bad batch of cornish cross, ever had this happen? pics on post #12

[shadowpaints]

i ordered 50 cornish cross from the same place i have always ordered... got them around july 1st. that would put them at around 3 1/2 months. i have fed them the EXACT same way i have always. normally our dressed weight is around 6-8 lbs. ill bet money that several of these wont make 2lbs dressed ( they arent as big as my bantys) with maybe a few around 4lbs. im bummed.

the feed they get is locally chopped and right around 18 - 20 percent protein. i feed chick starter for the first 4 weeks.

ill be butchering this weekend. they eat like crazy and they arent getting any bigger, so time for them to go. they are completly healthy, for the most part. i have one with a really weird beak and another with a funny neck, both had it as day olds. i have lost a few for no apparent reason.. they just seem off one day and i find em dead the next.

anyone else have this happen?? i have called the feed store i got them from and let them know. they said that they hadnt heard of anyone else having issues.

i didnt do anything different. i think i will switch where i order my cornish cross from... im not willing to take this chance again!

 

[jaku]

If all your birds are that size at 3.5 months, I'd say you didn't get Cornish x's. I've had a few individual mix ups, and a Leghorn chick looks nearly identical to a Cornish x until the feathering is complete. I'd bet you got the wrong birds, rather than wrong feed.

 

[shadowpaints]

im pretty sure they are cornish cross, i have leg horns the same age and they dont look like each other at all. would you like me to post a pic??

 

[sonew123]

Quote:
yes please I just butchered 23 Cx's and they looked better than expected when processed-I thought they'd only be a few lbs but wound up being 4-5 or more lbs and they were all pullets at 8 weeks old

 

[vicki2x2]

Just curious where you got your birds? I am a local yahoo group and there were 3-4 people on there who also ordered birds from the same place they always order, same place as each other and had very disappointing results this time. In fact, one had a good batch, and then a bad batch. Weird. Hatchery won't admit there is a problem, but sure sounds like a problem.

 

[sonew123]

yes, I would be upset with those results for sure-I hope you find out if it was mix up in birds

 

[shadowpaints]

i will get a pick of the birds in the morning...


i got them from my feed store . they say they got them from a guy in california who only raises CornishX, they wont tell me the hatchery name.. so i dont know i never cared where they came from before, but now im really curious!


i will have pics in the morning when i get my daughter off to school

 

[terri9630]

Quote:
If they won't tell you where the birds are from I wouldn't buy them.

 

[sonew123]

Quote:
If they won't tell you where the birds are from I wouldn't buy them.

me either-thats a tad shady for a business!

 

[Brunty_Farms]

This happens a lot with newly laying breeders.... I don't care what any hatchery or anyone in the business says but chicks hatched from pullet eggs are horrible. I dread when I get them in. Because the fact that there is so many places that they come from you can never guarantee that you get chicks from the same breeding flock twice.

These birds are small birds that preform well under their counterparts that come from normal sized eggs. When layers go into lay or out of lay the quality of their chicks suffer. For instance I just got 600 chicks in from a hatchery last week and lost 240 chicks overnight 70 dead on arrival. I could tell right away that they were from a pullet flock because they looked like quail chicks and some of the navels didn't completely close up. All together I lost 312 chicks within a week, I was refunded 240 because that's how many died within the slotted time however the rest I have to absorb. $72.00 comes out of my pocket because of pullet eggs finding their way to hatcheries.

You're not alone, but if you take this up with the hatcheries they will tell you that they are no different than any other chick. However I did have one well known broiler hatchery admit to me that the chicks are slow to start but after about week 3 you couldn't tell the difference in them. However cases like these show that they really and truly do not. Maybe in a commercial setting but in a backyard setting they don't thrive at all.

After 14 weeks though they should be ready, all of mine are only slowed down by a couple of weeks. I would check the feed and definitely get a pic up so we can see if they are in fact cornish rocks.