2nd batch of Cornish Cross done.

[DoxonFarms]

Super proud of myself. And non chicken people don't really care.
Of my 45 birds I had an 8 pounder. Dude looks like a turkey, and a dozen 7 pounders!

8.146lbs

 

[HappyDuckie]

How old were they? I had one I traded to someone, and he's getting close to 20 pounds they said

 

[DoxonFarms]

How old were they? I had one I traded to someone, and he's getting close to 20 pounds they said

Wow 20lbs, crazy. Mine were a mix of 8 week and 9 weekers. This dude was 9 weeks or so. How long can you actually keep them? I've seen so many post of how they can't survive, broken legs, etc.

Mine are pasture poultry. They get food for 12 hrs.

I want to try and free range them in my pasture next year with electrified poultry fencing to deter predators, with a coop inside the barn for night. Not sure if that's a good idea or not.

 

[HappyDuckie]

I had a rooster for 3 or 4 months, he free ranged all day and ran around foraging for food. He stayed in good shape, but my parents said eat him, or sell him. I still have a hen, shes around 4 months. They can survive for years if kept in proper condition. I never limited feed, mine didn't gorge themselves like I have seen some people say. I had one get a broken leg from being scared and jumping out of the coop instead of walking down the ramp.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I want to try and free range them in my pasture next year with electrified poultry fencing to deter predators, with a coop inside the barn for night. Not sure if that's a good idea or not.

People make that work. It's pretty close to what I do with my dual purpose flock. The biggest problem with a fixed coop is that you are limited on moving the netting to get more pasture if they eat that bare.

With my DP flock the chicks can just walk right through that electric netting until they are about 7 weeks old. Cornish X will grow a lot faster, not sure what the right age for yours to stay contained would be but it should be a lot less than 7 weeks.

Another way to do that is to build a mobile coop (tractor) and move it with the netting if you need to relocate it. Inside the electric netting your biggest risk at night is owls. I have had an owl go into a shelter and take a chicken at night. With a movable shelter poop management becomes moving the shelter.

 

[Tre3hugger]

I do something similar but with a tractor within the netting instead of a coop. I feed twice a day, once in the pasture in the morning to encourage them to leave the tractor. In the evening I feed in the tractor and they parade back in. I move the tractor every few days, and usually the whole 100' net one time in their life. Has worked great for me and the birds seem happy. Typically around 15 birds at a time, 8x4 a frame tractor.