Feathers on CXs different than DPs?

[Sunny Side Up]

No apologies necessary, instead, I thank you for this information! Please elaborate.

Where do you order your CX chicks? How do you start them? ACV in their water, regular chick starter? At what age do you put them in the grass? At what age do you feed "once a day"? How much do you provide for each bird?

Please tell me more about the fermented grains you make/feed. When do you start that, how much do you feed, how often?

The CXs in your photos look fantastic, I would love to raise birds that look like that.

 

[Beekissed]

No apologies necessary, instead, I thank you for this information! Please elaborate.

Where do you order your CX chicks? This year I ordered from Central Hatchery in NE~VERY satisfied with the price and quality of the chicks($1.20 per chick/delivered)

How do you start them? Just like other chicks.

ACV in their water, regular chick starter? Yep..non-medicated starter. This time I'm fermenting their starter and when that is done, I'll be fermenting their whole grains.

At what age do you put them in the grass? 2 Weeks

At what age do you feed "once a day"? Soon as the chick starter is done or if you integrate them with the bigger flock.

How much do you provide for each bird? I put out enough for them to all have a good feed but with nothing left over for later. So, say you've fed them and they've all had a turn at the feeder, all their crops are bulging and the feed is almost gone. Most of them have wandered away to relax ....that is the correct amount to feed next time. If they have eaten it all and they are still milling around like they are still very hungry..give a little more and adjust your next feeding to the same amount.

I feed in the evenings only...this gives them incentive to free range and forage all day for food, then they get a good meal and no one goes to bed hungry.


Please tell me more about the fermented grains you make/feed. I started them on starter and buttermilk until my starter fermented(the next day...I jump started it with unpasteurized ACV). The next day they started on fermented chick starter.

When do you start that, how much do you feed, how often? The day they come home, enough to give them all a good feed...when they are new chicks I pretty much offer free choice, but they really have to clean it up before they get more.

The CXs in your photos look fantastic, I would love to raise birds that look like that. You can...it's really easy. Heck, if I can do it, anyone can!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Thank you, Beekissed, for all this information. I will be asking more questions right before I get my next batch of meat chicks. Do you raise all your chicks this way, or just your meaties? Does the limited feed/encouragement to forage work within a tractor as well as out in the yard?

When time allows, I'd like to hear more about exactly how you ferment the feed, and your use of buttermilk too. You mention feeding whole grains, what do you use and how is that better than a commercial mix?

I like your explanation of how to know how much to feed, to observe the birds' behavior to gauge the amount.

 

[bluere11e]

Thank you, Beekissed, for all this information. I will be asking more questions right before I get my next batch of meat chicks. Do you raise all your chicks this way, or just your meaties? Does the limited feed/encouragement to forage work within a tractor as well as out in the yard?

When time allows, I'd like to hear more about exactly how you ferment the feed, and your use of buttermilk too. You mention feeding whole grains, what do you use and how is that better than a commercial mix?

I like your explanation of how to know how much to feed, to observe the birds' behavior to gauge the amount.

Joel Salatin talks about giving his birds Brewers yeast and seaweed paowder to increase the minerals and b vitas that they need to prevent leg trouble too

 

[Beekissed]

Yes, I do all my chicks this way and my whole layer flock only gets fed once a day. I don't know if that would work in a tractor situation because of the lack of actual foraging going on in a tractor full of large birds who are soiling and trampling the same grasses they are supposed to be consuming. And it's a myth... that image that some have that they just graze like a cow...if you watch chickens on forage, they are selective about what they are consuming....a bit of clover here, a bit of grass there, but they don't just start munching on any old grass until it's gone.

As for the feed mix...better than a commercial mix? If you are asking if it has all the nutrient percentages that a commercial mix contains, no, it doesn't. You are keeping these birds for a couple of months+ and then butchering them. They don't need to have the optimal nutrition available, like a layer would, to perform their function. I've seen them get to size and taste just as good on nothing but pure cracked corn and forage. Also? High pro doesn't necessarily = healthy...if it did folks wouldn't be having 15% mortality rate on their birds fed on the commercial feed mixes.

The key to meaties is to raise them to maximum size on minimum feed...at least that is my goal. It doesn't do any good to spend so much in feed that each bird costs $10 by the time you are done. I don't care about my health enough to pay $10 for a chicken...heck, I'd just go vegetarian if it were that crucial. If I can do that on mixed grains and free range, wait a little longer~ but not too long~ to process, then I feel like I've won....cheap meats, lots of meat, healthy meat.

 

[Oregon Blues]

I've never had any problem hand plucking Cornish Cross.

But now I've got a plucker, because hand plucking 6 of them isn't quite the same as hand plucking 50 of them. Also because I pluck ducks and hand plucking ducks isn't a lot of fun.

I raise Cornish Cross just like they are real chickens, with the exception that they get niacin like the ducks do. (Touch wood) I've never had any health issues with mine.

You can give any breed of bird health issues by keeping them closely confined and not ever letting them have any sunshine or exercise. Oh wait, that's not just chickens. Any type of animal up to and including human beings can't sit around in the gloom and not move all their life and be healthy.

 

[SkyeSchazade]

Beekissed, thank you for sharing your information. After hearing so many terrible gross things about cornish X and their quality of life being so low I was never planning on getting any. I figured the quick grow out was just not worth it when I would have to look at a bird being miserable every day. Hearing that they CAN have a good life and free range like other chickens has just made me stop and reconsider my decisions! I pasture and free range all of my chickens, and I think I may just give a few CX a go to see how they work for us. Again THANK YOU for shaking up the sterotype!

Yes, I do all my chicks this way and my whole layer flock only gets fed once a day. I don't know if that would work in a tractor situation because of the lack of actual foraging going on in a tractor full of large birds who are soiling and trampling the same grasses they are supposed to be consuming. And it's a myth... that image that some have that they just graze like a cow...if you watch chickens on forage, they are selective about what they are consuming....a bit of clover here, a bit of grass there, but they don't just start munching on any old grass until it's gone.

As for the feed mix...better than a commercial mix? If you are asking if it has all the nutrient percentages that a commercial mix contains, no, it doesn't. You are keeping these birds for a couple of months+ and then butchering them. They don't need to have the optimal nutrition available, like a layer would, to perform their function. I've seen them get to size and taste just as good on nothing but pure cracked corn and forage. Also? High pro doesn't necessarily = healthy...if it did folks wouldn't be having 15% mortality rate on their birds fed on the commercial feed mixes.

The key to meaties is to raise them to maximum size on minimum feed...at least that is my goal. It doesn't do any good to spend so much in feed that each bird costs $10 by the time you are done. I don't care about my health enough to pay $10 for a chicken...heck, I'd just go vegetarian if it were that crucial. If I can do that on mixed grains and free range, wait a little longer~ but not too long~ to process, then I feel like I've won....cheap meats, lots of meat, healthy meat.

 

[Beekissed]

You're quite welcome! I wish we could have a thread dedicated to just this subject...alternative methods for raising CX. Wait a minute...I could start one, couldn't I?

Sometimes I forget that we are allowed to start any old subject we want and run with it.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

WalkingWolf1 sent me links to these two threads https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...raise-20-meaties-pics-of-the-finished-product and https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/644300/fermenting-feed-for-meat-birds I haven't had time to read through the first one, it's grown rather lengthy. I for one would love for Beekissed to begin a new thread on precisely this topic, successful ways to raise CXs to get them meaty & keep them healthy while avoiding the excessive poop & mess.

There are probably a lot of folks who feel the same way, that CXs are more trouble than they're worth. These alternative methods may change minds & policy for a lot of us.

 

[SkyeSchazade]

You're quite welcome! I wish we could have a thread dedicated to just this subject...alternative methods for raising CX. Wait a minute...I could start one, couldn't I?

Sometimes I forget that we are allowed to start any old subject we want and run with it.

Brilliant!