Bare Belly CC's.....

[boilerjoe_96]

I think 4H MOM and some others have Cornish crosses about the same age as mine(2 weeks).

I wonder if I am doing something wrong. Nearly all of my CC's have very little if any covering of their belley. Is this normal? Or am I doing something wrong?

Just last night I moved them to a new pen, this one is 4X5 (old one 2X3)and I have 14 birds.

What do others do to keep them out of their own poop. I have struggled fighting to keep the litter dry. Those 14 birds go through a gallon of water a day and of course quite a bit of food.....

 

[Redneckchick]

I have 25 CC and none have any hair or feathers left under them...guess it can't grow where there's no sunshine....lol. They lay on their belly and eat, poop and only time they get up is to drink their water jug. Mine are 3 weeks old and had problems at first brooding (Piled up and crushed each other for warmth ) Lost quite a few and know now to brood them in smaller batches . Good luck with yours. Mine are too fat to climb on each other now so just waaiting for them to get to age for freezer.

 

[Napalongtail]

OK I can so answer this... Yesturday I butchered out 5, 9 week old CC's and I'll tell ya this. After scalding it is very apparent these are made for a quick pluck. There was a small stripe of feathers down the center of the belly, another small strip of feathers along each side down the rib cage and the back had the widest stripe of feathers. Other than that the skin was bald. As in no feathers, quills, or pin hairs. Its obviously why they are bred for meat. I BBQ'd 2 last night and they were so tender, and super juicy. I'm now looking forward to the other 25 that are now 2 weeks old.

 

[michellerene]

Gosh, these seem like sad creatures we've created to eat. I've contemplated raising some, but they really do sound like mutants.

It's changed my whole thought process about eating chicken.

I wonder what people who buy "free range" chicken think-- as obviously this breed, even if given free range, is still an unnatural & unhealthy animal.

Sorry for the hijack... just some thoughts.

I'm sure they will be delicious, though!

 

[Napalongtail]

I actually did free range these babies from 4 weeks on. They enjoyed sun bathing and all in all it certainly didn't make the meat tough or anything. We plan to allow the other 25 to have time in sun on the grass as well. I'm just happy to be eating chicken that I know what it was fed, that it had nice housing and plenty of fresh air and water.

 

[suburbanhomesteader]

Quote:
That about sums it up for me, as well.

I hunt, and have always tried to eat only animals I shoot. That way, I know that they "never knew what hit 'em".

The exception was chicken; I would buy chicken or turkey in the store. After getting my chickens, and then my chicks, one day in a search for nipple waterer info, I stumbled upon a site where it showed video of how Purdue and Tyson chickens are raised. That lead to a video of how eggs are produced. I'm no vegan (although it's OK if you are; many of my friends are ovo/lacto vegetarians or vegans), but these videos made me sick. I realized it was time to hold my standard for poultry to the same standard I hold for red meat.

If I raise them in a way that I know they've been well-cared-for, I will not have a problem killing them (very quickly-would not use the bleed-out method, but will cut their heads off), cleaning them, or eating them. I can't say the same for chicken in the stores or restaurants;I will never again be able to eat that chicken. Anybody have a faux-Col Sanders recipe?

I guess this means another coop...one for the meat birds. Let's see, that makes: brooder, broody-er, main tractor, and meat tractor. Yup, that officially puts me over the edge of sanity!

And did I mention that this fall, I'm also getting involved in aquaponics? I'll be raising my own tilapia...

I really do need to quit my job so I can support myself! LOL!

 

[suburbanhomesteader]

Quote:
Not sure how it is with meat birds, but in the coop section, everyone talks about having 4sf of coop and 10 sf of run space, per chicken. Seems as though yours might be a bit crowded, at only 1.5sf per chicken.

But I'm a newbie here, so maybe meat birds use different ratios.

 

[Napalongtail]

Suburban, I agree the mass production industry is down right Gross! Hydroponics.... Now that is a project!! I wish you the best on that. I keep plenty busy just flirting with the dirt around here keeping the vegies and fruit happy. My goodness you are ambitous.
As for floor space with meat birds I think most do give them less since they never reach maturity and it is done to keep the meat tender. Your bedding can be kept drier by using all spruce shavings that have been kiln dried and screened. Even for me a person who has raised hundreds of chicks and ducklings the meat birds have proved to be right up there with ducklings when it comes to wet litter. Their are a few people that once trying to raise them like regular chicks , have switched to large movable tractors for raising meat birds.

 

[Dustin Biery]

For Cornish crosses 1.5 sqft per bird is not uncommon. I have seen the comercial side of this, along with my experience of raising them at home. But these birds have been selectively bred to grow the fastest, yeilding the most meat (especially the breast and legs), and use the least amount of feed to get to that maxium efficency point. They aren't freak or mutants, they have just been selectively bred to be the biggest possible birds that they can. You see the reverse of this in the dog industry, with dang near every breed now having a toy variety. As for the feathers on the chest, this is normal. On all CC that I have seen, the keel bone is always bald. As for the bedding, you should turn it daily to help keep it dry, change it at least once a week.

 

[silkiechicken]

That's alrite, Just have to move the tractor alot as they get big fast.