White Rock meat birds, harvest time

[rwenzoski]

Hello all, first post here but iv'e read a few so far. Iv'e been looking for the time it takes for white rock meat birds to mature to butcher length times, but I see from days to weeks to months & understand that they can have heart & leg troubles as they grow fat so fast. I had a friend that used to mass raise these birds & the cycle was only 42 days.
Any help with this is appreciated!
Thanks, Robbin
We've had a variety of chickens, Running Ducks & raised a few turkeys last fall for the freezer & hatched chickens, turkeys & ducks earlier this spring & just put them all out in the (2nd) coop as well as just got the 25 White Rock meat chickens April 14th so trying to figure out when roughly we should butcher but not interested in just broiler size either.

 

[sandburRanch]

Start butchering at 3-4 lbs. as broiler / fryers and as they progress from there you'll have a good take on the situation .

 

[rwenzoski]

Thanks sandburRanch

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum from Louisiana, glad you joined.

White Rock is a breed of dual purpose chickens. People do raise them for meat but with that 42 day cycle time you have to be talking about the Cornish Rock, Cornish Cross, or CX. They are called different things. White Rock grow a lot slower, like other dual purpose chickens. Your experience with the other birds should help a lot. I think the differences you'll is how fast they grow, how much they eat, and how much they poop.

The CX have been developed by selective breeding to put on a lot of meat really fast and with a great feed to conversion ratio. They can grow so fast that they develop heart problems or their skeleton can break down because it can't keep up.. How you feed them affects this, restricting feed or maybe depending on pasture. I don't raise CX myself but many people on here do, using different techniques. If you have some thoughts on how you plan to manage them maybe someone on here can give you insights. Or chat with your buddy that mass raised them.

The way they are managed commercially they are typically butchered at 6 to 8 weeks. Their goal is to put on as much meat as they can as cost-effectively as they can, then raise another batch. If they keep them much longer than that they start breaking down and dying. Some people on here keep them longer than that, they can get huge. But for your first time, planning on seven weeks like your buddy isn't a bad plan.

If you butcher chickens fairly young you can cook them any way you want. With dual purpose chickens you usually wait until they get older so you can be restricted in how you can cook them. With the CX you won't have that problem, they will be tender enough you can fry or grill them.

Your conditions are going to be unique to you, we are all different in how we manage chickens. A little experimenting to find your sweet spot can come in handy. You might try butchering one or two at 5 weeks, then six weeks, and such so you can see for yourself.

Good luck and welcome to the adventure.

 

[Isadora]

Hello, and congratulations on your first post! If you're talking about Cornish Cross, we typically raise ours to 8 weeks old and then butcher. We also do 12 hours of feed and 12 hours off and haven't experienced any leg issues.

 

[rwenzoski]

Hi there, thanks for the welcome & the awesome info also. I love to learn, almost anything about anything so this is a lot of help, much appreciated!
Thanks, Robbin