Disappointment

[amk122284]

I have no idea what happened, if tractor supply is at fault or if my expectations were to high. 2 weeks ago we butchered one of our, presumed, cornish cross and its butchered weight was 5.3 pounds at 8 weeks. Now here we are at 10 weeks with the rest of our birds (because they were way to small at 8 weeks) and alive unbutchered they are BARELY 5 lbs. The picture of the big bird is at 8 weeks just before we butchered it. The other picture is of the rest of the birds today. We are suppose to leave town for a month so we have to process them, I thought for sure 10 weeks would have been plenty of time for cornish cross and they would be bigger than this, I thought we would have more like the one big bird we butchered 2 weeks ago. Any insight from veteran meat bird owners?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Those aren't Cornish cross. They look like white leghorns.
There is a Cornish cross in the first picture.
I'm sure the bins of chicks get mixed up all the time. That doesn't solve your problem though.

 

[Isadora]

Those aren't cornish cross. They look like white leghorns.

X2 Not Cornish cross

 

[amk122284]

Those aren't cornish cross. They look like white leghorns.

That was exactly the conclusion I came to! What would you do?! We've butchered 4 of them and they are so small! Should we move the other 5 in with our other layers. Gah im so irritated!!!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That was exactly the conclusion I came to! What would you do?! We've butchered 4 of them and they are so small! Should we move the other 6 in with our other layers. Gah im so irritated!!!

I would eat the boys and use the girls for layers. You'll be happy with their production.

 

[amk122284]

I would eat the boys and use the girls for layers. You'll be happy with their production.

The funniest part is I'm pretty sure in a straight run we only got 1 rooster lol

 

[amk122284]

My suspicion really started when they started flying up 4 feet onto the window sill to roost. Ive never done meat birds but I knew that was not normal for 8 week old meat birds lol

Should we switch them all to an all flock pellet for the next 6 weeks? Or keep them separated or what gah I have no idea what to do now. I'll spend the next couple days stewing over what to do

 

[U_Stormcrow]

x3 (4?) Not Cornish Cross.

x2 keep the pullets as layers, and potential breeders, con do lots of good things with white legs. Eat the boys, as @ChickenCanoe said.

and if you decide you'd rather have egg layers in the future, bring in a quality RIR or NHR rooster and start popping out red sex links....

That said, nothing wrong with eating a 5# live weight bird at 8 weeks. I just culled a 3.3# live weight dual purpose at 11 weeks - the tastiest, most tender bird I've eaten this year. Perfect meal for two. Sure, its not a Cornish Cross, there wasn't a lot of breast meat, and the cost to raise him was higher, but 5# at 8 weeks for your birds - particularly if all are hens is a good growth rate for some breeds, and exceptional for most.

 

[amk122284]

x3 (4?) Not Cornish Cross.

x2 keep the pullets as layers, and potential breeders, con do lots of good things with white legs. Eat the boys, as @ChickenCanoe said.

and if you decide you'd rather have egg layers in the future, bring in a quality RIR or NHR rooster and start popping out red sex links....

That said, nothing wrong with eating a 5# live weight bird at 8 weeks. I just culled a 3.3# live weight dual purpose at 11 weeks - the tastiest, most tender bird I've eaten this year. Perfect meal for two. Sure, its not a Cornish Cross, there wasn't a lot of breast meat, and the cost to raise him was higher, but 5# at 8 weeks for your birds - particularly if all are hens is a good growth rate for some breeds, and exceptional for most.

Yeah we have 10 layers all ready looks like we have 15 now. We have some friends we give eggs to. Im checking with them to see if they want the 5 white leghorn hens we now have. Adding those 5 to our current flock will make space tight in the long run I think and the meat area we built would require a lot of modification to make it work for layers. This whole situation is just making me laugh and I'm so glad this turned out to be the issue instead of we messed up. This was the first time we've ever picked up at TSC and it will be the last.

 

[Mrs. K]

Next time, specifically order meat birds from your farm and ranch store. With your name on them. They won't expose them to the public, and you will get what you want. People mix those bins up.

I DO have cornish cross birds, and just did 3 at 6.5 weeks, and they are beautiful birds. I have found, that I like to do a few at a time, and the let the smaller ones grow up a bit without the competition.

Mrs K