Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

So yesterday, I wake up in the afternoon (I work nights), go outside to make sure everyone has water, and there at the front of the barn, is a small livestock trailer and about a hundred big, white, feathered, flesh lumps. WTH??? My own chickens and turkeys are milling around the newcomers as if they'd always been there, and as soon as I convinced myself that I was, in fact, awake, I got on the phone to find out what fresh he77 my DH was getting us into. He had wanted to buy meat chicks this year, but we had had them before and I...disliked... the experience, to put it mildly, so vetoed the notion. But these new arrivals were clearly not chicks in any case, they are huge balls of meat, some old enough to exhibit mating behaviour! Some of the giant, clumsy idiots are trying to mount each other! As I'm frantically dialing the phone, there is a sea of (admittedly very clean and very healthy looking) eating machines in front of me, doing their best to eat the motherwort weeds to the ground (my birds won't touch motherwort) and all I can think is that the idiot things are going to poison themselves, or catch something from my birds and be dead in days. I was ready to tear DH a new one, bringing birds here and turning them loose, no quarantine, not even any proper living space for them, as our coops and barn are near capacity. I was furious! Wondering how much he had spent on these darn birds, that while they looked very healthy, were clearly several weeks past their 'best by' date.II don't have time for this crap, darnit! hefted a smaller pullet, easily 9 lbs. I lift a larger cockerel, he's 14 lbs easy. I think I will have a stroke! I'm apoplectic. I'm using words I'd forgotten I knew. In multiple languages.
Well.
It turns out, a friend of Richard's, who rents property to house his meat animals, has had the property sold out from under him, and closing date is MONDAY. I'm not even sure that's legal, but either way, Doug's chickens are booked for slaughter for next month, but he needed a spot for them to camp until then. He will pay for food and care. I calm down a little, I know what it's like to have a home sold and have to move, and I have also had to suddenly move my chickens after discovering I was not allowed to have them where I was. I sympathize with Doug. I put the axe away.
To my eye, the birds are at LEAST a month overdue for the freezer, and when I asked why, it's because there are so few reasonably local abattoirs for poultry, that the few remaining have very long waiting lists.
I knew this, but it was a distant consideration as I process my own. Doug, however, sells some of his meat so needs to use an inspected plant. He has to wait, and so do the poor, fat, hormonal chickens.
I fully expect half the lard balls to be dead by that time, but apparently Doug was informed that our own poultry may be host to just about every disease under the sun, and is fine with some losses.
Oh, and, apparently Doug is going to need a place to move his pigs to, later in Fall/winter, as the property he keeps his hogs at, has been sold as well. Dude, buy a farm. Honestly!
Richard is like "but we'll have more piggies here!"
I think I want a divorce

Oh my goodness, there are at least three of them crowing...and one is a very well-practiced crow, not a baby gargle. That puts them at about 14-16 weeks old if memory serves (I also kept a trio past their best before date, had them until about 18 months old. I don't recommend it.).
And a couple more baby gargles have now joined the song.
The girls lay eggs at about 6 months old, maybe I could just keep one or two... nope.
Divorce :D

Just went out to give everyone breakfast. I have outside lights on because meat chickens are loose in my barn yard, and I know from experience that the fat idiots might as well be carrying signs that say "Please come eat me".
Because I have outside lights on, many of my own birds are up, and some of my hens are making googly eyes at the fleshballs, doing their best to throw themselves at them.
My own roosters seem to just shrug and walk away, they're not even upset when the beach balls crow!
Richard's birthday was yesterday, so I'm bottling most of my angst LOL!
But, omg, these things had better be out of my sight before snow flies!

Yeehaaa!

I can hear the banjos from here, Bert. Also the destruction of all my breeding plans lol

Wow. *shaking my head* So, you're supposed to feed these birds too?! This is, at best, beyond taking advantage of you: it's gross abuse of your friendship, IMHO.
Do you still own that property down the road, where you used to live and had that greenhouse housing set-up for your birds? If so, is it possible to bring the meat birds there and have Doug take care of them himself? It would be a real shame if this ruins your breeding plans. Not fair to you at all.

We could all come over to "help out" and have a real nice BBQ!

Ha! Ha! I don't think too many of us would be pleased to return home to find this. It's a wonder you did tear a strip off your hubby.

Ugh pigs, yuck yuck yucky yuck! Nooooo to pigs, I would rather have goats that climb on my roof and eat the shingles off than a pig! Pigs eat chickens, filthy filthy evil creatures, or maybe I am being too harsh lol.

Love pigs , specially beside my taters & corn .