ejcrist
Songster
Gosh I lost 8 Cornish Crosses today in the heat. It got up to 99 in my hood which I guess is about over the top for 6 week old birds. They were doing good even yesterday when it got up to 95 but today was a bit much I guess. I've been keeping plenty of water available and putting ice in their founts. We butchered as many as we could late this afternoon before dark - picked out the heaviest that looked like they were struggling a bit. Tomorrow it's supposed to get up to 100 so it'll be a challenge too. If we can make it through tomorrow it's supposed to drop back down to 95 Saturday and 92 Sunday so we should be ok. I was going to butcher some this Sunday and the remainder the following Saturday but now I think we'll knock 'em all out this Sunday. Don't want to take the chance. Well, I learned a lot from this first flock. Probably the most important thing is to time my birds above about 4 weeks for the part of the year when it doesn't get above 95 (late fall/winter/early spring). One thing I'll say though, as difficult as they are to raise the end result looks to be some very high quality parts. Much better than anything I ever got from the store. The breasts are truly massive. I'm lookin' forward to next Fall when we start the next flock.