3 week Cornish Cross cannot stand UPDATE!!!!

[addictedtochickens]

If so many die than why does most of the meat in grocery stores come from cornish x's ? Doesn't this cause companies to lose money?

 

[SteveH]

Quote:
The losses are minimal ; probably much less than commercially grown back at the time they used purebreds and simple crossbreds but didn't have vaccines and antibiotics . The rapid growth , improved feed to meat ratios , and superior meat to bone ratios make the CX the only choice unless they're sold at consideable more $ per pound .

 

[chicks4kids]

Quote:
The losses are minimal ; probably much less than commercially grown back at the time they used purebreds and simple crossbreds but didn't have vaccines and antibiotics . The rapid growth , improved feed to meat ratios , and superior meat to bone ratios make the CX the only choice unless they're sold at consideable more $ per pound .

Another thing to remember is that the store bought chickens don't weigh nearly what our home grown chickens do. They don't live nearly as long as the homegrown one does.

 

[addictedtochickens]

Okay, so the crippled chick is now walking again but with its foot curled under. When it walks like this it kind of hobbles around but does not squawk when it puts weight on its foot. I curled it foot back the right way and set it down, and it walked around fine but after a couple of steps it started to curl its foot back under. I am mostly glad that the chick can walk again but is this a bad sign that it walks with its foot curled under?

p.s. Out of the twenty chicks that I started with, six have died. Of those, three had ascites and four had really underdeveloped lungs. All seem to have died from natural causes based on literature I have been reading on the Cornish Cross breed except for one. The one that died from an unnatural death was trampled. I am thoroughly done with raising Cornish Cross after this experiment and will probably only raise dual purpose chickens for meat in the future.

 

[chicks4kids]

Quote:
It sounds like poor stock. Maybe you just need to try out a different hatchery. I really think that may be what's happening here, poor quality stock I mean. The cornish are so meaty and done in 8 weeks (these are the upsides) and well worth it if you can get a good batch. I was told that with cornish x, the general idea is to figure losing 10% of them along the way. And you've had more like 30%...that stinks and obviously not your fault. Sounds like you've done a wonderful job researching!

But don't give up on them yet...try a different hatchery first

Sorry I can't help with the curled under foot

 

[SteveH]

Quote:
CX aren't going suit everybody for home growing ; like the broad breasted turkey or Hyline leghorn they have been bred with commercial grower's needs in mind and not every person trying them is going to like them .

 

[addictedtochickens]

That is ok. As of this morning, it is walking perfectly fine on its foot. I have it in a small room in my shop and it is just as big as all of the other ones that are in the coop. I probably will not try to reintroduce it though, because it will be the odd one out.

sorry I quoted the wrong line and edited to take it out.