Cornish Cross - Meat Birds - Page 3

Mine are either April or May hatch...... So they should lay some eggs soon...

April

Hats off to those of you who keep Cornishx as pets.  I didn't think they really made it past 8 or 10 weeks- they get so fat and have problems walking.  It definitely isn't for everybody.

As soon as I get my puter back I will post pics of my white pterodactyls!!!!

April

I just got a CX chick from a friend who works at a farm supply store. They thought it was going to die so she placed it in a box in her pickup but even after only giving it blue mountain dew and a tiny granola bar for 3 days it is still alive. So I have taken it in. I've never been able to eat my "pets" so I'm really hoping if I limit its food intake that it will be healthy. My other chickens free range alot so it will get exercise when it gets older. After reading this thread I feel better about my attempt at keeping a broiler chicken as a pet.

This was a very helpful post; I only have 1 cornish x and four other hens (1 buff orpington, 1 red production, 1 black sex link, and 1 plymouth barred rock).  I'm new to chickens and really hope to keep my cornish x ( we named her Cotton :)) alive as a pet.  The only problem is I read not to keep them with roosters because it's hard on them.  We would really like our other ladies to be with a rooster however and we free range.  Is it crucial that our cornish x is not around a rooster???

I am raising my 1st set of Cx this year, which we plan to butcher at 9 weeks.  I had a friend who wanted to keep Cx as pets last year and it did not work out well for her.  Two of her birds died (presumably of heart attack) at 10-11 weeks old.  Not to discourage you, but just be aware that you could go down to the coop and find that they have unexpectedly died.  I will that my friend allowed hers 24 hr access to food and this was probably part of the reason for the deaths; I'm sure that restricting food would help them live longer.

I want to second the info and instructions that Kuntrygirl gave at the beginning of this thread. They are not for everyone but it is possible. We kept one from last years batch and have lovingly named her "Big Momma." She is very attached to our catahoula "Levi". They sleep in the together at night (roosting is NOT an option for this girl) and take naps during the day close to each other's side. I even had to go out one night to break up a fight between he and her over who was going to sleep in the doghouse. Levi lost and had to sleep on top of the doghouse. They are the perfect odd couple. She is definitely queen hen in our yard. This spring we added a few new egg layers so now she roams and forages on a full acre with no problem at all along with 3 wyandotte hens, a leghorn hen, and a BLRW roo named "Rosco." She has claimed Rosco as her own and doesn't like when the other girls get close to him. 

After her brooder-mates were put in the freezer last year I started weaning a CC roo and 3 CC hens off of high protein feed and onto forage. She was the only one who survived. The roo died first at about 20 weeks and the two other hens about a month later. She seems to be doing exceptionally well though. I have raised 4 batches of CCs and have never had leg problems. Heart attacks are too hard to diagnose so I'm not sure about that. I would treat them as much like normal chickens as you can. They can handle food 24/7 for about the first 4 weeks then I would go down to 12 on/12 off if you are going to slaughter. If you are going to keep them as a pet then I would bring the feed down to normal once a day feedings or whatever you do with your other chickens.

Here are my observations from over the past few years.

Pros

• Insanely high feed/meat ratio
• The quality of meat is like nothing you will buy in a store
• If kept as pets they are sweet even to small children
• They quickly take to new birds if introduced to a caged hen for a day then released
• pretty consistent egg layer (they will stop laying for a day or two if stressed out in the least)
• frequent jumbo double yolk eggs (I suspect this also happens because of stress but I cant prove it)

Cons

• As chicks they cannot be put with other breeds (they trample the little ones)
• They will be lazy if allowed. (I have had hens sleep with their head in the feed trough)
• They have a smaller margin for error compared to 'heritage' breeds. (They will drop like flys if not careful)
• They consume more feed than you think possible for such a small animal (17-20#s each by the end of 8 weeks)

hello!

I am new to chickens, this is our first spring and we are loving every minute of it!

I do have a few questions :)  We have other chickens that we are raising, egg layers and they are all 7 weeks old tomorrow.  Since the egg layers kept getting in with the Cornish Cross chicks, I took the CC's off of the 22% and put them on the 20% because of the egg babies eating the feed.  Is this going to slow their growth a lot, having them on the lower 20%?  It is a feed for all birds, meat, egg, etc.

Also, at 7 weeks, they are just under 4 lbs (3.8 lb), is this a normal size?  They go in at the 9 week mark to be butchered.  

Thanks for your help!  Greatly appreciated and nice to meet all of you :)

Dianna