Cornish Cross

Cornish cross are one of the least healthy chickens to eat all they do is eat!

I've raised two batches of the CX and are incredibly impressed with their foraging abilities, their activity levels and their tough nature. These birds can get an injury and brush it off like it never happened. Heal up so fast and well that you can't tell who was injured, even when doing the processing later.

They have a great feed conversion and I've never lost one to unexplained death. They will range farther and forage longer than any breed of chicken I've ever raised..sunup to sundown out on pasture and in the woodland.

They do well on fermented feed and full free range. Grew them slow, used fermented layer mash and whole grains. Healthy chickens that fill the freezer like no other breed. Can't say enough positive things about this breed.

Great birds to raise for eating. They mature in 6-7 weeks and are very good to eat. They eat a lot in their short life so have lots of food on hand. Very easy to clean also.

She was one of the best chickens we had. Sadly, she is no longer with us.

Great meat birds but not very hardy.

I absolutely love this breed! I'v raised mine since she was a chick and she is so friendly and healthy it's amazing. I totally recommend this breed. We don't keep this breed for the meat (I have never killed a chicken) but they make fantastic pets!!!!

I ordered some a week ago and man are they doing good no problem even if the heat isnt right on 90 but man there awesome chicks

I have succesfuly raised cornish cross breed with no leg problems. We use Willard Water, remove feed at 7 pm until 8 am.
They are ready to eat in the am BUT do not sit in front of the feeder 24-7 and just eat.
I have them out side in the day, you have to make sure they do not hurt themselves when getting out of the coop. Some of the girls do not want to use the walk way they just want to hop out.
We just butchered 15 and had a couple that weighed 8 lbs, with an avg of 6.5. So I feel good about what we are doing. AND great flavored meat !

I am raising some for meat now and they sure are growing fast!

I'm really torn on what I feel about the breed. They were very active when they were a couple weeks old and then they just got so heavy that they didn't do much moving at all. I constantly had to clean them up because they would lay right next to the feeder in their poo. So they got regular baths to clean them up. They could only take a couple steps and had to sit down for a while. I found this very heart breaking that they couldn't have "normal chicken lives" We feed them flock raiser for 5 weeks and the last 3 weeks we switched to meatbird food. (No Hormones or Antibiotics) But when it came to slaughter this last weekend. The breast meat was huge!! I've never seen breast meat that big. We cooked it up that night and tasted great. And had enought left over from one breast to serve about 4 people. I don't like dark meat so this breed is perfect. but it is just so hard to watch them live like that.

I am not sure where I stand on these. I raised a few last year and they did their job, but their "chickeness" is gone. They grew so fast that they were half bald for their entire life. They couldn't fly and ran awkwardly. These things both repelled me and made me laugh. But in 10 weeks they were in my freezer.

I will raise again this year with some Dixie Rangers to compare.

Okay, I'm coming to this sideways. I picked up 3 "blonde chicks" and was told that they were Buff Orpingtons, but their shape was wrong and their color didn't develop correctly ether. Then I was told that they were perhaps red splash Wyandottes. I have have Silver-laced Wyandottes and these are not Wyandottes. They are hard-feathered, long-necked birds closer in shape to the Game Birds. They are still growing, but very boxy in shape with a long neck and small head. Pea combed, yellow legs. The friendliest chicks I started out with, one of them has turned out to be an aggressive pecker. I'm keeping hens for eggs, I feel these may fall short of the mark. They are the guard dogs of my flock, and the policemen.

i recommend this breed

I love this breed! In just 6 to 8 weeks they are ready to be processed and eaten. They are very calm and easy to care for. Just watch out for legs problems.

I raised 52 meat birds in the spring of 2011. This was the first time I raised chickens, so I spent a lot of time doing research. I learned quickly that they are hungry all the time. A few of them would not leave the feeder until the food was gone. One developed slight leg problems because it just grew so fast. After a couple of days he recovered, but I've heard of a lot of people who weren't so lucky. The only other issue I encountered was that they were ALWAYS right under foot in the chicken yard and coop because they know that I = food.

*this review is mostly for the jumbo version of this breed*
Great birds for eating..growth rate is amazing!
Do not buy these birds as pets. They are bred for eating and to not do so within 12 weeks is in my opinion, cruel. They grow very fast and if kept past 12 weeks or so get grotesquely huge. They can be amusing in that they are dumb as rocks and have no fear of humans or for that matter anything else.

I had two a male a female I dind't know they had such a short life I hear they are to be culled at 6 to 8 weeks but I think they could live longer the trouble with them is they grow so fast and as this is their legs have problems they lay around a lot but still get leg problems. This is why I had to cull both at 5 and 6 months old. The male got a bad limp I was trying to get him better but on advice saying if her could get better it would only happen again so then the fmale was not long after she started to linp and fromhaving the mae I knew her time came. The male ws very freindly but the female was not.

Miss them still

Rhayden