We raised two batches of cornishes last year, and we're just about run out of them now in the freezer so thank goodness spring is coming. We are going to try a later maturing one this year to see what we think about it (Murray's Pioneers). What do you do about predators in the pen, sorry if you've been over this before.
The pins are fully enclosed with chicken wire. For the most part, we don't have too much trouble. If you watch some of our other videos, you will find one that says bear trouble. That has been the biggest predation problem we have had with the meat chickens. Our rabbits are another story. We have yet to figure out how to keep varmints out of the rabbit pins. We had one rip open the wire on the pin last year and kill a breeding pair. And on another occasion rip open a growing pin and release six kits. Thankfully I used a box trap and caught five of them back.
Hi may name is Stephen Waweru Founder of Spread Wing Ministry I like keeping portly farm. Last year I worked out with friends and we purchased 1235 egg incubator from china, Our target is to start a hatchery businesses in Africa, we are based in Nairobi Kenya. Our challenge is how to get money to buy the first eggs to hatch. I need help with money to by eggs. our target is, in two years we will have a chicken lone which we will be giving it out to the poor family, in return. they will pass the same number of chicken they where give to someone ells in the community. +317-997-9445 is my US phone please help me give hope to a willing family in Africa, give them opportunity to put a plat of food on the table. Stephen@spreadwingsministry.com
The French Family Farm maybe use hardware cloth instead of chicken wire? Ive heard pretty much anything can get through chicken wire except chickens heh. I have another question.. how often do you move these grow out pens.. or do you? Im considering this myself... just got tired of reading horror stories.. read one about the conditions of laying chickens and went out and bought me some ISA browns... now i just heard that some of the head cutters on meat chickens "miss" and the birds are boiled alive... yeah thats not cool... so now looking into cornish crosses.. (im the last person to guilt anyone though.. its a very small percentage and they dont sell those birds but still.. if more that are able to grow there own WOULD grow there own there would be less need for factory farms.
Summer Noybn We move the pins everyday. That helps us get pretty even distribution of the manure on our fields. This MUST be done for the health of our birds and our fields.
The French Family Farm hmmm. How long before you can move them back to the spot they started at? I have probably 5 acres i can use for pasture.. the rest is wooded or buildings trying to figure out if i have enough land to move it every day for 8 weeks without repeating spots!
hi do you remember where you got your chicks
We get them from Welp Hatchery.
thanks found it
sup
Broc Theil
fkah
o my ilove the baby chick ^_^
That was super interesting information. What breed are those Chickens? Can I ask where you order them at online? I want to know because my family wants to get a few for eggs since we have a good size yard, but they don't really sell them in our more urban area.
Yes I was Wondering what hatchery do you get your chicks from?
Thank you for sharing..
It will depend on how many you plan to raise. Why are you raising them for only three weeks? Ours will spend two weeks in the brood house and the remaining six weeks on our field. Also, do you have a place for them to go at the end of the three weeks or are you going to butcher them?
Thank you for the great information. I just got 6 babies from a feed store and one limps and sits a lot. I checked for any bumps or abnormalities nothing stood out as different. The feed store told me they had gotten lost in the mail for 2 days. We had 2 die hours after we got them so we went and replaced those and while I was there one was dying in the store. I'm thinking during shipping the chicks leg might have gotten hurt. We've had them over a week and all are thriving but the one still limps and sits down a lot. She is eating but is smaller and the smallest of the 6. Any advice you could give would be helpful. Thanks
THERE SO CUUUUUUUUT
I'm going to set up one
what is the use of heat lamp to the chicks? im raising now 45 days chickens,it is okay not to use heat lamp?
Depends on the ambient temperature. The chicks need it to be around 90*F for the first week and then tapered off to your ambient outside temperature.
Me Myself
Me Myself
I'm a total urban dweller so I no nothing about farming, but this is interesting to me. I have a few questions. Do all of your chickens become food eventually or do you keep some for eggs? Or, do you just collect the eggs as they come knowing that all the chickens will become food? Also, instead of ordering chicks, why not just let the eggs be fertilized and produce your own chicks?
5:18, "chicken" things out, haha
LOL 999 SUBS? DO I SUBSCRIBE???!!!! YES I DO!
Well, what are you waiting for? I want to see 1000 up there.
The French Family Farm Lol, i subbed xD but it wont show. YT is after..
kitPVP ForTW
Is that a composed woods?in the floor of chicks.
I like this video. I would like use a feeder to prevent baby chicken poo from it food.
Nice
what is the floor covered with?
Iman Faith I'm guessing wood shavings. Pretty much cardboard but organic
Iman Faith r. yk
Iman Faith jg
Have you ever had a wyandotte breed and if so are they heat hardy?
I've never had Wyandottes myself. Every thing I have read about them says they are a big bodied bird and are cold hardy. I think they may become stressed in high heat due to their size. Where are you located?
How big is your brooder does it sit outside with a close lid all the time how do u keep it from getting to hot in the inside with the heat lamps running could u send me some pictures of it
from where did you buy the chicks
where do you order your chicks from?
so nice si cot
et2t
Where do you order your chickens
And what kinds are they
They are Cornish crosses and we get them from Welp Hatchery. The Cornish Crosses are strictly a meat bird.
I'm gonna get a hutch.Should I just put my chicks in there, or make a brooder that's inside? Also do you have any suggestions for the bedding and the feed that I should use?
That will depend on how cold it is getting at night and how well sealed the hutch is. If it's not and your hutch is drafty, you may want to keep them inside for a few days and then move them to the hutch. You want to be able to keep the hutch about 90°F for the first week. after that you can start to slowly wean them off of the heat.
As far as bedding we use pine shavings or sawdust. There are some who have commented on this video and said that you shouldn't use sawdust. We have been using sawdust or pine shavings for several years now and have successfully raised over 3000 chickens bedding them on sawdust. We also use hay, but it doesn't do as well because it mats together.
Well, I live in Florida and it gets pretty hot so ,should I keep them inside for the first few weeks?
What kind of chickens are you raising? Meat or eggs?
Eggs
I would keep them inside for a couple of weeks at least. Your main concern will be later this summer when it gets really hot for you. This time of year should be the easiest for you. In the summer you will want to provide plenty of shade and water for them.
We use two different hatcheries. Welp in Iowa and Meyer in Ohio. Both can be found by searching the internet.
do you feed them commercial feed or leave them on pasture
Adarsh Santuka these kinds of chickens have to have feed. They wont forage right or enough to do without.
do you move your tractor ?
ere did you order your chicks from
I thinking about getting chicks where do you buy them from?
what kind of feed to you use? is it organic or GMO?
Lol aw i've always wanted chickens in my backyard, but the thought of the work that I would have to put in to take care of them, and also I tend to get attached to animals, so I wouldn't know what to do with a lot of chickens or 4 incase my mother wanted to kill them for consumption. Also living in a urban area is so hard to have a small farm haha.
what I do with my chickens, is just let them out of the coop when they're done laying, they live off the land and natural selection does its course. I don't think it's that much work but it can be, I personally think it's fun.
I find that fun too haha I like the thought of having your own lil farm in the city sounds rewarding :-)
+Reva Stephanie Hi, I want to create my own farm to rise chickens.
can you help me to know what I should to do?.
Where do u order ur chickens from
Well, it is alot better than animal factory.............................
If is far better than an animal factory.
Where do you order or buy chicklets?
Great! Just a question why "French" ?
Modern Chicken Coop that's their name!
Im curious what about when it rains
Florida I read this and decided to order plymouth rock.. can you give any tips from them? Also I heard that it is bad to give new chicks pine shavings bc they will eat it. Is this true?
Ours are on pine shavings and we have no trouble. That is with us raising 900 a year.
Hey, I noticed they commented yet I'd like to add that mine are on the shavings and they do peck at it, I never see them eat it. :)
Ok thanks. Can you use hay? Thx for the replies!
You can use anything carbon based, hay, wood chips, peanut hulls, yard waste, ect. I will say, though, hay is my least favorite. I only use it in a pinch. I would be careful of using wood chips that have been in a pile outside for a long period of time (ie. mulch). I would be concerned about mold. You don't want your chickens to develop respiratory issues which can lead to poor growth or even death. When it comes to knowing when to add more bedding, the key is if it starts to smell like ammonia you need to add more bedding. When you are done brooding your chickens you can use the bedding for compost.
Ok thanks man
Dakota Blankenship What did you decide on? Hay or wood chips?
I like straw instead of wood chips. I am raising layers and therefore have them a lot longer. Straw is better to compost and does not compress down so much.
Straw The French Family Farm GS Wovoka
Should i be worried about my dogs (2 big ones) that might harm the chickens?
If you keep your dogs away from your chickens its fine...
baby chicks dont eat the sawdust?
How much temperature can give to the room.
my favorite
Hmm...nyummy..
No, they don't eat the sawdust to my knowledge but it wouldn't hurt them if they did. Chickens will eat some pretty crazy stuff. When we process we will have some drop jaw moments if we open the crop up to see what is in it.
How do you get the feed?
We purchase most of our feed from the local miller.
Were you able to find yourself some feed?
where did you order them from
We get our chicks from several sources but most come from Welp Hatchery in Iowa.
ok thanks :)
Aldo Guzman Did you ever find yourself some chickens?
Yes thanks
you bought 50 and only moved 26 after a few weeks into the pen...did many die?
I should have been clear about that. No, none of them died. The twenty six we moved out had come in two weeks earlier. The chicks going in and the chicks put on the field were on the same day.
Hi, my chicken is more then 1 year old but she not sitting on her eggs.
I hav done nice place with hays, she goes there and lay and goes away
Do u know why she is not sitting on her eggs?
Your hen is not broody....it has to be her idea to sit on eggs, you can't make her do it. Do you have a rooster or will you be buying fertilized eggs?
What breed of chick is that? Im a freshman in this field
How long do they live ?
2-10 yrs. depends on how good of care you treat them. but the egg laying is only bout 4 years
Reva Stephanie Um... I think you are thinking of other breeds of chicken. These are broilers.. probably cornish X rock chickens. They "live" to be about 8 weeks... then they are dinner. They really cant live a whole lot longer without STRICT regimentation; restricting their feed and forcing them to learn to move their feathery butts to forage.. left to their natures they will actually LAY in the food dishes and eat themselves to literal death in less than 10 weeks. Its kindest just to harvest them at 9 weeks or so..give or take a week. Its what they were bred for. Normal egg laying breeds are about like you said; though some can live even longer :)
Reva Stephanie Laying hens can live close to ten years if nothing happens to them. These broilers will only live about 8-10 weeks.
what is the name of the chickens food i will like to buy
is it ok to use wood shaving after eight days
Nilufer Yusuf no too dangerous
o my I am gonna die awwwwwwww they are soooooo fluffy
Yes, if it’s pine never use cedar wood. They are allergic to it.
I love.chikens
Me to but dem little can fuckers can really bite
Yes, those are Cornish cross broilers.
good
Your nice to them some people sloter them
The first day
اع
kindly send me how do we made an incibutar for eggs
how to you make them become big rapidly
so many!
Sir old day chick how to identify male or female please comment
What breed are they?
Layering chickens they look to me
Cornish crosses
fastfreddy3000 nope. laying chickens dont grow that fast these are meaties.
cool
Algae is naturally occurring. Unless I am to buy filtered or distilled water there is algae in the water. As a matter of fact it is likely that you drink algae on a daily basis. It does not look pretty, I'll admit that, but it is in every livestock water trough, especially if you water from a creek or pond, and will not hurt the animals.
The water it's very dirty. Wouldn't the get sick?
are they meat birds ?
Yes, these are cornish rock cross meat chickens.
I want to start a poultry farming in Tanzania East Africa let me know the formula for hand mixing chicken food for these called country chicken others termed them as kienyeji ones.
♥♥♥
Do you get only female chickens or is it a mix of cocks and hens
where do you order your chicks
can you feed baby chicks meat bird crumble?
some of the chicks will mistake food from shavings so becareful. i suggest you put paper towels down until there a few weeks
if you use big ones its gonna be fine because those wont fit in their mouths
how can I buy some
New friend lodi,m8
.
Ganyan din me ,tulungan t u
..... .... .....
can you gimme one? they're adorbs
which of the chicken are male
Jabarie Philip none
i have 4 week old chicks but one died so now i have three :(
@tom110111, I will do a video soon answering your question in more detail. For now I'll just say that the chickens we raise will not reproduce.
HELLO!