My Cornish X experiment

[duluthralphie]

2 days since I posted everything was going good.

I have been feeding 10-12 hours a day feeding 18% protein.

The weather here has been hot and humid. (Hot for Minnesota) Mid- high 80's.

I am still running a white heat lamp. The birds are not huddling even at night when outdoor temps fall into high 50's.


Chicks are going through nearly a quart of water a day, I expect that to increase dramatically soon.

This morning when I gave them back the feed, I noticed one chick hunched over and very lethargic. I tried to get it to drink, it refused. It is still walking just not much.

I moved it to the ICU, ( a piece of a plastic barrel, with both ends cut off, we place it on red paper and line the red paper with paper towels so we can watch the droppings and give the birds traction for walking, the whole area is 99-100 degrees with a red heat lamp) ICU is in our basement.

I have a feeling I will lose this chick. There is a pheasant chick in ICU with it, hopefully they can keep each other company. ICU mainly keeps the others from harassing is. My wife watches over ICU better than me. She is a hospice nurse and even dying chicks get her care and love.


Any ideas on saving the chick will be appreciated.

 

[JacobH]

I've heard various things help. I've never actually saved a chick (all 3 died when I tried), so this is really just me repeating what others say. They say to make sure and get some probiotics into the water for sure, maybe try getting them to eat some small scrambled eggs? Like I said before, all of mine passed within 24 hours of looking bad. Is the chick the same size as the others?

Also, on the water note, fermented feed drastically reduces the amount of water they consume. I guess because they're kind of drinking when they eat, because the food is moist. I know you said you were wanting to wait to try it, just throwing that out there.

Ours are doing great! Starting to get some big feathers, and they think they can fly. I have them in a 13" tall brooder box, and they jump up and flap and hit their heads on the wire top. I actually had a Red Sex-Link chick (I have 3 in with my CX) fly up and fit herself through the wire fence and she was standing on top of the box when I went out to check on them. Crazy birds.

 

[duluthralphie]

I've heard various things help. I've never actually saved a chick (all 3 died when I tried), so this is really just me repeating what others say. They say to make sure and get some probiotics into the water for sure, maybe try getting them to eat some small scrambled eggs? Like I said before, all of mine passed within 24 hours of looking bad. Is the chick the same size as the others?

Also, on the water note, fermented feed drastically reduces the amount of water they consume. I guess because they're kind of drinking when they eat, because the food is moist. I know you said you were wanting to wait to try it, just throwing that out there.

Ours are doing great! Starting to get some big feathers, and they think they can fly. I have them in a 13" tall brooder box, and they jump up and flap and hit their heads on the wire top. I actually had a Red Sex-Link chick (I have 3 in with my CX) fly up and fit herself through the wire fence and she was standing on top of the box when I went out to check on them. Crazy birds.

Yours sound like they are doing great!

I should have mentioned my little guy is small, very small appears about half size to the rest. I will try to get some probiotics into him. If I can't I am sure my wife can.

Thanks

 

[duluthralphie]

We lost the little fellow in the ICU. He failed to thrive, even though we used a syringe to force a few drops of H2O into him.

On a positive note, we had the Sears repairman here today, he raises turkeys and chickens also. He said he has 3 CornishX hens that are 14 months old. He said they lay huge eggs.

He said he raised them just like a regular chickens. I am even more excited about the experiment now. He did not keep any roosters though.


I am even looking ahead to having a couple hens and a rooster and see if I can hatch my own CornishX's. I wonder if the fast growing size will carry though to the young ones.


This morning all 24 were in good shape.

I fed them chick grit yesterday, the 24 ate about 3/4 a cup. They did not eat it all.

Also I noticed when I give them the food this morning not all came running to it. Some seemed content to do whatever they were before I put it in. They are acting like real chicks still. The wing feathers are getting long on some of them. They are cute when they start to feather out.

 

[JacobH]

We lost the little fellow in the ICU. He failed to thrive, even though we used a syringe to force a few drops of H2O into him.

On a positive note, we had the Sears repairman here today, he raises turkeys and chickens also. He said he has 3 CornishX hens that are 14 months old. He said they lay huge eggs.

He said he raised them just like a regular chickens. I am even more excited about the experiment now. He did not keep any roosters though.


I am even looking ahead to having a couple hens and a rooster and see if I can hatch my own CornishX's.  I wonder if the fast growing size will carry though to the young ones.


This morning all 24 were in good shape.

I fed them chick grit yesterday, the 24 ate about 3/4 a cup. They did not eat it all.

Also I noticed when I give them the food this morning not all came running to it. Some seemed content to do whatever they were before I put it in. They are acting like real chicks still. The wing feathers are getting long on some of them. They are cute when they start to feather out.

I'm sorry to hear about your chick. It's an unfortunate part of raising chickens. At least he was cared for.

That's awesome about those hens. I wonder if they get around ok? I've read a bit into the breeding, and some of the traits aren't supposed to carry on correctly. Some birds will get the right traits, some won't. Apparently it's a crapshoot, which is why most won't do it.

I'm happy to hear about yours being healthy. Mine did the same thing with feed last night. It was later than I normally feed them, so most were settled down for the night, and only a couple got up to eat. Crazy compared to the normal feed stampede.

 

[duluthralphie]

I'm sorry to hear about your chick. It's an unfortunate part of raising chickens. At least he was cared for.

That's awesome about those hens. I wonder if they get around ok? I've read a bit into the breeding, and some of the traits aren't supposed to carry on correctly. Some birds will get the right traits, some won't. Apparently it's a crapshoot, which is why most won't do it.

I'm happy to hear about yours being healthy. Mine did the same thing with feed last night. It was later than I normally feed them, so most were settled down for the night, and only a couple got up to eat. Crazy compared to the normal feed stampede.

Yes, he said they were healthy and walk around, he said the eggs were larger than store bought jumbos!

Some of mine stampeded, in fact the majority did, I was surprised all of them did not. I will try to mark those that do not stampede in the future. I want the ones that are not as glutinous.

 

[Hoffy]

I did a bunch of weight analysis in the thread linked in my signature. I think the Cx are far more predictable than other breeds. Hope this helps!

 

[duluthralphie]

I did a bunch of weight analysis in the thread linked in my signature. I think the Cx are far more predictable than other breeds. Hope this helps!

I read your thread, very interesting. Did you keep any for egg production?

Did you try mating CornishX's?

I also have some "Dixie,rainbow, pioneer " or whatever you want to call them they look just like yours they are larger than the others I have left and about the size of the CornsihX's I butchered a month ago. I have one rooster that is red or reddish that is huge, but alas I have no idea what he is as I bought a mixed package of dual purpose colored egg layers.

The repairman today said one of his hens was 14 lbs. I am sure that would be labeled a "stewing" hen now....lol

It sounds like you did it a lot like I plan too. I have read other threads here on cornishX's and as I said want to try to raise them for breeders next spring if possible. I would love to be able to get next years cornishX's by just hatching them.

 

[duluthralphie]

Everything going according to plan, birds are doing well and seem to be growing at a decent rate.

I am surprised when I put the feed into the brooder every morning there is not the mad rush I would have expected. Also the birds are fairly active during the day when I peak in on them. They are not just sitting in the feed trough and crapping.

I have noticed the water consumption has doubled since I got them, which is normal. I am now going through 2 quarts of water a day. I was sure I went through more water on my last batch, but that could be diabetes in inactive over weight birds or near diabetes. I sure do not know, just guessing.

I am still planning an early to mid October departure date for 20 of the chicks.

On the bright side, my original count was off, I have had 2 dead birds, but I still have 25 left. It is much easier to count them when they lay separated from each other and are not a huddled moving mass!

 

[JacobH]

Glad to hear it, hope yours continue to do well. Update for us. Finally completed the tractor today and moved the fatties in. They love it. I've been letting them range in a small pen some days, but this is their first full night outside. Went ahead and set the critter trap just in case. Of course the birds huddle in what I feel is the least secure corner of the tractor. Oh well.

They spent most of the day destroying the forage in the tractor. There's plenty left, but they made a decent dent. They would pack their crops full of grass, then go eat some feed, then eat some more grass. No idea where they put it all.

Also realized after moving the tractor today that I'm going to need some wheels. It's just too darn heavy to drag. Added cost, but I can use it more in the future.

We're about to finish off our first 40lb bag of starter grower. I'm guessing it will take us through the half way point (4 weeks), which was better than I expected. Are you sticking with starter/grower the whole 8 weeks? I'm trying to decide if I should switch to a homemade feed of corn, wheat grains, oats, and barley, or just stick with the grower.