Are meat birds dirty?

[Poupoulles]

Mine were just gross. I cleaned their brooder, then kept them moving on range, but they would just sit right outside their house, pooping and then laying in it. They would RUN to the feeder when it was time to eat but couldnt be bothered to walk two steps to avoid their own poop... And they grew so fast that they never really grew feathers on their butts much. When their behinds were really poopy I think it inhibited the feather gross, or they stuck together and tore out. But they also dont have many feathers under their wings either. I saw this listed as a plus in one place. Easier to pluck...
For me, they took all the joy out of chickens. just gross. We called them "the Yucks"- as in, "I am going to refill the yucks' water."

I switched to freedom rangers for this exact reason. But let me see how the FR grow before I make sweeping statements! (they are 3 weeks old)

 

[Firewhirrrl]

I have just finished off my first batch of Cornish crosses (15).
And after raising some beautiful birds, it was a REAL shock to see such ugly freakish birds.

What I noticed, the dirty butts started when the birds had gained enough weight. Meaning their conformation is not the same as dual purpose or layers. Therefore poop slides down their buttts.
They will be dirty no matter what we do. However, some people do clean them, and there is thee additional time spent lying down( which is additional muck if you have dirty pens)

I have manicured lawns and free range my chickens. They run and play. But still they are dirtyy.

 

[Beekissed]

The nature of their droppings plays a big part in if you see dirty birds. A simple fix to the CX liquid and frequent stools is to feed probiotics from the very beginning. I gave mine fermented feeds and mother vinegar in their water from the day they arrived and their poop changed in consistency, color and smell within 3 days and has stayed that way since then.

These are 4 wks.



The last batch on processing day, awaiting their turn:



And upturned in the killing cones....not a dirty butt on a one of them:



Bossroo was right....if you have dirty, stinking birds it is all in how you manage them. These CX are born a little different but not all that different from other birds. They are hungrier and get heavier sooner but they don't have to be this big, stinkin', lazy bird that so many portray.

If you know they have frequent, messy poop then you research why any one creature may have that symptom and you do what it takes to correct it. If they get fat and lazy, then you have only yourself to blame because you provided easy and endless food and you didn't require they exercise....just like with kids.

If all the feathers are off of their breasts it is because of how you raised them, not because they are predestined to be so. These birds get the same feathering as any other bird and can maintain them just as well if you manage them correctly.

My granny used to say that if you do what you always do you will have what you always had.....so keep raising them like the commercial growers and you will have a product similar to commercial growers, of course.

Change what you do and you can change the life and quality of these birds, I promise.

 

[Oregon Blues]

I don't have a problem with anyone who doesn't enjoy the Cornish Cross. If you don't like them, don't raise them. But I'm going to agree with beekissed on this one.

Cornish Cross don't stink. I can pick one of mine up and put my nose right into the feathers and there is no smell.

Animal poop smells if it is wet and it piles up. If you have a lot of birds who eat a lot, there is going to be lot of poop and that means a lot of cleaning.. When I clean the brooder for my Cornish cross it smells like bedding and manure. I don't want it in the house, but it is no different than any other barnyard smell.

Mine are 3 weeks old and still in the brooder. Poop looks just like chicken poop. Butts are not dirty. Birds are not great beauties, but they are going to look very lovely deep fried. I didn't buy them to be eye candy.

I'm watching the weather, trying to get mine outside. So, they aren't getting as much exercise as I'd like for them to get. I am not feeding fermented feed like beekissed is feeding, and mine still don't have digestive issues. Animals with smelly diarrhea need to be treated for their digestive problem. That's routine good animal husbandry. You don't let an animal with diarrhea just continue on. That's a good way to lose livestock.

These are huge birds and need a lot of space. I've got two brooders and due to the way the lights are set up, one brooder has fewer chickens and there is actually a difference in the two batches. The chicks with more space are doing visibly better. They are going to be more difficult to raise if they are in crowded quarters. I can see how a bunch of Cornish Cross in a small chicken tractor might cause issues.

 

[DianeS]

I have 21 Cornish and 5 layers in a 12x12 run with an 8x4 coop area. The coop area has nice clean shavings and is protected from the weather, the run is mostly pea gravel and is open to the weather. All the chickens go in and out at will, and seem to function mostly as a single flock.

The 21 Cornish are dirty - they seem to stay chronically muddy, have no feathers on their red bums, and when they drink it all dribbles down their fronts and mixes with the dust on the pea gravel to give them muddy bibs. There is poop on some of their rear feathers. Sometimes they step on each other, so there is dirt and mud on some of their backs.

The 5 layers are clean. Their feathers are clean and healthy and shiny, and cover their butts nicely. They don't have dust on their chests, and don't dribble water there anyway. They don't have any poop on their rear feathers. Even their feet are cleaner!

And this is two types of birds of the same age in the same conditions. I can't tractor them on grass, the land is too bumpy without a way to get the birds on grass AND keep them from escaping the tractor. And I use electrolytes and ACV in the water, and ferment about 1/3 of the feed, which really helps with the consistency of the poops. It's crazy, but Cornish crosses just don't stay as clean as their laying counterparts. I can't keep a 12x12 area that is exposed to the weather completely dust and dirt free, so I have stopped worrying about it. If there is mud, the Cornish will find it - and then sit in it.

 

[cassie]

I have 21 Cornish and 5 layers in a 12x12 run with an 8x4 coop area. The coop area has nice clean shavings and is protected from the weather, the run is mostly pea gravel and is open to the weather. All the chickens go in and out at will, and seem to function mostly as a single flock.

The 21 Cornish are dirty - they seem to stay chronically muddy, have no feathers on their red bums, and when they drink it all dribbles down their fronts and mixes with the dust on the pea gravel to give them muddy bibs. There is poop on some of their rear feathers. Sometimes they step on each other, so there is dirt and mud on some of their backs.

The 5 layers are clean. Their feathers are clean and healthy and shiny, and cover their butts nicely. They don't have dust on their chests, and don't dribble water there anyway. They don't have any poop on their rear feathers. Even their feet are cleaner!

And this is two types of birds of the same age in the same conditions. I can't tractor them on grass, the land is too bumpy without a way to get the birds on grass AND keep them from escaping the tractor. And I use electrolytes and ACV in the water, and ferment about 1/3 of the feed, which really helps with the consistency of the poops. It's crazy, but Cornish crosses just don't stay as clean as their laying counterparts. I can't keep a 12x12 area that is exposed to the weather completely dust and dirt free, so I have stopped worrying about it. If there is mud, the Cornish will find it - and then sit in it.

All i can tell you is that I raise mine in a 12 x 12 box stall bedded with plenty of shavings, and they are neither smelly not dirty. Mine don't have a chance to get muddy because they do not go outside, and their bedding is always dry.so they can't sit on anything wet.

 

[LilyD]

When we did Cornish they were not excessively dirty. We were able to get them out of the brooder and they free ranged through the pastures that we have for our sheep goats and pigs and seemed to do pretty well staying clean. We didn't add anything to the food and fed them by scattering the food around the pen attached to the coop twice a day. Mainly we did this as a way to get them in for the night since we had night predators there and wanted them safe at night.

The only problem that I had with the meat birds is that they would get into the layer coop, which was separated from the are that they free ranged in ( The layers had about 3 acres the CRX had about the same just one the other side.) and they would eat themselves to death on the food in the layer coop. With the layers we can fill the feeder which holds 5 pounds of feed and it will last us quite a while since they spend so much time outside eating bugs, grass and other things. We tried removing the feeder and feeding the layers in the same way and the CRX would eat the eggs that the girls laid in the boxes. I understand that they have a large food drive but for me it was just too much so we just raise regular birds fed grain free range and treats.

 

[Bossroo]

The morel of the story ... as the old Scottish proverb goes ... " The eye of the master fattens the cattle." It all boils down to management skills !

 

[jacobkelly15]

i find them to be very dirty! always attract flys and the flys are near them! never in my other pens they make messes with waters but they sure are tasty!

 

[what did I do]

I guess mine could be dirty but I re-bed them every day and sometimes twice a day. I also feed my own mix of grains, give them plenty of grit, and fresh clean cool water twice a day. If they are gross dirty then you need to figure out how to make them cleaner. I haven't seen any flies on mine either - don't they eat flies?