Must be about birds

2 eggs
Arriving home yesterday I saw a road runner perched on the fence near the gate. This is the second time I've seen this particular bird. I hope it is nesting nearby. They are fun to watch. It jumped down and ran 30 or 40 feet from the fence while I opened the gate. I drove very slowly down the driveway watching it. Like the first time I saw the bird, it jumped through the fence on one side of the drive, ran across and through the fence on the other side. From there it would run a dozen feet, stop and look around twitching its tail and then run on. The goat families were in the same field on the other side near the hill. When Kristi got home a half hour later the road runner was still in the same field.
Yesterday we saw a flock of birds of an unfamiliar type. From the ground we thought they could be purple martins - though they weren't dark enough, or Tufted Tit Mouses (mice?) but they usually don't move in flocks. Kristi went in to get the binoculars and after looking closely at them we were able to find them in our birding books. They were Cedar Waxwings. They were very similar to many other bird types, we were finally able to ID the birds because of a distinctive red spot at the end of the wings.
Thursday we have been told that our order of 45 Cornish cross chicks will be in. Cornish cross is the breed you get at the grocery store. Meat birds. Our experience so far has been with laying birds. Barred Rocks, a Rhode Island Red or two and several birds of indeterminate heritage. The Barred Rocks are supposed to be a dual purpose bird. Suitable for both egg laying and meat. The Barred Rocks we've had are really skinny. Not much meat on them. They are great for stock though, and that's where our butchered birds have ended up so far. I think they have been 3.5 to 4 lbs when butchered. The Cornish Crosses will grow very quickly- in 7 weeks they'll be ready for the freezer. We're used to watching the rapid growth of chicks - every day you go to feed them and you can see that they're bigger. The Cornish Crosses will grow much, much faster. Last night I threw together a brooder box for them. I took a horses stall in the barn, put up some chicken wire to prevent the little darlings from waddling out. A few pieces of wood for a box of 5feet by 6 feet, some pine shavings and it's done. This afternoon I'll put up a few heat lamps, put in the waterer and feeders and we're done. We should pick the birds up before 6pm today. My morning routine will be extended even further. Oh joy. I'll start getting up at 4:45am to take care of the extra animals.
Now is the time to start planning for "processing" the chickens when they're done. A little thought now will help speed the process. If we can do 10 birds a day for 4 days we'll be doing well. Doing them that close together there shouldn't be too much weight difference between the first day and fourth day of processing. In case you noticed, we bought 45 birds and are counting on 40 birds processed. Just in case we have some losses. This will be our chicken supply for the year.