Almost 4 month old Cornish Cross's

[Masterjoe]

So I processed 12 Cornish Cross chickens. They went through about 100 lbs of grower finisher and also grass fed. The largest 2 weighed in at 3.5 lbs 2 at 3lbs and the rest between 1.5 and 2.5 lbs. I am trying to understand why they weighed so little? anyone else experience this this year? First time we have had this problem.

 

[NatJ]

Do you have a photo of them? (When they were alive).

Maybe they were not Cornish Cross. Sometimes chicks get mis-labelled in stores, and yellow chicks tend to all look alike when they're very young.

 

[Masterjoe]

Very good point. They were white and looked like the Cornish cross but could have been a bantum breed. I purchased them from Hoovers Hatchery so I am hard pressed to think they made that kind of mistake.

 

[muddy75]

Aside from the questions on actual cornish chicks....what was their housing and feed schedules? what was the brand/make-up of the feed that you used? IMLE with cornish, they should be processed way earlier than that with those weights or more! I purchased 4 of the older chicks and they are about halfway or so and have only gone through about 20lbs of feed so far and I feed free choice most of the time.

 

[NatJ]

I purchased them from Hoovers Hatchery so I am hard pressed to think they made that kind of mistake.

I agree that directly from the hatchery means you probably got the right birds. (Probably.)

First time we have had this problem.

If you've raised Cornish Cross before, did you do things the same with this batch? Or did you change something?

 

[Mosey2003]

That sounds like about the right amount of feed..... Perhaps you got the slow growing broilers by mistake? 3.5lbs at 12 weeks would sound right for those.

 

[Masterjoe]

Sounds like I may have gotten some different birds. I feed the grower finisher from tractor supply. They were housed outside with shelter in a chicken tractor on pasture as well.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Thats really odd. Different birds and all, i know, but my cornish bantams are only 14 weeks and weigh almost 6 pounds live. Meat crosses should definitely be heavier than that

 

[iwltfum]

Sounds like I may have gotten some different birds. I feed the grower finisher from tractor supply. They were housed outside with shelter in a chicken tractor on pasture as well.

If you fed grower/finisher the whole time, that could have been the problem. Did you give them a high protein chick starter (20-22%) for the first 4 weeks?

 

[Masterjoe]

If you fed grower/finisher the whole time, that could have been the problem. Did you give them a high protein chick starter (20-22%) for the first 4 weeks?

Sure did then 2 bags of grower/finisher and grass