How many of you FULLY Free Range your Cornish X Meaties? Tractors do not count.

[aoxa]

I am having a hard time finding anyone who truly free ranges their meat birds. Not DP birds, but actual Cornish X (AKA Meat Kings around my area).

I have been free ranging my 40 birds since they were 2 weeks old, right along with the layer chicks (red sex links).

I restrict feed to only twice a day what they will clean up in 15 minutes.

They are a nice size bird, and are very good foragers. They only lay down and nap after their breakfast and dinner.

They may be slower to grow out (Aiming for 10 weeks), but many feel heavier than my full grown cat already at 5 weeks!

First day free ranging @ 2 weeks old





They took a good few days to venture out further than the grass line by their pop door. It took us a while to get them to return to their pen at night. About a week...

Free ranging @ 3 weeks



They found the pile of dead branches. This is a favourite spot to hang out even still.

Free Ranging at 4 weeks:







This week was very wet. They didn't care in the least.






Free Ranging at 5 weeks:

Leftover quiche for all.. including our barn kitten.






They are really spreading out now. I have not increased their feed given at all since 2 weeks. I have caught a meatie as far as our front driveway in search of bugs. They are always working for their food.

If you free range your Cornish X, please share your experience.

Wanted to let you all know it CAN be done.

 

[Beekissed]

Please explain to me, in your opinion, what others poor management skills in regards to meat birds are? I am in no way being sarcastic or snarky if it comes across that way - I truly want to know for reference as we plan our future move to acerage that will allow us to raise meat birds. I've been following meat bird threads but honestly as a person just 6 months in to chicken keeping it gets rather confusing with all the conflicting opinions and information. Quite honestly, what I've read about how aoxa raises meat birds and have seen videos she posts...this way makes total sense to me. Is it that people cram them in to too small of spaces with no access to natural nutrients found through spending their time scratching around ,and then expect them to perform well as meat birds, or does the poor management you see go beyond that?

Way beyond that. They take a naturally hungry bird with a high metabolism and follow commercial broiler specifications of feeding and growth schedule and somehow expect the product they have in their back yard will somehow differ from the stench producing, the death producing methods of commercial ag broiler houses. That this will somehow not happen in their yard even though they are feeding the same rations, on the same schedule, and keeping them too crowded into a small space just like the broiler houses do.

Then, when they do this and are repulsed by the overly fat, immobile young birds who cannot escape their own feces due to growing too quickly...they will then adamantly state that they will not forage because they are much too lazy and food obsessed to actually work for food. All the while that full feeder sits next to their obese-ly crippled birds...placed there by them...

Or, you have those who will put 50 young birds in a 10x10 tractor out on grass, provide the continuous feeding, and then observe that the birds just do not seem to actually forage on that 10x10 square of grass each time it is moved to fresh grass. That they just trample the grass but do not actually scratch for bugs or eat the grass. Really? They have a full feeder of easily found feed and you think they should be eating the poop covered grass and finding the bugs in that 10x10 patch of grass? Do they actually imagine bugs are going to remain where 100 feet are constantly stomping the ground or that the grass is going to remain edible after all the trampling and pooping? That chickens just eat any and all grass and are not selective about which grasses are more digestible and more nutrient laden? Or, somehow, do they imagine the birds will scratch the ground looking for food in those conditions when a feeder hangs nearby with all the food they could possibly need...why then search for food?

Yes, it goes way beyond just that. When someone can look at a young bird and see it growing into the shape of a volleyball so that it's legs are splayed out and it cannot move and they think that is good flock management, meat bird or not, they have some serious issues. It's cruel and it's also needless and anyone with a little imagination and with eyes to read can find a better way to raise a meat bird instead of blindly following the advice of commercial agri-biz people. It's for your own food consumption, for pete's sake! A sick, feces covered bird that did nothing more than sit by a feeder for its entire young life and produce colorless, mushy, questionably healthy meat is just a no brainer...why then doesn't one just skip all the drama and expense and just buy it from the store? The standard answer is: So I can know what was put into the chicken. What more could a person put into a chicken that makes it any less healthy than a bird whose cardiac, hepatic and renal health has been strained to the max by overfeeding and confined living on excessive fecal matter?

Yes..it goes way beyond that and ventures into the ridiculous. Just because they are meat birds does not excuse actually using one's noggin to figure out they have a different metabolism and instead of exploiting it, manage around it to provide them a healthier existence in their time on Earth. It's easily done and it's a cheaper way of doing it, but many will still insist that it cannot be done...simply because they like being lazy and having an excuse for it.

 

[Bossroo]

Yes, it can ... however in my corner of the world, I would be feeding Mother Nature's hords of coyotes, foxes,, racoons, possums, cougar, bobcats, neighbors' dogs, eagles and hawks more than myself if any are left to eat.

So Fort Knox it is.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
What makes me sad is the persistent poor flock management that is being displayed by letting chickens of any breed get to that state and then blaming it on the breed! People seem just fine admitting they are practicing poor management as long as it's attached to meat birds...like that excuses that kind of behavior. They are meat birds, so they are supposed to be like that, right?

BIG NO on that. NO. Just NO. They are not supposed to be like that, meat birds or not. If you all know anyone else who think meat birds have to be fed like pigs and kept in pig pens because they are "just like that", please spread the word that's it is their individual flock management that is causing these birds to be that way..not the breed, not the genetics, not anything but pure D laziness on the part of the flock owner.

 

[aoxa]

I free ranged all my meaties that I've done and no losses to preds. All the birds did well in the heat and foraged from morning to almost full dark each day. Nikki, one of our BYC members, also free ranged jumbo CX and with similar success..and finished out the biggest chickens I've ever seen in my life! Both mine and hers were fed FF as well. Fully active, fully mobile, no losses for health reasons, no losses to preds.

Yes, you were the one who convinced me to try it. You were right.

Man are they hard to get passed though at the end of the day. They know that is when they eat.. and they are all over my feet.

But so are the other chicks. They are just so big.

 

[Beekissed]

I've spent the morning trying to convince people they can free range. I had to take a video to prove it. Imagine that. My pictures weren't enough to show it. They said their legs couldn't support them running.

Obviously some run weird (so do I!) but most run just fine. At least they are running!

I haven't lost a single one on free range. No flipping, no heart attacks.

They are healthy robust birds. Some should be ready to process shortly.

I have a tough time on that also and even with videos they can clearly see, they still deny that it's possible where THEY live or with the type of CX THEY have. It's a weird thing to encounter people who refuse to acknowledge video evidence of CX foraging, running, flying and being normal birds. I think this is because people want to raise them in small tractors and pens and they justify that practice by saying the bird are too lazy to forage or that they will get too hot if they are active and outside on pasture.

It's the same thing I see happening with free range where people will declare that one could never free range in their neck of the woods because they have too many predators or too many hawks...as if they own the franchise on preds and no one else could possibly have as many as they have! Then they will say they wouldn't dare leave a dog out there to protect the birds in their high predator area because he could get killed by coyotes, so free ranging with a dog is also impossible where they live. It doesn't matter to them that many are doing that very thing and their dogs live many a long year, keeping coyotes at bay from the chickens night after night.

People are a strange breed o' cat, by my reckoning.

 

[aoxa]

I have a tough time on that also and even with videos they can clearly see, they still deny that it's possible where THEY live or with the type of CX THEY have. It's a weird thing to encounter people who refuse to acknowledge video evidence of CX foraging, running, flying and being normal birds. I think this is because people want to raise them in small tractors and pens and they justify that practice by saying the bird are too lazy to forage or that they will get too hot if they are active and outside on pasture.

It's the same thing I see happening with free range where people will declare that one could never free range in their neck of the woods because they have too many predators or too many hawks...as if they own the franchise on preds and no one else could possibly have as many as they have! Then they will say they wouldn't dare leave a dog out there to protect the birds in their high predator area because he could get killed by coyotes, so free ranging with a dog is also impossible where they live. It doesn't matter to them that many are doing that very thing and their dogs live many a long year, keeping coyotes at bay from the chickens night after night.

People are a strange breed o' cat, by my reckoning.

Here is what they said:


Quote: Did I mention these alternative meat birds are double the price and take twice as long to grow out?

They are prettier, I'll give them that.. but they are not readily available in my area. I only replied (this is on facebook) because of his negative comments about the CX. I am tired of the CX being so under rated. I hear "They are stupid" and "they are lazy" every day.

also:

Quote: Wow that is quite pricey for cost per pound.

I've put 4.2 pounds of feed into them thus far. They could be butchered this weekend if I wanted to, but I want to let them grow out a bit more, since they are comfortable and not too heavy yet (they are already heavier than a full grown hen). I'd put them at 6-7 pounds easily live right now (the boys). Some of the girls will need a few more weeks. A few of them don't get fed at all because they choose to sleep in the big chicken barn. Those guys are not fed in the summer other than scratch grains where my grass is long to encourage them to trample it in the right areas. Goats are useless for this.

If I add my costs:
each bird $1.30
Feed per pound = .37
(rounded feed up to 5 pounds each) = $1.85 per bird
------------------------------
$3.15 per bird thus far. I'm going to be modest and say they are 5 pounds, though I'd bet a dollar they were more
5 pounds
=.63 cents a pound

Really.. How is that even close to worth buying alternative meat birds?

My feed cost per pound is quite high I realize.. Price of living in Canada.. everything is more expensive.

$18.55 per 50 pound bag

 

[chicken pickin]

Today is process day for my CX they are 8 weeks old. They were fully free ranged daily from 7am-8pm(or dark). They slept in a tractor but had free range of my yard starting at 3 weeks of age. They are pretty big and feel super heavy. Here are a few pics from this morn.

 

[duluthralphie]

Hi.

Yep, I have raised CXs to live longer. There are a couple threads on it.

I crossed them and bred them back. I wanted to develop a self sustaining breed, so I did not AI. I think I should have to speed the process up.

I have had toad rooster that dress out over 15 pounds.

I did restrict feed (severely) I forced them to free range. I kept the water a long distance (over 50 ft) from the feed to force activity.

The birds are very susceptible to over heating because of the large bodies. If you are down south it may not work. We have put a rose comb on ours because of our harsh winters.

I fed them for 20-30 minutes in the evening only. It forced them to forage during the day..

Good luck @northeastDad if you try this. They are great birds when treated right.

 

[Bossroo]

This is what a good farm dog is for! Or Livestock Guardian dog. I use a Bernese Mountain Dog, but really don't have any daytime predators fortunately. Hawks/Eagles can be an issue in the fall, but so much cover right now..

LGDs are long haired so they would suffer heavily in the heat ( summers are in the high 90*s and several weeks from 100*- 117* ) . Too, we have a huge amount of fox tail grass here in the arrid West , wich the seed heads have a nasty habit of attaching themselves to long hair, then migrating through the skin , nose, eyes wich require expensive Vet care to remove. Which is a very miserable life to subject a long haired dog too. For farm/ guard dogs, I had an Austalian Shepard, Kelpie, Rottwieler, Doberman, Border Collie, Rodiesion Ridgeback,. and 3 Boxers. that were badly mauled or killed by coyote packs ( one coyote will come in and intice dogs to chase them , have a light running fight untill they reach the pack of coyotes and it ends with lights out for the dog) over the last 37 years.