The Cornish Cross: “What is wrong with this picture?!” There is so much to think about in this arti

[ChocolateMouse]

I live in a suburb of a major city with a back yard that is just over 100 feet long. My house is about 20 feet away from my neighbors house. Two streets over and the lawns are all postage stamps. Even just across the street the back yards are half the length. I am a back yard chicken keeper in every way.

A rooster is a bad thing to have within 125 feet of your neighbors house. Raising it out to a good size often means waiting until it starts crowing... I suppose I could learn to caponize, but that can have some really high losses and is a delicate procedure. Most of the neighborhoods around here it is even illegal to have roosters at all, regardless of noise levels. How is that ideal for my back yard? Roosters need more feed, which can in a LARGE space could be deferred by free ranging. That is great... If you live in the country. It is kinds poop in regards to a small or even large back yard.

I raised a group of CXs this year. The hens got big and meaty, and the roosters reached a nice weight before they could start crowing. My CXs would RUN at me every day and would flap their wings to make sure they moved faster. They were tractored as chicks and their tractor had branches in it so they could roost, something they gladly did. The tractors were three feet high and the chickens would FLY out of the tractor when they were little and never.lost the ability to escape the tractor if he door was open.

I kept some of my hens around for 16 weeks with no problems. They spent their life on real ground, eating real grass and they have been delicious so far. Nice, firm meat that was deep yellow skinned and much darker than grocery meat. My dark meat was actually red instead of grey.

I cannot imagine how a rooster crowing and eating through your feed and possibly getting you fined by the city and making your neighbors hate you is better than raising efficient, active and quiet birds.

 

[Owingsia]

You do not see people downing those battery hens..

They can't walk when they get out of cages.. so it must be their fault right?

Well CX can't walk because they are offered unending feed that they just can not say no to...

Thank you for raising your birds right and sharing your experience here Owingsia.

Agree,

ours have access to feed 24x 7 for the first 3 weeks and then taper off to two feedings a day and whatever they scrounge up. A lot of people look at them and say "uh those are dumb birds" I remind them what their cute little ookie wookie layer hens look like at 3-4 weeks. Then I get the response "Those are only 3 weeks old!?!" They grow fast but their brain still takes the same amount of time to grown.

 

[call ducks]

That grass and bugs is of utmost importance in the flavour department. CX CAN be raised like any other free ranging bird. You just have to get passed the idea that food should be offered freely...

The grass and bugs have very little to do with flavor - It is about the age of the bird and older bird will taste better than a younger bird, also meat birds will not develop the same flavor because of how the muscle develops.

These "expert" opinions on the dramatic issues with commercial broiler production give me a nice chuckle.

If the commercial broiler's were so fragile and prone to diseases they would NOT be raised by the millions to meet the demand for chicken meat by the US and worldwide consumer.

Most of the instances of production issues in the backyard setting can easily be attributed to improper management. Instead of blaming improper management it is more easy to blame the birds.

I find it funny that people say improper management when there is no management guide, for feeding, or lighting that is applicable to birds in small numbers. In a sense they are not weak but they are more susceptible to issues because they are all treated the same in backyards when they are infact different. Also by free ranging you are putting a bird in a situation it is not bred for meat lines like a stable environment that can't be provided

Quote:

A Dual purpose rooster will have a 5:1 feed conversion ratio in comparison.

In all reality heritage birds have a FCR of 8:1 upto 10:1 for breeds like Jersey Giants

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

The grass and bugs have very little to do with flavor - It is about the age of the bird and older bird will taste better than a younger bird, also meat birds will not develop the same flavor because of how the muscle develops.

I find it funny that people say improper management when there is no management guide, for feeding, or lighting that is applicable to birds in small numbers. In a sense they are not weak but they are more susceptible to issues because they are all treated the same in backyards when they are infact different. Also by free ranging you are putting a bird in a situation it is not bred for meat lines like a stable environment that can't be provided

In all reality heritage birds have a FCR of 8:1 upto 10:1 for breeds like Jersey Giants

Have you eaten pastured CX next to heritage birds so that you have a comparison for flavor? I have--we did a taste test. You have said that the age of the bird is paramount, but I raise the two side-by-side with the only real difference being the age of the bird, and I can tell you that the flavor is similar. In fact, if you read this thread, I'm not the only one saying so.

Also, have you watched aoxa's videos? In not, then I suggest doing so before you say that they are living in a situation they're not bred for in a non-stable environment. Yes, they might have been developed for being raised in large barns, but they adapt to pasture just fine. Again, watch aoxa's videos.

Where did you get the FCR numbers? Just curious, those numbers are even worse than I thought they were.

 

[call ducks]

Quote:
Why. Yes yes i have tried all chicken. It is the age of the bird. The older the bird the more it gets to work the muscle, and the more the bone develops it is working the muscle and bone age that really gives it any flavor.

As for where my FCR numbers come from, trials of my own and biologists , as well as old old old poultry farmers.

Edited by staff

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Scale. It is a bit of a dirty word. The state of Iowa is the largest producers of eggs in the U.S. Why does one state have to be the largest producers ? ....

There must be a reason that Mississippi grows more cotton than Montana, or why Florida produces more watermelons than North Dakota. The reason is accidents of location and climate. If this was not so then Alaska would grow more oranges than California, don't Alaska and California both border the same ocean, the Pacific?

However by way of proving my point the nation aptly named "Iceland" is the largest exporter of bananas to the European Union. You may ask "How can a country named Iceland grow a high value tropical crop like bananas?" The answer is simple, Iceland is one giant hot spring.. Icelandic farmers tap geothermal hot springs underneath their feet and use the boiling hot water to heat banana growing green houses. You can not do the same thing in say New Hampshire without building several new Atomic energy plants. But Iowa not only has the land to grow chickens on but the Hawk Eye State produces mega amounts of chicken food (corn, soymeal, alfalfa meal, feed grains, and animal by products) so shipping costs are negligible compared to shipping these feed stuffs from Iowa to say Rhode Island to grow off chickens, then burning more fossil fuels to ship the chicken manure back to Iowa to use to grow more chicken feed.

 

[BCMaraniac]

There must be a reason that Mississippi grows more cotton than Montana, or why Florida produces more watermelons than North Dakota. The reason is accidents of location and climate. If this was not so then Alaska would grow more oranges than California, don't Alaska and California both border the same ocean, the Pacific?

However by way of proving my point the nation aptly named "Iceland" is the largest exporter of bananas to the European Union. You may ask "How can a country named Iceland grow a high value tropical crop like bananas?" The answer is simple, Iceland is one giant hot spring.. Icelandic farmers tap geothermal hot springs underneath their feet and use the boiling hot water to heat banana growing green houses. You can not do the same thing in say New Hampshire without building several new Atomic energy plants. But Iowa not only has the land to grow chickens on but the Hawk Eye State produces mega amounts of chicken food (corn, soymeal, alfalfa meal, feed grains, and animal by products) so shipping costs are negligible compared to shipping these feed stuffs from Iowa to say Rhode Island to grow off chickens, then burning more fossil fuels to ship the chicken manure back to Iowa to use to grow more chicken feed.

Iceland is lush and green, whereas Greenland is 81% ice-covered.

Go figure.....

 

[mg15]

Why. Yes yes i have tried all chicken. It is the age of the bird. The older the bird the more it gets to work the muscle, and the more the bone develops it is working the muscle and bone age that really gives it any flavor.

I am not even going to say anything - Not because I don't have anything to say trust me.

As for where my FCR numbers come from, trials of my own and biologists , as well as old old old poultry farmers.

Hi, what does this mean? FCR, In all reality heritage birds have a FCR of 8:1 upto 10:1 for breeds like Jersey Giants
Thanks.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Hi, what does this mean? FCR, In all reality heritage birds have a FCR of 8:1 upto 10:1 for breeds like Jersey Giants
Thanks.

I would assume FCR refers to feed conversion ratio. i.e. a FCR of 1:1 would mean a pound of feed gives a pound of weight gain in a bird, which of course doesn't occur.. 8:1 FCR would mean 8 ounces of feed required per ounce of body weight gain, etc

 

[call ducks]

Yes FCR means feed conversion ratio in pounds so 8lbs feed = 1 pound gain in heritage vs 2-4 lbs feed / pound gained