What it's like to Get Meat Chickens | THEN & NOW

In this show, what it's like for us to get copious amount of me birds. Then, like 4 years ago, and now. Any minute that phone is gonna ring. It's 6:20. Chicks are coming today. We're starting dark and early. We got a photo shoot today and we forgot to get ready for the chicks. We forgot to get the power strip set up for the chicks. You see? You think you know where that is? Because yeah, we had two in there that just disappeared. Yeah, I know. Okay, wait, I thought you were supposed to go out. Are you over chicks? How old are you? You lost the excitement? Been getting chicks every spring for your entire life? Look, you were just going to set it up. There it is. Hello. Hey, this is the Fletcher Post Office calling, just letting you know your baby chicks have arrived. Okay, thank you. Hey, no problem. All right, bye-bye. See, I told you they would call any minute. Okay, so you gotta go hurry and get the brooder going. Ben's coming at 7 o'clock, so I kind of need to see if Grandma can go pick up those chicks. Will you go with Grandma? I have to at least be there when Ben comes.

There's someone in space right now taking nippers.

She got rid of her landline. I bet her cell phone's off. And I'll call you back. I'm gonna try Big Daddy. You have reached the voicemail of Bruce. When we lined up the photographer, we didn't know that's when our chicks were gonna come. It's actually pretty good because we can get pictures of that. I'm gonna get that warming up just in case me and Rebecca got Rebecca offered to go, but she's got the baby. That's not going to be very fast. Crud, she's asleep. Wow. Okay, that's not an option. Let's turn this problem into a solution. Get them ourselves. See if Ben can't meet us at the post office. We'll get some pictures of that. Oh shoot, there's a sheep out. Yeah, is that fence not on? Oh, we cannot be having that. Gideon, are you going with Okay, what's all that? We're just going to the post office.

Yeah, I know, we need it.

No, just grab your coat and let's go. And we got a little baby sheep out. The fence has— we have to make sure the fence was on. You got to get this heating up. Okay, you put some fresh shavings down. That might be too hilly for them though. What's this pad you put in there? All right, you got to get 2 hover brooders and a heat lamp over their food, okay? This is on. That means there's somewhere it's not connected to go out to the sheep there, or that sheep busted out through an electric fence, which is not good. Lower this platform for me. Heat lamp over food, 2 hover brooders. Let's put some feed in there. The first thing they're going to want to do is get warm, so get this warm and then get that sheep back in there, okay?

Yeah.

And make sure the fence is hitting, like it's all connected everywhere. There's another problem I just realized. We've, uh, we've been doing growers because you haven't had any chicks. It's the same stuff, but it's not— here, let me show you. It's not, it's not as fine, so it's a little harder for little chicks to eat. And it's not like you can get New Country Organic Chick Start just like at Walmart or something. Do we have Gideon?

Yeah.

Okay, let's go ahead and take care of this lamb. I'm actually hoping It was off because I don't want him to challenge it on fence. Oh, and it's hot too. Why'd you do that? How am I going to catch this guy? He's, he's not going to let me anywhere near him. Jonah, can you turn off the fence real quick? He's trying to get through right there. I bet he got right through there. It's too big of a gap. No, he heard him down here. Thank you. Come on, little lamb. Good boy. All right, we put that tighter. Jonah, will you turn our fence back on?

Yes.

Red light. How y'all doing back there?

Good.

We're almost there. Y'all so excited about getting chicks?

Yeah.

We got another light behind a school bus. I think it'll be good that we're getting these photos.

It goes small.

Good documentation. Biggest here at the post office. You guys ready?

Yeah.

Does somebody want to knock on the door? Okay, you got it. Hey, we're here for the chicks. Oh yeah, here they come. Okay, y'all have fun with the baby chickens. Thank you. You got it? Yeah. Okay, be careful. Don't you grab them maybe on the bottom? Grab it at the bottom. Okay, at the bottom. Okay, all right, see ya. Go ahead, Lily. You want to peek in there?

I want to. That's cute.

This looks like a bunch of happy chicks. Thank you, McMurray Hatchery, for sending those Cornish Cross meat chickens, what I affectionately call— what do I call them? Sea monsters, of course, of course. If you want to know what the sound of spring sounds like Baby chicks chirping in a car. All right, we are back. Let's see if the brooder got set up and warming up. Okay, looks good. I'm gonna maybe move that over and put the feed away from the waterer. He's got that buried nicely. The hovers look like they're on. They got their lights on. Let's get some apple cider vinegar in their water. Okay, we got the brooder ready. Let's do one at a time. All right, what we do, we take them out one at a time and dip their beaks in the water. Do you guys remember that?

Yeah.

So dip it just so they then know where their water is. Do you think it's too tall, Jonah? No, it's a little— it's a little tall before we get a bunch of chicks. I think it is a little tall. I think what we do, Jonah is, can we take that up? Can we take the board up and, and put it on this instead? Yeah, look, it was trying to get that water in it. Thank you. Yeah, and just kind of stuff the shavings up to it. Actually, it might even have to go lower. It has to go lower than the surface. Let's put the shavings up to it. There you go.

Oh, that one's getting it.

That one's getting it. Let's see how they're about to fall in. Yeah, let's give them— give them some more shavings ramp. That's not even the feeder— the water where we use— that's the deal. We use this and it's much lower. Do you know where the top for that is, Jonah? I'm rusty, it's been a while. We have this, which we can just go get a jar for. That's better. Okay, I've got two of these, so if I can't find this top— these guys seem to be doing all right. Less than a week, they'll be okay on that, but they're just I don't know. Oh look, here it is. That wasn't that hard. You know what I should have done? I should have reviewed my own video notes inside my memory on how to raise meat chickens. Okay, look what I found. Okay, let's pour water in this. Hey Rebecca? Yeah? I did not get starter feed. We've been using grower feed. So how do I grind some? Yeah, yeah, because that makes it a little easier out in the field because it's not powdery.

Okay.

Now we have chicks. Um, so can I grind it in like a blender?

Yeah, you can grind it while we're running it.

I mean, they won't eat much and we'll just order some and we'll get it soon. Hopefully we're gonna do 2 cloves of garlic, we're gonna do 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar.

No, we need 4 cloves and we're gonna do 4 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and 1/2 cup of honey.

That's right. Whoa, what in the— did you have the camera rolling for that? It's on the roof. I'm a little afraid now. All right, 4 of these. Apple cider vinegar, honey. He belongs, doesn't he?

He doesn't know what he signed up for.

Something else, buddy. Are you going right along with this?

Are you going right along with this?

Did you do 4 tablespoons? Yes. Our idea is to put the grain— whoa, let's not— I know, let's not spill it everywhere. And whoa, that's probably enough, that's probably enough. We'll do a little bit at a time. Okay, let's pour some out. Put a little bit out. Thankfully they don't eat a lot when they're this big. That looks wonderful. All right, we got it ground. That should, that should last us a couple days at this stage. Jenna, we can actually revert to your board again because the more non-shavey area around it, the better, because they won't get shavings in their water. Yay! They're gonna love you. The rim on that is, is some— is so much smaller that they can get over it a lot easier, and then it's not going to be such a swimming pool if they get in it. We've still got another box. You guys ready for it? We did lose one in the shipping. That's totally normal, but we are not going to let it go to waste. We'll feed it to the pigs. How's that working out?

It works perfect. I'm gonna actually keep these two jars down here for this. Oh yeah?

Yeah, because it comes out nice. Let's see Grandma can get us some chick starter feed today in town. Gideon, don't run off! That ice had pressure, man. Stay with me. Come on, come on. We got your coat and sweater right here. Well, yes, cold has a cure. It's coats. All right, Gideon, your choice. I hope you make the right one because I can't be in here dragging you out. We put a little incentive party at the end of this. I hope he, I hope he does good, which I think he will. Lily, is that all of them? Yeah. All right, they look happy.

They're going crazy over the feed.

Pretty good. We only lost one. Did we lose two? Did Ian accidentally get one? Yeah. All right, that was today, and that wouldn't have gone nearly as smooth had we not built that awesome brooder. Here's a look back at our building process, I think 2 years ago. Okay, go turn on the light in here, buddy. You know where the light is? I don't know, will you turn on the light in there for us please? The brooder. And then there was light. We're going to need this Thursday. We got chicks coming Thursday. We need to build a wall partition here for a 4x6, uh, brooder area for 100 chicks. Got another 100 chicks coming pretty soon. So this is what we got to get done today, guys. A wall with 2 doors built into the top part of these. We're gonna have a, you know, the wall come down there. Right here, guys, it's been bothering me a while and we need it for a project, so let's tidy this up and get going on building this brooder. Doesn't that look much Doesn't that look like a place we can work? There you go. You get that in. Drop it, guys. Watch your feet. Get in. It's going right here. Yeah, you can step over it. Look at that. Even you can step over it. You come to supervise? Come supervise, Bear? We're gonna flip this.

So why are we doing two things in the middle instead of one?

Because we need to get a door in the— we have a wall that we're gonna mount in the middle. And the door needs to be to the other side of that wall. We got our frame in all the way.

I gotta pop it. No, I have to pop it. Papa, he won't be able to pop it. His arms aren't long enough.

Hold on, he's gonna pop it. He's gonna pop it. Okay, hold that on there. In a minute. Let's go do— let's go milk. Listen, let's get the cows in, and then when I'm milking Flossie, y'all can come put this on. We got a good gallon, Jonah. Let's empty that into our— let's empty that into our reservoir real quick. Now we have a reservoir. Keep milking, and if she kicks it, we're good.

I got grass.

Nice. So it's for the chickens?

No.

Oh, he's got them for the chicks. Good deal. Can I get this bit done before supper? 15, 20 minutes? It.

Let's try.

Okay, you guys are here just in time to see.

That's one blueberry.

Let's try it. Let's try it, guys. We— it's probably supper time. Definitely probably supper time. Okay, hey, let's pick it up.

It's chili pie.

Hey, let's pick it up. Okay, hey, you cannot pick it up. Get in. Thank you. All right, the doors are probably gonna swing. Lift it up. That's probably a good sign. Let's get it in frame here. I want you guys to see this. What do you mean, uh-oh?

See, look, it doesn't open.

Why not?

Try!

Oh shoot.

Whoops.

Oh, I'm supposed to put hinges on this side. Yeah, that makes total sense. We have to finish this wall and one other. The problem is, let me show them. Get in. I had to finish this yesterday and put the hinges on backwards. I should have put them on this side. All right, this is how it's gonna go. That's the inside. Check these doors. Boom! Super nice. Sure, it would look better if we put the smooth side on the outside. It's gonna be a lot easier to clean out, for one, with the smooth side on the inside. But also, that's how you build a retaining wall. Oh my gosh, chicks! The post office called. The chicks are at the post office. Bad in that we're not quite ready. Good in that the chicks got here a day early and aren't going to go through as much stress. So what do we like, Jonah? We just get the heat lamps going. Oh, we're ready.

The little chicks, they can't jump over this, so—

No, no, no, don't worry about that. Get the heat lamps going. Okay, that's not gonna work because you— Oh, I see what you're saying. You're just gonna leave that door open.

Yeah, yeah, they can't jump over this.

Yeah, and we'll rig up something better. Let's just get that warmed up. Like, even getting that one going, we want it to be warm when they get here. That's, that's the chick's first priority. They haven't eaten, they haven't drinking. They're good for 72 hours like that, uh, so their first priority is warmth, and then they eat and they drink, and then they have to keep on eating and drinking. Okay, that'll get— oh, lift that back up, we haven't put that in place yet. Okay, see if you can't get another heat lamp going. Okay, but what did it look like 4 years ago? This is gonna be— the kids are different, the whole setup is different. Enjoy this. It's the chicks, one day early. They weren't supposed to come till tomorrow, so I'm not ready. So we gotta hurry up and go down there and get the brooder ready and go get these guys. Hey, Mama Hen, how you doing? You looking good with all the chicks. Hey, we'll get you out of here soon, onto the grass. Look, you guys are gonna get a neighbor. I'm gonna put the Cornish Cross over here, but I gotta set it up. Gonna— let's first put down some fresh bedding on top of this old bedding. Now I gotta get a power over here for my heat lamp. Gotta find an extension cord and run it to this thing. Got me the extension cord. I think I'm gonna put it back here in the corner. I think I should put in their water because I want to dip their beets in it one at a time. So I'm gonna bury this feed pan and I'm gonna put this homemade cage over it. That'll keep the— that'll keep it clean. I'm gonna build the ramp up to it. Let's put together my magic water. This is, uh, garlic, apple cider vinegar, and honey. Boost their immune system. Fits nicely onto this— attach this quart jar fitting. There you go. And that way they can't track shavings into that waterer. Bye-bye, beautiful one. Mr. Brown strapped in. Everybody gets strapped in and let's go. You ready to get 75 dinos? Yeah, we're here for those chicks.

Oh good, we were just listening.

Okay, yeah, nice. Okay, thank you. Listen, that's the sound of spring for sure.

I can't wait until I can get home and so I can hold them all. This is so much fun. Putting a permanent feed in here.

Yeah, no, there is a sickly one.

This one?

Jonah picked up a sickly one. Yeah, yeah, looks like we do have a sickly one. That's normal with this mini. You know, they seem to be okay. They're not all just living over there in that corner. They're venturing out. But to be safe, we're gonna put this tarp over them, just cover this up because it's It's a little bit of a cold day. I had to go back into town for some more supplies. We're a little bit worried about the chicks, that they're going to get cold. So we're going to get a few more heat lamps for them and more shavings and stuff like that. Today was going to be inventory day. I was going to go through it all and Rebecca was going to town. She was going to pick up some stuff. So we're kind of thrown off guard. We got the chickens home and now I've come back and we're going to find some more supplies. I'm back and ready to get some heat on these guys just to make sure they're warm. Well, they're doing all right, you know. I guess we're just going to be extra careful. They're all spread about, moving around. They get over there in that light and get a little warm, and then they move around. If they were all cuddled up over there, not moving, not getting drink, I'd be a little worried, but I'm just going to put in a couple extra lights just in case, especially for tonight's cold weather. This feeder is sitting a little high because this feed trap is sagging down because of the water, so I'm gonna— they're having a little hard time getting to it, so let's, let's just bury it in here a little bit. And let's check on their neighbors. Look who's out! This nervous papa is feeling a little bit better. Got 3 lamps on them. They can always move down here if they get too hot. They're drinking their water, man. They've already drank half that quart. I need a bigger waterer already. Let's pour some of our magic water in there. Now I'm gonna go down to the creek and get them some grit. Got a little small stainless steel bowl. Creek sand is perfect. They're foraging in there, so bless their hearts, let's get them something to forage. Some dandelion, some grass, uh, yellow, uh, no, more dandelion. Oh, some, uh, plantain. So let's get some, uh, our fermented feed bucket going for these guys. Just borrowed some from the other chicks. For today, but let's get one going for them. Hope you guys enjoyed that flashback. Hopefully it encourages you, because don't we, don't we just, uh, get better and better every day? I hope so. Uh, now back to the rest of the vlog. You know, don't know where Lily is. I figured Mr. Brown's Not going? That kind of hurts my feelings, but what am I gonna do? Lily, are you not coming?

I have to go to the bathroom.

Okay, well, glad to see you came. What made you decide to join us, huh? We added some skim milk. Hey guys, look, I'm so impressed. Every day you get a little, a little more done. Look at this. Look how nice that material is. Look at this crater, guys. I feel like we don't capture it on, on film very well, but look. Okay, Ben's stepping on it. He's in a crater. That's what they do. For compost, you need carbon, nitrogen. The carbon's the wood chips and the hay. The nitrogen is the manure. And then, but you need air, and that's what the pigs are doing. Stirring it. Pigs are digging this hole. Why? You guys remember why, right? We put the corn on top of the manure and then would cover it every day with the wood chips or hay. This is breaking down so well. Listen to that sound. That's pork growing. All right, Jonah, pigs, pigs in the crater! He's wanting to jump up. Oh, he gets to jump! Two pigs!

Boom!

Look, he sit down. You got an itch? His butt itches. That's one way to get it done. Alright, Josiah, let's see you jump in. Drop the pig! Are you gonna drop the pig?

I'm gonna try.

Try it. Go for it.

Whoa! Yeah! Woo! Can I jump in now?

Yeah, for the photo.

Woo-hoo!

Quick!

Woo!

We got them some kale from the garden. They're gonna love it. Of course they're gonna eat their ice cream first, the grain, but then they'll— then eat your veggies. All right, we got you some green. I can't wait to get them outside. We're just waiting on our training gate from Premier One. It shipped yesterday, so it'll be here in no time, and we'll get those guys out in the forest where they belong. Guys, let's just get this stuff right here before we move on. He just swallowed some of that kale. I will make that trade all day long. Kale for pork, heck yeah! Listen to that sound. Kale gone pork. Okay, Becky, this is the problem. I know, this is Belle's baby and he's so gentle. Isn't that something? It's genetic, isn't it?

It must be.

Belle is the most gentle, and he is— the other, the other babies aren't coming. You should have seen the other baby when I tried to put it up this morning. What do you think, Jonah? It'd be kind of hard to harvest that one. So Becky, what if we kept him and turned him into a wither and replaced him with Escalito?

Yes. Yeah, I'm fine with that.

And that might be June. We'll harvest Escalito when we harvest Hamburger.

Yeah.

And that means we're gonna have to castrate this guy though. That's why we have to make this decision. So maybe Saturday when the guys are here.

That'll be sad.

He beat me. That will be sad. I don't know what Henry's done to me. I think he's turned me into a big old sap. I'm not normally like this.

Whoa, no, you're not.

You aren't normally like that. Oh, but look, we could just go out to the cage and pet him.

I know, Papa.

Any sweet?

He is, he's so sweet.

We got another gentle one.

There's my thumb.

And that actually might be the female that we're gonna keep.

Yes, it is, it's a girl. Yeah, that's the girl. Yeah, you have to minister to him.

Oh, thanks. All right, let's see what Randolph's up to, get some photos of the barn. He's got the tray on, he's got the slider on. That works. What do you think, Ben? This is so cool. Randolph, what's the plan today? Well, I thought I'd kind of fix this wall here, make it a little darker in there. Yeah, well, we're going to tighten it up because it's like too much spacing. You'll reuse those boards? Some of them you can't. Yeah, some of them. Okay. That'd be great. Randolph's getting it down. The inspector's here. How's it going, inspector? Good, good. Oh, it's doing a good job. Problem is this door is not going to be done by tomorrow. We need it darker in there for the projector screen. I'm wondering, multi-purpose silage tarp. Let's get some hay string, wrap it around this, and tie it to that. We don't want to puncture this plastic. Oh wow, that's a lot better. Let's turn the lights off and see what happens. Here, on, off. Okay, we're getting better. Still a lot of light coming through there, but we're gonna fix that too. Dude, I think that might actually do it. What do you think? Yeah, see, it's pretty dark now. Okay, the only thing there is we've got to cross our fingers it's not going to rain because it will be loud in that barn with the tin and the rain.