Can a broiler bird live out a normal, full-length life?

[HeiHeisMom]

That's the decision we made as a family, to help them live as comfortable a life as possible until processing is the humane thing for our girls.
If we had known they were CC we wouldn't have gotten them. But we we're assured the little yellow puffballs we brought home we're Orps.
Sigh.
Live and learn. We would never have been able to know these beautiful sweethearts though if a mistake hadn't been made.
Hei Hei especially.

 

[ijon]

I had some Cornish cross that lived three years.

 

[HeiHeisMom]

We're they comfortable and active?
Our babies have become family pets before we realized what they are.
Breaking my daughters hearts.

 

[ijon]

They where happy and they got the same feed the other hens got.

 

[HeiHeisMom]

Thank you so much!
I didn't want to feel pressured into processing just because they're at the prime age.
Ours seem fine and are getting lay feed now so their growth has stopped. They're up milling about the run every morning and evening. They just lay around coop during mid day.
They do mouth breathe quite often and that concerns me. When it gets really hot they come in house to chill out with the kids.
We live in deep South Coastal Texas so the humidity and heat can be a bear in mid summer.
I'm worried that if they're mouth breathing now, what will summer do to them?
We do have a small AC in our tack house. Maybe move them in there?

 

[ijon]

I also had Red Ranger they seem to more like a regular chicken. I have crossed a red ranger with a dark cornish rooster. I have a hen from that cross. She is getting old now but is still is laying. She looks small but when you pick her up she is heavy and dense.

 

[HeiHeisMom]

Penny chilling inside and checking out newbies. She was so excited to get to take a nap in the house.

 

[cassie]

Thank you so much!
I didn't want to feel pressured into processing just because they're at the prime age.
Ours seem fine and are getting lay feed now so their growth has stopped. They're up milling about the run every morning and evening. They just lay around coop during mid day.
They do mouth breathe quite often and that concerns me. When it gets really hot they come in house to chill out with the kids.
We live in deep South Coastal Texas so the humidity and heat can be a bear in mid summer.
I'm worried that if they're mouth breathing now, what will summer do to them?
We do have a small AC in our tack house. Maybe move them in there?

I can't tell you what to do, but in my experience the Cornish X cannot tolerate heat and humidity very well at all. Fans help. I did keep some long enough to start laying and they produced nice big brown eggs. Keeping them much longer for me was not an option because the summer temperatures where I lived were often over a hundred degrees for days on end. I often wished they were longer lived. I liked them. They reminded me of bowling balls on legs.

 

[Compost King]

I am attempting to keep Red Ranger Females to breed with Delaware and Dorking roosters and later a hybrid of the 2. Make my own Meat Bird Hatching eggs. The 2 males are going to be eaten, their names are Lunch and Dinner. They said not to name the birds you are going to eat but I like to break silly rules. If I had more I would name them BBQ, Roaster, KFC, and Broiler.

 

[HeiHeisMom]

I attempted to name ours extra crispy, home style, Lemon Pepper, and Dumplings but my girls said "No!" My husband said I'm too old to play with my food and told the girls they were keeping those four as pets.
All my pic nic dreams flew the coop.