Oldest Cornish Cross?

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marathonmultiplesmom

marathonmultiplesmom

Songster
9 Years
Mar 23, 2010
543
5
129
Chehalis, WA
Hi, Last year I got real lazy and never butchered 4 of my Cornish Crosses and as it turns out they make great garden tillers. Except that I had a hawk picking them off one by one so I moved the last one back to the orchard which they were protected by the geese before. So I have one lone cornish cross left and she is over a year old. I am just curious how long they live usually? I don't feed her or anything so I am just curious. She probably is able to get the geese left overs sometimes though. As long as she doesn't cause problems she can stay as long as she likes since she doesn't cost me a dime. She's never laid an egg as far as I know.

So what is your longest lived Cornish Cross? Has anyone else "kept" them like this?
 
We kept one of ours that "escaped" into the bushes on butcher day. He lived a little over two years and I think would have gone on strong for quite a while longer if he hadn't been caught by coyotes one evening. He became of favorite of ours living with our hens and always ready to eat! He got huge but because we free range he stayed limber enough to waddle around. he was very friendly and even my hubby (who could care less about chickens) was fond of him and even took time to clean a wound when he was injured one time. We are doing another round of meat birds this year and I'm tempted to keep another one...we'll see... :)

I've heard they can live up to 3 years or more as long as they don't get too fat.
 
I have a Cornish Cross Rooster named "Clucky" who is now 2 years and 3 months old. He had some tough times around 9 weeks old, but he got through them. I keep him on a controlled diet and he grazes in the grass like the others. He has become a pet to me and I am amazed that he has lived so long.
He is a bit overweight, and even with controlled diet and exercise, he doesn't seem to be able to lose any weight, but he seems to be as healthy as any other chicken.
I found out that these birds are suceptable to heart attacks due to their weight, etc. so I give him about 1/4 of a baby aspirin once in a while in his water. It seems to have worked and he looks great!
 
Thanks for the replies. My Cornish cross hen went missing. I saw she had wondered into a neighboring house that was vacant at the time. I couldn't go get her then because I was on my way to an appointment. When I looked for her later she was gone. I assume she either rehomed herself or something got her. She never came home.

I'm doing Heritage Delawares for meat this year. I did have lots of heart attacks and leg problems and lots of mud holes from them. I am going to throw the eggs in the incubator to hatch in september. Brood them for about a month then let them till the garden. Its later in the year than I would like to do meat birds but if this works out well, we'll do it every year.
 
I know this is an old posting, but just found it. I was mocked on here for keeping them, but I did anyway. I sold a couple as adults and one was laying. The one I kept is 15 months old now. But as far as I know she has not laid eggs likely due to environment as in me moving a lot before settling down.
 
They're your chickens, you can do as you wish with them. Many keep meaties past their butcher stage and let them live as long as they can. Nothing wrong with it, so long as the person understands the risks involved with those birds and do not expect them to be just like other chickens. Sometimes though, they do just fine. Don't let anyone make you feel bad about it. Ever.
 
I have a meat bird named fat Patty and shes working on about 6 mo or so and is real healthy,she was getting picked ont by the other birds and so I put her in my young bird coop and she lets the 5week old chicks crawl all over her and you should see the pile on top of her at nite,yep she went from whipping child in one coop to queen in the other...pretty fun.
 

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