Cornish Rock Chicks.

whatachick said:

Another thought. If we ate less meat, we wouldn't need to engineer birds like the Cornish Rock. Also, we could implement better practices for life and slaughter. Prices would go up, but we could eat less.

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I really like the Cornish X meat chickens. I like the fact that I can get a lot more meat from the Cornish X per dollar spent on feed than I can get from the regular dual purpose chickens. I like the large amount of white meat they produce, and the fact that it doesn't take very long to raise them to slaughter weight. And I really like those nice plump tender roasters I raise that dress out at over 12 pounds. Had one dress out at 16 pounds. My Cornish X have a very good life. Short, but good. And I am very grateful to the geneticists who helped produce this wonderful bird. Unlike a lot of others, I do not think it is at all inhumane to raise them. If you manage them correctly and don't try to make them into something they are not, they do just fine.

Yes, I did the same thing as you 2 Cornish Rocks from TSC along with 4 little pullets. I am so heartsick when I look at the rocks just sitting and eating. I don't know what to do.

I've got 4 .. and as said previously... they have been treated great..and will serve their purpose well.

My Rock Cornish are now two months old and are huge! I have tried to limit food (none at night), but they just keep growing. I am fortunate to have a kind neighbor who teaches agriculture at the high school. He will take them today or tomorrow. He promised to be kind to the end. I will be glad when they are gone, because knowing they must go makes me so uneasy and sad. I cried last night, and my new 6 Rhode Island Reds arrived this morning. This time I researched. I wish TSC would have better communicated about what a Cornish Rock is. Feeling for you.

These are a couple of my CRs. Not the best pics, but they are the most recent ones. I have 6 of them, I ended up with 1 roo and 5 hens. They are doing great. I moved them outside at 6 weeks old and then they started free-ranging with the other chickens at 7 weeks. By week 8 they had moved themselves into the shed with the rest of the critters. We have a community shed where our 2 mini goats, 2 ducks, and 11 other chickens all sleep. They have all moved in together of their own accord, I figured if they are happy. . . .

Anyway, these guys follow the same feeding program as the others. We throw some feed out for everyone in the morning and some black oil sunflower seeds in the afternoon. The rest of their time is spent free-ranging. And they get some kitchen scraps in there at some point too.

They are the sweetest birds. Always seeking out attention from us. Even my husband picks them up and scratches their heads. We do intend on processing them, but I am not in as big of a rush as I was. Since they are on the "less feed, more free-ranging" plan, their growth has slowed down some.

Hi: A Cornish Rock hen and/or rooster is raised primarily for meat. This means they will start dying at young ages, not living more than 6 to 8 months. They are "tweaked" into growing at rapid rates for human consumption and will typically die from heart problems - too large of a body for the size organs they possess. Sad but true. One more reason to go vegan.

margo10 said:

Hi: A Cornish Rock hen and/or rooster is raised primarily for meat. This means they will start dying at young ages, not living more than 6 to 8 months. They are "tweaked" into growing at rapid rates for human consumption and will typically die from heart problems - too large of a body for the size organs they possess. Sad but true. One more reason to go vegan.

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You lost me. The Cornish X is not raised primarily for meat. It is raised for meat. Period. The word primarily means that they may have some other purpose. They don't. But they are a superb meat chicken. None better. What do you mean by "tweaked"? Do you mean bred for a particular purpose? By that definition all domestic plants and animals have been "tweaked". And what has any of this have to do with going vegan?

margo10 said:

Hi: A Cornish Rock hen and/or rooster is raised primarily for meat. This means they will start dying at young ages, not living more than 6 to 8 months. They are "tweaked" into growing at rapid rates for human consumption and will typically die from heart problems - too large of a body for the size organs they possess. Sad but true. One more reason to go vegan.

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They're not "tweaked" any more than any breed of animal that was selectively bred for a specific purpose.

Folks here have raised them to over a year, I think some as long as 2 years. I'll admit, that's unusual, but they don't necessarily have a self destruct button at 6 months.

If I went vegan, all that yummy meat would go to waste!

to see the gender of the chick. Look at the wing fether ,same high is male, one shorter then other is female.