I have read a lot about how meat chickens and Cornish X breed in particular have gotten a bad rep of being nasty, mean and good for nothing but to fatten up and eat. Well, I'd like to share my story and experience with my Cornish X Rooster, Clucky.
In late March I went to visit my father who runs a commercial chicken farm. He had just gotten a flock of baby's in and they were a mere 4 days old. There were thousands of them and they looked like a yellow carpet rolled out in the chicken houses. I went in to one of the houses and picked up a little furball that wasn't moving as fast as the others, looked as if he was tired or sick. They told me that they would probably kill it to keep the others from picking on it, so I decided to take it home with me.
Well, I wrapped him up in my jacket and away we went. I had no other chickens yet at this time, no supplies, no heat lamp, nothing.
I decided to call him Clucky. I had no intentions of eating him, I just wanted this cute little chick as a pet.
So I decided to fix up a cardboard box with some pine shavings and a heating pad. I rolled up the heating pad like a tunnel and put my new baby chick inside. He promptly took to the heating pad, laying inside with nothing but his furry little chicken butt sticking out. He'd come out every few minutes or so and eat. And boy did he eat. At night he would peep loudly unless I kept the heating pad close to him. It didn't have to be turned on, he just wanted it nearby for some reason. Otherwise he was pretty quiet. As the days went by I could hardly keep enough food for him. I didn't know that letting him eat so much was going to cause problems for him, I just figured he was hungry.
Well, a few weeks went by and he grew so fast you could almost watch him growing. He grew too fast for his feathers to keep up so I had this rather ugly, fat wobbly chick on my hands. When he was about 6 weeks old, I bought some more chickens, one of which was an 8 week old Barred Rock Hen.
He was considerable larger that she was, but I decided to house them together in my makeshift chicken coop (which was now a larger box with a screen over the top).
A few more weeks passed and the pair got moved to a wire cage type dog box. They became inseperable. If you took one away the other would peep and run about looking for their mate.
Well weeks passed and Clucky got larger and larger. At about 8 weeks old, I went out to check on him and he could hardly breath.
I began to research this breed and problems with this breed and discovered that they are basically bred to eat and be killed, which is fine, I mean I am not trying to knock the food business, I just wanted to save my pet. So, on advice from another BYC member, I gave him a crushed aspirin.
By morning he was better. Soon, the two were moved into the big coop with the other chickens. Clucky was, and is much bigger than the rest. He is still in love with his "girlfriend" the Barred Rock, and he will guard and defend her like any brave man.
A lot of people say that these breeds won't do normal chicken stuff, like peck at the ground, run, etc. but maybe Clucky is an exception.
Once he got around the other chickens, I started noticing a change. He no longer lingers around the food dish, he pecks happily at the ground making a cheerful "cluck cluck" sound, he runs to the door of the coop to greet me when I come out, and he forages in the grass as well as any of the others.
Sure, he stays dirtier that the others, and he is larger than they are, but to me he is a great pet. He seems to do better and better each day. I have to keep an eye on him, giving him small doses of aspirin on a regular schedule and limiting his food, but it's worth it to me.
Lots of people tell me to just eat him, but why would I want to end his life so quickly. I mean he seems to be enjoying himself like any other chicken, plus it would break his 'girlfriends' heart.
I just wanted to share with everyone about Clucky. Maybe someone else has a meaty breed they enjoy as much as I do mine.
They are not all bad
In late March I went to visit my father who runs a commercial chicken farm. He had just gotten a flock of baby's in and they were a mere 4 days old. There were thousands of them and they looked like a yellow carpet rolled out in the chicken houses. I went in to one of the houses and picked up a little furball that wasn't moving as fast as the others, looked as if he was tired or sick. They told me that they would probably kill it to keep the others from picking on it, so I decided to take it home with me.
Well, I wrapped him up in my jacket and away we went. I had no other chickens yet at this time, no supplies, no heat lamp, nothing.
I decided to call him Clucky. I had no intentions of eating him, I just wanted this cute little chick as a pet.
So I decided to fix up a cardboard box with some pine shavings and a heating pad. I rolled up the heating pad like a tunnel and put my new baby chick inside. He promptly took to the heating pad, laying inside with nothing but his furry little chicken butt sticking out. He'd come out every few minutes or so and eat. And boy did he eat. At night he would peep loudly unless I kept the heating pad close to him. It didn't have to be turned on, he just wanted it nearby for some reason. Otherwise he was pretty quiet. As the days went by I could hardly keep enough food for him. I didn't know that letting him eat so much was going to cause problems for him, I just figured he was hungry.
Well, a few weeks went by and he grew so fast you could almost watch him growing. He grew too fast for his feathers to keep up so I had this rather ugly, fat wobbly chick on my hands. When he was about 6 weeks old, I bought some more chickens, one of which was an 8 week old Barred Rock Hen.
He was considerable larger that she was, but I decided to house them together in my makeshift chicken coop (which was now a larger box with a screen over the top).
A few more weeks passed and the pair got moved to a wire cage type dog box. They became inseperable. If you took one away the other would peep and run about looking for their mate.
Well weeks passed and Clucky got larger and larger. At about 8 weeks old, I went out to check on him and he could hardly breath.
I began to research this breed and problems with this breed and discovered that they are basically bred to eat and be killed, which is fine, I mean I am not trying to knock the food business, I just wanted to save my pet. So, on advice from another BYC member, I gave him a crushed aspirin.
By morning he was better. Soon, the two were moved into the big coop with the other chickens. Clucky was, and is much bigger than the rest. He is still in love with his "girlfriend" the Barred Rock, and he will guard and defend her like any brave man.
A lot of people say that these breeds won't do normal chicken stuff, like peck at the ground, run, etc. but maybe Clucky is an exception.
Once he got around the other chickens, I started noticing a change. He no longer lingers around the food dish, he pecks happily at the ground making a cheerful "cluck cluck" sound, he runs to the door of the coop to greet me when I come out, and he forages in the grass as well as any of the others.
Sure, he stays dirtier that the others, and he is larger than they are, but to me he is a great pet. He seems to do better and better each day. I have to keep an eye on him, giving him small doses of aspirin on a regular schedule and limiting his food, but it's worth it to me.
Lots of people tell me to just eat him, but why would I want to end his life so quickly. I mean he seems to be enjoying himself like any other chicken, plus it would break his 'girlfriends' heart.
I just wanted to share with everyone about Clucky. Maybe someone else has a meaty breed they enjoy as much as I do mine.
They are not all bad
