Buying meat birds...

[Bossroo]

There are several Corporations that own and closely guard their own parent and grandparent male and female lines of chickens. They go to great leangths to protect them as they are their livelihood. These parent lines obviously DO NOT die before they reach sexual maturity since they produce the terminal product known as the Cornish X by the millions. The Cornish X have in their selected genetic code to be at their best to produce a finished carcass product most efficiently at 42 days, after that all bets are off and that is in the intent to protect their investment. The grower must follow specific protocol to raise them to best advantage for the most return on their investment. The Cornish X is specifically meant to be slaughtered , NOT to breed on. They are NOT a breed, they are an end product to grace someone's dinner plate.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

There ya go nicely said. And for the cornish to be the ones to face inileation of just this breed it would have to take out both the grandparent stock and the parent stock of the actual cornish. It would be a world wide epidemic. Effecting not just the cornish, but millions of other birds word wide.

Look at this way the Cornish x's are indestructable tanks all the way up to 42 days and for a very short time after. In this time they rarely have heart or leg problems. It is when you go over the 42 day mark when they finally want to self destruct.

But again this is what they were bred to do. They were bred to self destruct. Why would the companies that make this breed want them to go on and reach sexual maturity? It's smart for marketing, if forces the grower to buy the chicks every 6 weeks.

What the weird part about all of this is.... 50 years ago they had chickens just like the ones commonly found in backyards today. To just think what they can come up with 50 years from now is only beyond ones imagination.

 

[PurpleChicken]

I'm going to order some Cornish X again ASAP. You folks have gotten me
so curious about this.

Can someone please tell me your recommended feeding program,
if you use a medicated starter, what % of protein your feed is, and
if you limit their access to feed. I have a seperate section of my barn
I can give them. I'd shoot for a Feb deliveriy date so I'm done my April.
Also, suggestions on an eastern states hatchery too would be great.
Our order last time came from Meyers. I only want 25.


My 2009 Ranger order wasn't going to happen until summer anyways until
I can build proper housing for them.

 

[blueskylen]

my limited experience :

last spring we got 25 red broilers from Ideal and raised them to 10 weeks ( as the instructions that came with them ) they were nice looking and active , but dressed out rather small and were a bit chewy, but tasted very good. they had access to the coop and a run, but no free ranging because of our dog.

last fall we decided to try cornish X - purchased 50 from MM- they were housed in a large coop for the entire 8 weeks. I found them to be a bit flighty, but nice birds. I used the deep litter method of adding straw, stall dry, and a bit of DE twice a day - very little smell , but had about a foot of bedding at 8 weeks. we did lose about 4 - but only 1 at full size. they had room to walk around and seemed to be content and comfortable. they had non medicated high protien food all day, but it was taken away at about 6pm. till 7 am.
they dressed out at about 5-6lbs. and are juicy and very good eating.

i have to say that we liked the Cornish X much better, as they taste great and are meatier birds.

 

[becky3086]

Quote:

I too, am a firm believer in preserving biodiversity, both in animals and plant species. Sustainability is a big issue for me. I've heard all the argumants that you shouldn't even bother to try sustainable flocks, unless you can maintain 2 or 3 or 4 totally separate flocks, etc., and I respectfully disagree with that point of view.

Even if you can't manage to totally produce all your own feed, and can't keep a large number of separate flocks, you can keep healthy, normal, breedable chickens. Then in the event that we lose the main meat breed, guess what, there's a bunch of us bone-headed stubborn green types out there, with some healthy, breedable birds. Chicken dinners could still exist, rather than becoming a fond memory of the past, when we used to have chickens. Same goes for flocks and herds of heritage breed animals of any type.

Keep some non-battery laying hens that will still brood their own eggs, you're good to go, even without an incubator.

It's possible that the day may come when you won't be able to order all the chicks you want from a hatchery. We could all be eating RIR's or whatever we happen to have.

Of course, there are other alternatives. Squirrel, the other white meat!

I think a lot of us see why it is important to have a meat chicken we can breed ourselves and not have to buy but to post that sentiment on here is to invite arguements like these. Broilers vs. Dual Purpose (or whatever you want to call them!). Normally the Broiler people will stomp all over the dual purpose people's arguements and we dual purpose people will retreat and start PMing each other instead. As for me, I want some cornish x. I see the reason to raise them but I am still going to work on a meat bird that isn't a broiler. I can see both sides and agree with them both. Too bad we don't have a Broiler board and an Other Meat Birds board, lol.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

It's hard not to get heated but as long as we kinda respect each other I'm sure it's all for the better. I guess it's kinda like politics.... naa.

PC,

I'm glad your going to try them again. For feeding, usually a two week 24 feeding program works great. I havn't found how much of a difference the protein makes yet between 24%-28%. The problem is I never get the same chicks twice in a row untill this past year. So I will know more on what the percentage is after this summer coming up.

For the remaing four weeks 24 % non medicated is what works great for me. Start them on a 12 hour on 12 hour off of feed program. If you raise them on pasture just make sure they have feed during daylight hours. Let them rest during the night. For the protein I use fish meal, this way I know exactly what kind of protein by-product is in the protein. For the most rendered meat by-products it's what ever dies that gets mixed in. I guess chickens are suppose to eat dead animals as birds find things like carrion in nature... but I morally can't do it.

If you raise them again. Do a test of your own. See how many you can get to live butcher weight in 6 weeks. Than again in 7 weeks and so on.

You will notice the older they get after 6 weeks, they tend to deteriate... fast too... the producers of these chicks have it down to the day on when they are "ripe" for butchering.

Don't give them too much room, but give them enough to exercise. Reguardless if it's pasture or not you will still see the difference on how they grow, just by the amount of space you give them.

As for a hatchery, it's a potluck. Go with the cheapest and closest. Personally I would go with Moyers, they are a little closer and not that much more expensive. I've ordered from both and just ordered 250 started pullets to pick up in Gettysburg on March 10th. Their customer service is great... so is Meyers.

I get my chicks from a hatchery in N. Carolina. I buy the male by-products from the female lines of the parents and grandparents stock. They are all the same breed and they are all males which works out perfect as they grow like normal broilers and they are always consistant. A family member works at the hatchery and gets the chicks for me for $0.149 each. It has taken me a long time to get broilers of this caliber.

I can't wait to hear your results. I will take some pictures and post some of the trials from the feed in the spring when things are up and running.

 

[willheveland]

15 cents each????? Now that's a bargin.Can't go wrong for that.I can't even buy a chicken wing at a tavern in my town for that.

Will

 

[Brunty_Farms]

What ever they don't "contract" for they end up killing and using for pet food. Sad isn't it?

I guess they are used for something. I worked at a hatchery here in Ohio for a summer and the experience was amazing. This particular hatchery dumped all of the chicks in large garbage bags and sufficated them. After about 5 minutes they are dumped into a huge bin along with the eggs that didn't hatch. Some chicks hatch while they are in the dumpster, only to die after they are dumped on the fields for composting.

It's sad to see all of these birds go to waste but hey what are you going to do with 10,000 extra roosters?

Everyone thought I was crazy as when we would go to lunch I would pick through the dumpster and get the healthy chicks out and put them in the st.run bins to be latter packed and sold.

I did my good deed.

 

[AHappychick]

Quote:
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That is sweet that you saved some, maybe that is why there always seems to be more roos in a SR lol.

I understand the need to do this but I would much rather see people raise their own or small farmers over those bigger places because at that point bad things have to happen in order to have a profit, and then things get ugly....

 

[willheveland]

I've had ol'timers tell me years ago hatcherys would put male chicks in manure spreaders and just spread them on the feilds just to get rid of them.That's before they had those male specials they do now to get rid of them and make money to boot.

For meat birds(broilers)I'd rather have males to be honest.

Another story a cousin of my father told me that a hatchery from long ago, Ball Hatchery in Owego NY.They would throw out all the eggs that didn't hatch after so long.My dad and his cousin would go to the dump and often find eggs that were hatching in the hot sun.They bring them home and raise them.
I couldn't amagine a hatchery in Owego today,but that was a time when chickens were allowed in town and everybody had them.
Will