Blind Meatie worth keeping?

[MeepBeep]

You purchased it as a 'meatie' it's not like it was going or will have a fairy tale life even under the best conditions... I suspect unless you devote a ton of time to babysitting it and caring for it all day, it's not going to really enjoy it's next 8 weeks of life, just my opinion...

 

[CluckerClubbie]

What a wonderful heart you have! It takes so much courage to grow our own food.
I'm still not over having my cat euthanized 6 months ago. He was still being loving and purring all the time.
But animals, especially birds and pack animals are programmed to not show pain and suffering. This bird won't live very long no matter what you do.

Is there any one who can do it for you? Maybe someone at the local feed store even?

Then you can feel sad, but can take care of things that are probably getting neglected because you can't stop thinking about the poor thing.
Good luck.

 

[CluckerClubbie]

Also, I hope I have people to help me through it the first time I have to do this. It's exactly why most people buy their meat at the store.

 

[Sabz]

Hi there

I can understand your situation. I have a 6 week old meatie in the house since about 10 days. He had a leg injury and I didn't know if he could recover, if I had to cull, etc.

Finally, after a few days the legs was OK and he asked me to go back in the coop (he followed me up to the door and tried to get in).
I let him with the others for about 36 hours.. and then he was all bloody!! They really pushed him down the pecking order and I doubt he had a good time in there. I took him back in the house.

Bad, bad idea. Now he follows me everywhere! If I go to the bathroom he follows, if I go gardening he follows.. and yesterday, for the first time ever: I was reading in my bed and he jumped on the bed and then he lay down on my legs and slept lol!!

So.. I'd say: cull it OR make her a little baby coop (that you can then use for sick birds or quarantine). I think I will do that, just a small coop to keep him away from me until the processing day.. this way I will be less attached to him (I hope).

Or.. I'll try to keep him as a rooster to fertilize my eggs and then give me chicks, but since he is a meatie I am not sure he'll be healthy enough for that (heart, leg conditions).

 

[CluckerClubbie]

So.. I'd say: cull it OR make her a little baby coop (that you can then use for sick birds or quarantine). I think I will do that, just a small coop to keep him away from me until the processing day.. this way I will be less attached to him (I hope).

Or.. I'll try to keep him as a rooster to fertilize my eggs and then give me chicks, but since he is a meatie I am not sure he'll be healthy enough for that (heart, leg conditions).

Oh you made me laugh! That's not a bad idea! I don't know what I'll do at this point if I have to quarantine, and I'm sure I'll have to at some point ( I'm so new to this)

Can you restrict feed in order to keep him healthy? How do the hatcheries propagate them, anyway?

 

[bowhunter862]

My last batch of CX included old Crooked Beak. I tried to keep him going and feed him seperately but he didn't make it. In retrospect, the kind thing to do would have been to just put him down on day 1.

 

[Sabz]

Oh you made me laugh! That's not a bad idea! I don't know what I'll do at this point if I have to quarantine, and I'm sure I'll have to at some point ( I'm so new to this)

Can you restrict feed in order to keep him healthy? How do the hatcheries propagate them, anyway?

Yeah I was thinking about that afterwards.. maybe not a good idea to keep yours. I was thinking in relation with my dog, who is blind and lives very well.. but I don't know anything about the sense of smell of chickens, maybe if it cannot smell very well, she won't survive as well as my dog does. I don't know.

Not sure about the hatcheries. For me, it sounds like a mystery. How can we get meat chick hatchlings if the meaties are too week to live above 15 week of age?! Somewhere, there must be some parents lol. Yes, I suppose with restricted feed, more veggies and exercise he could live! I hope so. He runs and walk a lot more than the others, I guess his heart and legs will get stronger with time

 

[bobbi-j]

The meat birds are cross-breeds. When they say CornishX they mean that it is a Cornish crossed with something else to make that type of bird.

 

[Sabz]

I know but if a cornish is crossed with something else, it means there is an adult cornish somewhere

Unless both parents are crossed and crossed since generations and generations, so they are becoming a breed on their own.

 

[bobbi-j]

I don't know that the pure Cornish have the problems that the Cornish X have, but I'm just guessing at this point . I always thought it was the combination of the two breeds that caused the fast growth and all the problems. Now I'm curious! Hopefully someone who actually knows what they're talking about (because I certainly don't) will chime in, or I'll have to check this out.