Any way to make this work?

[iwltfum]

Honestly cowgirl you have no idea what a big stinking slimy disgusting mess even a dozen meat birds can make.

It's true cowgirl. Cornish x - at their biggest - are eating almost 3x as much as your average laying hen while moving less than half as much, if not much less. By that loose math, one cornish cross is producing 3x the poop in half the area when compared to a layer. I'd say that's a conservative estimate. It's no easy task to manage the manure of meat birds, cornish cross in particular.

 

[Ridgerunner]

we only leave them in the run if there are aerial predators in the area

If a dog, fox, coyote, or bobcat finds your flock you may change your mind about aerial predators being the only threat. And yes, they do hunt during the day.

we live in a heavily wooded area, so don’t have enough grass/pasture to support raising them in a tractor environment (with my work schedule I wouldn’t be able to move it multiple times a day like I suspect it would need moved);

I'm not sure how big a tractor would have to be to handle 30 CX with only moving it once a day. It could be pretty heavy. Some of how often you need to move it depends on rain and how wet it is. Hilly and woody is not good for hauling a tractor around. I hate to try to come up with sizes and schedules because we have so many different conditions. What sized tractor were you thinking about?

You are probably overthinking about raking poop when you move a tractor. There would be a bit of a learning curve about moving it and the bigger they grow the more the poop load grows.

our pullets are already roosting some nights, and when they don’t, they make their cuddle puddle up on the elevated poop board, not on the floor of the coop

Doesn't matter what they are doing now. When you try this you will have to integrate grown hens with babies. Especially in tight conditions that often doesn't go very well. But sometimes it goes great.

Whether CX normally roost, don't roost, or typically sleep somewhere doesn't matter a lot. What will yours actually do matters more. Each coop is different and each chicken has it's own personality. What they do can change as they age. One of the things I really like about having lots of room is that it gives you flexibility to handle things as they come up.

we wouldn’t have an issue with food removal overnight for the Cornish cross birds.

If you don't have lights they aren't going to be eating at night anyway.

Either way I anticipate needing to clean the coop/run more frequently but that shouldn’t be a huge issue.

As others have mentioned, don't underestimate this. They are pooping machines, especially as they get older.

Weather is fairly temperate in our area that time of year, so rainy days would be the only time where the layers would need coop/run access

Your pullets will probably be laying by then, won't they need daily access to the nests? Mine enjoy being out in the rain. They usually don't go in the coop when it is raining anyway unless it is really rough.

Several people have raised a batch of CX with their laying flock and written about it on here. I have not myself. Many that try it once say never again but some raise them together regularly. I'm not talking about raising one or two CX, I'm talking about what you want to do, a bunch. Since you Really want to I think you should. But not 30, I'd suggest getting some experience with 6 or so. 30 would be likely to overwhelm you. See for yourself what is involved in your situation so you can make plans for next time based on experience instead of what I see as to much wishful thinking and worrying about some stuff that isn't that critical. Set yourself up for success.