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The owl was back again this morning. I usually don't get up this early!

Yup, many sites will sell you sexed CX. I guess people prefer the males in this case since they grow larger -- and as opposed to layers, the male CX will cost more. I don't have any coop in the tractor/pen since the CX prefer to sleep on the ground. I pull the pens to fresh ground daily so...

I have 6x6 tractors (more manageable for one person) and put 12-15 per tractor. At 12 it puts me at 3 sf per bird. At 15, less than 3 but more than 2 sf per bird :D For me its more about the number of birds in my tractors. I've only ever done straight run CX so always have a mix of...

Oh wow, I just read the blog post by the chicken vet! The common method used by many (cutting the neck to bleed out method) is unhumane! That's how I've been doing it :hit https://the-chicken-chick.com/how-to-humanely-euthanize-chicken-by-dr/

The meat chicks seem to generate so much of their own heat that if you have the means to keep them dry and secure and have source of power for the heat plates, this can be done relatively easily!

Well, last night a Great Horned Owl tried to get at the chicks. I put a camera inside the tractor which detected some sound strange sounds around 5am. I went out to investigate and a Great Horned Owl took off from the nearby structure. All chicks were safe, however, and it was down to the low...

Got the chicks outside and installed their huddle boxes (2 x 50 chick plate brooders in some fruit boxes and covered by heavy canvas tarp).

Will do. Looks like I'm sort of a Guinea pig but happy to try it and see if its worth doing again at this time next year!

No it is not our first time, but it is our first time in the cold. We did two batches last year, harvesting in May and August (2020). We had really great results but the temperatures were mild when we moved them out at three weeks and there were no concerns at all except for some high daytime...

Thanks for your response, Tr3hugger. We're in the Central Coast of California -- where would I update that for my profile?

Central Coast California

We have 50 meat chicks in the brooder and they are growing fast. Considering moving them outside at 2.5-3 weeks age -- which is about 1 week away (they are nearly 2 weeks old now). I've started dialing down the brooder temp and they are thriving at 65-75 degrees F currently. (So much for 95...

We wound up ordering this cover crop from Deer Creek: https://www.deercreekseed.com/free-range-sheep-hog-pasture-mix

Purely Poultry offers free shipping. https://www.purelypoultry.com/cornish-cross-broiler-p-207.html

I’ve done the 24h feeding and had a lot of losses. It might depend on the strain of CX you are raising.

Last batch I processed at 7.5 weeks and got avg 5.28 lb processed weight per Bird. I did not get a live weight but am very happy with the processed weight.

Looks good to me! I also full feed starter until three weeks. At that point, they go outside and go on reduced protein, 12on, 12 off.

For those of you who are raising meat chicks on pasture, what kind of cover crop do you use? This year, we raised meat chicks on a cover crop that was intended to cut for hay and found that they did not eat as much. Perhaps next time, just need to mow down the crop that they are pastured on...

That looks like Ascites (water belly)! It is caused by a heart condition and is common in meat birds like the Cornish Cross. What you do with it is up to you but many people cull them. We had one in our latest batch with ascites pass at 4 weeks. We butchered the batch today and found another...

Yes, CX genetically want to eat around the clock. I have observed when their crops are completely full and jutting out, they will still pack in more feed. So we have to help them moderate.