17 cornish x in my fridge resting!

[lnm03]

Saturday we processed 17 of the 50 meaties we have. For some reason this year we have had a horrible time getting them to grow! We went through 3x as much food as what we should have and have had them since May 17th. We hand picked the "big" ones because we are getting to the point where feed is just NOT affordable!!! We planned on feeding them for 8 weeks not 15! There are still a few good sized birds out there that are going to be processed this weekend!

I have a good friend that just cant understand why we raise meat birds when we can just go to Walmart and buy them. They are experiencing some dificult financial times and I told her to come on out and help and I will give you a few for your help.....I didnt expect to see her but she showed and decided it wasnt all that bad and now she has a few chickens! She felt pretty good about processing her own that were treated well and not abused! I told her wait till you taste your first one and you'll be beggin for more!

 

[sonew123]

Quote:
15 weeks 3x as much food??

I hope I dont go through that!!! Im going past bag #2 of food 100lbs and they will be 4 weeks old tomorrow Cx's-

 

[lnm03]

We did meat birds last year and processed them at 7 weeks! I got them from TSC. This year I ordered Jumbo Cornish X from cackle. Their website says 6 weeks! Nope today is week 15 and theyre still not as big as the birds we had last year!!! Same feed, same everything! Yes, we have 50 not 25 but we doubled their space and I assumed we would double the food but even doubling everything we still used 3 x more that what we should have!

 

[sonew123]

Quote:
roos or pullets? and did you weigh them dressed? Im dying to know peoples weights through all this as this is my first time with meaties-so far so good I guess not one casualty either-Knock on wood!

 

[SallyF]

I'm hoping the taste will make it worthwhile. I did three roosters this afternoon and it took me several hours. Learning curve, I guess. I have great respect now for anyone who slaughters and processes their own birds. DH did the dirty deed, although I think if we decide to do this again I will invest in a killing cone and learn to slit jugulars. DH helped with the plucking till he couldn't stand the smell any more and I finished up and did all the guttin'& cuttin'. Took me three hours to do three roos. I did manage to identify the gall bladder on the first one and promptly cut into it. Yep, it's green, a beautiful kelly green. Managed to snatch the corpse up and out of the way so none got on the meat. Never could identify a crop or pull it out of the neck end, so everything came out the other way. I ended up filleting off the breast meat, but I did save the carcasses for stock. Called the feet a lost cause; at first I was gonna skin 'em, but my own feet convinced me not to. Now that it's all behind me, and I'm sitting here with a nice glass of wine, the only thing I can say is "whew! Thank God it's over!" If I ever even thought of raising meaties, I'm rethinking it. BTW I'm asking for a new set of knives for Christmas.

 

[lnm03]

Quote:
roos or pullets? and did you weigh them dressed? Im dying to know peoples weights through all this as this is my first time with meaties-so far so good I guess not one casualty either-Knock on wood!

They were straight run. They averaged 4.5-5 lbs one 6 pounder and one 4 pounder .....at 15 weeks I think thats small.....but I could be wrong???

I still have more to do but Im hopeing they grow more!!

 

[bigredfeather]

What % protein is your feed? If it is anything above 21%, something seems wrong. I can't imagine having a CX around for 15 weeks.

 

[lnm03]

They are on Meat Bird Crumbles, non medicated, 21% protein.