butchering my first cornish at 10 weeks

I've had layers for years, but this past January I got a wild hare and bought 5 Cornish chicks at the farm store. BTW, January is waaaay to early in Indiana. I noticed that at the normal age of 8 weeks my girls were not close to the weight/size needed to process. I'm at 10 weeks now, and they're averaging 8 pounds, so I'm assuming we'd be looking at 5-6 lbs dressed, which is right where I want them. I believe even though they had heat lamps and were in an enclosure our late spring has had an affect on their growth. I lost one of the 5 at about 6 weeks, inexplicably, the remaining 4 are healthy and as active as I've read they should be lol. Since this is my first experiment I have arranged for them to be done by pros, at a cost of around $3/bird, which puts the cost at an estimate of $10.50 from start to finish.

I have 5 more 2 week old cornish chicks feathering out now, I am building a small tractor out of scrap wood I have around the farm. My plan is to put them out on some grass next week depending on temps and their maturity. I really don't expect any appreciable difference in feed amounts or costs, but my conscious can't handle something I'm raising not to feel a breeze or see the sun. I plan on buying or fabricating the tools I need to process them myself this time.

My next go round I'll probably stay away from Cornish, and find out how I like the rangers. realizing theres a 2-3 week difference in dress out weight, but again I have a problem with the Cornish being so top heavy and, in my limited opinion, being in a constant state of discomfort.

We'll see how it goes, I'd obviously love a viable way to drastically reduce feed costs but like the rest of you, this is my hobby and can't take up too much of my time.

I'm loving this forum and being able to read and learn from what all of you have done. It's a great help.

Hello I'm trying some meat birds for the first time.
I got 15 Red broilers from Cackle hatchery there about the same I think as red rangers.
There are several videos online about butchering and processing chickens and In my opinion To butcher a few chickens you really don't need anything. I have slaughtered a few roosters, and the trick to plucking fast is the water temp.

Thanks! yeah, the guy I talked with this morning at the small processing place I had mine done at said the same thing about water temp. he said they keep their water at 142, and repeatedly dunk the bird. He also fell on the " slice the neck, don't cut the head off' debate.