ate our first cornish x today for lunch!

[mommy9994]

and it was wonderful! She had dressed out at 3.4 lbs, but there was FAR more meat than on the 4 lb Perdue's that I generally get. It roasted up wonderfully. The rest of them are 7weeks old on Monday, and we will be doing 5 per day every day week after next (when they are 8 weeks old)-- some of the smaller ones, I may wait a week on.

 

[kees]

I'm glad to hear that they were so good! I remember a previous post where someone complained that they were rubbery. Don't know why...

 

[HobbyChickener]

Good News! I am raising some as we speak. 15 of them right now and they are gaining nicely. We have not decided how long we will wait before they head towards the freezer. I do like the sounds of the 10-12 lbs that Ms P got with her last group. Thanks for sharing

 

[SterlingAcres]

Quote:
Whoa.... Cornish birds get as big as wild turkeys?! That's insane.

 

[Davaroo]

Yeah methinks theres a typo there.

 

[jaku]

If I recall, she was referring to live weight, not freezer weight.

 

[kees]

Sounds good to me!

 

[LoneCowboy]

Don't wait until they get that big. The cost of raising them gets too high. Only about 7-8 weeks before slaughter depending on how you feed them. About 5.5 lbs live weight. They start to get tough after that.

 

[mommy9994]

Live weight on this one was 4.5. I wouldn't wait till they get 10 lbs, though I may wait an extra week on the rest of them. This one was almost 8 weeks (would have been tomorrow, butchered on Friday). Any longer than that, they might start dying on you.

I ordered 25, was sent 26, plus this one that was given to us before the rest had come in. Out of all of them, I had one die-- for some reason, it just didn't go inside one chilly night, and we culled one at 5 weeks or so with a broken leg. I sent dh cornish hen with roasted potatoes for lunch when we did that one.

I think they did VERY well. I plan on ordering 50-100 for Fall butchering.

 

[LoneCowboy]

Good going! I just moved mine out to the tractor today. They have been in type commerical brooders since I got them. I lost one from being trampled in a feeding frenzy one morning. But now that they are where I can see them better and see what's going on, I noticed that one has leg problems. I worry that it's because of being cramped in the brooder too long. They are only 2.5 weeks old, and I did split them up into 2 different brooders but they grow so fast I couldn't keep up with them.

I had to wait for the bad weather of last week to pass. Now they are saying snow this coming Tuesday.

I had to move them out, there just isn't room anymore. I stapled up a towel in the tractor to act as a draft block and hung a heat lamp. I sure hope they will be ok. Oh, did I mention that I saw the local fox yesterday. Just up the street. I'm really worried. The tractor isn't nearly as secure as my fort knox coops.