Bare butts on my Cornish crosses

[Coops Dad]

They grow so fast their feathers can't keep up. Sometimes they look pretty funny running around with all that pink skin showing.

This. Mine also had nearly naked keels from laying on the ground. I used a raised feeder so they'd have to stand to eat or drink but they resorted to laying on their stomachs and gleaning what the others knocked out of the feeder instead.

Cornish X's are the laziest birds I've ever seen.

 

[cassie]

This. Mine also had nearly naked keels from laying on the ground. I used a raised feeder so they'd have to stand to eat or drink but they resorted to laying on their stomachs and gleaning what the others knocked out of the feeder instead.

Cornish X's are the laziest birds I've ever seen.

You are right. They remind me of my brother-in-law. I have never seen any chicks like them. They would go to the feeder and plop and eat. They would go to the waterer and plop and drink. Then they would go to the heat lamp and plop and go to sleep under it. I decided I had to do something about that. I ended up hanging the feeders and the waterers on chains so I could adjust the height as they grew. They had to stand and stretch a bit to reach the feed and water. I hung the feeders and waterers on opposite sides of the pen so they had to walk a bit to get from one to the other. I didn't have the problem you describe maybe because I had a different kind of feeder. The birds couldn't knock feed out of it so there was nothing on the floor. I enjoyed my Cornish X. I found them to be funny and quirky and they look like bowling balls on legs.

 

[Coops Dad]

You are right. They remind me of my brother-in-law. I have never seen any chicks like them. They would go to the feeder and plop and eat. They would go to the waterer and plop and drink. Then they would go to the heat lamp and plop and go to sleep under it. I decided I had to do something about that. I ended up hanging the feeders and the waterers on chains so I could adjust the height as they grew. They had to stand and stretch a bit to reach the feed and water. I hung the feeders and waterers on opposite sides of the pen so they had to walk a bit to get from one to the other. I didn't have the problem you describe maybe because I had a different kind of feeder. The birds couldn't knock feed out of it so there was nothing on the floor. I enjoyed my Cornish X. I found them to be funny and quirky and they look like bowling balls on legs.

I thought the CX chicks looked like tennis balls when we got them, then grew into feathered bowling balls. They had great personalities, especially the rooster; he would follow me around and peck my feet until I threw a scoop of feed into the grass for him. I think he was brain damaged, though. He'd walk up to me and stay pretty much underfoot until I picked him up them he'd struggle, squawk and groan until I put him down... then he'd get underfoot again and follow me around some more.

For anyone considering keeping Cornish X as pets or layers, they go through an unchristian amount of food and water, and create mudflows of waste. They're poor layers of average size eggs and need their nest boxes at ground level. They're big, slow and bright white so hawks and such have an easy time attacking them- their challenge is carrying the carcass away. And, from what I've seen firsthand, their survival instincts are nil- several came way too close to becoming dog food, and our understudy rooster ( a small 3 month old, 2-1/2 pound barnyard mix) would routinely kick the CX cockerel 's butt.