6 week old jumbo cornish cross - 10 lbs - are they ready to process?

[bgmathteach]

Ah no I love this! This also is my personal goal!! I'll take information on anything you got!!! My first thought on Cornish cross is that they just seemed unhealthy... But I get a lot of mixed messages good&bad. I won a gift certificate to a hatchery through a poultry photography contest.. it's the only reason I'm considering trying them and actually selling the meat for profit... And returning those profits back into buying more chickens to make my own meat bird breed yeah I have a problem . I'd love to know more about your results.

If you do breed some, let me know how it goes...we can compare notes!!

 

[cassie]

You can process them at any age. The main criteria is if they are the size you want. If I raised Cornish X again, I would butcher some of them very young for Cornish game hens, most of them for fryers, and the rest for roasters. Personally, I like the big roasters. I liked to process them when they would dress out between ten and twelve pounds. The biggest one I ever processed dressed out at over 16 pounds. No, I do not suggest anyone do that, but he was by far the best "turkey" I ever cooked. Delicious!!

 

[canne50]

To avoid growth hormones or whatever is in the grow feed, I switched to corn only diet the last two weeks. Paranoia? Maybe…

 

[3KillerBs]

To avoid growth hormones or whatever is in the grow feed, I switched to corn only diet the last two weeks. Paranoia? Maybe…

There are no "growth hormones" in the feed. This is a myth.

Grower feed is formulated to provide optimal nutrition to support rapid growth -- the correct balance of protein, fat, and vitamins.

Corn finishing is a traditional practice that is said to increase fat and improve flavor. I don't have any information on whether or not it's effective at this or how it may compromise the birds' musculoskeletal growth.

 

[Molpet]

There are no "growth hormones" in the feed. This is a myth.

Not legal in USA, we don't know what other countries allow

 

[WIchickMama]

So I am not up and up in the meat bird raising, but am super interested for next spring, so thank you all for the information and starting this thread!!!

I assume they go into a coop at night as well--do they need the same square footage space or ??

 

[Ridgerunner]

To avoid growth hormones or whatever is in the grow feed, I switched to corn only diet the last two weeks. Paranoia? Maybe…

Yeah, paranoid, the best I can tell. It's hard getting reliable information, but my understanding is that growth hormones are destroyed in the digestive tract if they are fed. They need to be injected somehow.

I don't know what country you are in, but in the USA growth hormones for chickens were outlawed in the 1950's. That's the commercial chicken meat industry, not necessarily for chickens owned by private individuals for personal use. That ban was only for chickens, it did not apply to beef or any other meat.

Again in the USA, if the feeds sold had anything like that it would have to be listed on the label with our labelling laws. Can you imagine the uproar on this forum if someone could post a legitimate chicken feed label with hormones listed?

 

[Molpet]

So I am not up and up in the meat bird raising, but am super interested for next spring, so thank you all for the information and starting this thread!!!

I assume they go into a coop at night as well--do they need the same square footage space or ??

CX don't go far from the feeder. Most people have them in a tractor that is moved daily. The colored broilers take a few weeks longer but are more like a normal chicken and will forage better than CX.

 

[cassie]

To avoid growth hormones or whatever is in the grow feed, I switched to corn only diet the last two weeks. Paranoia? Maybe…

WHAT growth hormones? There are no hormones, growth or otherwise, added to chicken feed. I am curious as to why you think there are. When hormones are given to livestock, and there have been none given to poultry for decades, they are not added to the feed. They are in some sort of an implant. If your chickens survive and grow on a straight corn diet, fine, but it is not a balanced diet.

 

[Estelee]

Thanks to all who answered! We processed the birds at 7 weeks, 3 days and had an average dress weight around 6 pounds per bird.

We had one bird that had leg problems that started around week 4, and he/she came in significantly lighter. We only had one other bird that had trouble walking on processing day. None of our other birds had any mobility issues. We did lose one bird around week 4 after a really hot day followed by really loud/intense thunderstorms that night (not sure if it was the heat, storm, or genetics or a combination that caused the death of that bird).

They were raised on Purina Flock Raiser and they were given food 24/7 from day one until the day before we processed them (when we held their food). We had them in chicken tractors that we moved daily to fresh grass.

We used 11" roll food saver bags and vacuum sealed them before freezing...all of the birds fit, but we did break the majority of the birds down (breast, thigh, leg, wings - and back/carcass) so that we could thaw what we wanted to use.

I just wanted to document that information for anyone who might find this thread in the future.

Can you tell me. Do we need to let the birds rest and let the muscles relax before we freeze them? We’ve been told that helps with the toughness.