53 baby chicks arrived this morning. 52 of them are Jumbo Cornish X roosters, or meat birds, that we are raising for ourselves/our freezer this year. Last year we raised less than half as many and learned to process them on our own. The task of handling this many birds seems daunting but we have about 8-12 weeks to get "ready". It's almost unbelievable how quickly birds bred for meat grow. I have only 3 birds left in our freezer from the last batch. It's been such a pleasure having that healthy, home grown source of protein at our disposal, as challenging as the whole process is I couldn't go back to store bought chicken.
Oh, when you order chicks from a hatchery they always include one 'rare exotic chick'. That's chick #53. The 'rare exotic chicks' are always a rooster. Ours is an Americana.
