Can anyone tell me if these chicks are sick or if it’s the breed?

[PoppasGrill]

Purchased several chicks a couple weeks ago from RK. There are 2 that look to be the same breed , and both are bigger than the others and their feathers are .. well , look at the pic and tell me what you think. None of the other 5 chicks are having any issues.

 

[The Moonshiner]

They're meat birds.
They grow faster then their feathers can keep up with.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, hope you are enjoying BYC!

I also thought meat bird.

Meaning it's the breed an not actually sick.

I do wonder about all the black I'm seeing near the rear.. if it's scabbing from pecking or something else?

 

[Chikyboy]

Meat bird. Probably Cornish X

 

[Cubaniton]

Purchased several chicks a couple weeks ago from RK. There are 2 that look to be the same breed , and both are bigger than the others and their feathers are .. well , look at the pic and tell me what you think. None of the other 5 chicks are having any issues.View attachment 3642696

The white one is a meat bird, and it will grow to look like a pig with feathers if you allow it to eat all it wants. And it will grow so fast and so big, that if you don't butcher it by week 8 or earlier, it will most likely die on its own due to health issues related to the over weight. HOWEVER, if you want to keep it alive for reproduction and have a side line of meat birds, then you must set that bird aside in a cage or an enclosed area where it will not have access to any extra food other than the one you will provide, and that food must be severely restricted. This is a comment I shared in another thread, pick what you could find useful out of it:

Get yourself some chicks from a hatchery:

https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/jumbo_cornish_x_rocks.html

https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/big_red_broiler.html

Raise them and cross them. To raise the Jumbo Cornish X Rocks to reproduction age, you must restrict their feed intake, for example, feed them all they can eat for the first 3 weeks, then starting on the 4th week, cut back to only feeding twice a day until they step aside, then on the 5th week, only once a day, until they step aside, and on the six week, calculate how much they were eating per bird on the 5th week, and reduce that amount somewhat and give them that once a day, and if you see that they are gaining weight and they look too fat, or their legs are spreading apart, then reduce the feed more and more, and keep track of how healthy they physically look, feel their breast, if it feels like the breast is starting to split, you are feeding them too much, hold back on the feed more until their breast feels flush or the breast bone is barely noticeable.

Important fact: In order to restrict the feed of the Jumbo Cornish X Rocks, you must keep them away from all sources of food, that means you have to keep them caged, or in some sort of enclosure, so they will only have access to the food that you provide.

The Big Red Broilers you can raise like any other chicken, just make sure they don't eat too much so that they can be healthy enough for reproduction and egg laying.

Once you have adult Jumbo Cornish X Rock roosters, cross them with the Big Red Broiler hens, and the main reason for doing this is because the Jumbo Cornish X Rock hens are not very good layers, you will be lucky to get a good amount of eggs form them, specially if they are on the heavy side (due to lack of feed restriction), so by crossing the Cornish X rooster to the Big Red hens, you will get chicks that will be better at laying than the Cornish X, and they will grow faster or should at least, than the Big Reds, then it will be up to you to select the largest of the chicks and keep them for reproduction, and through selective breeding (using only the biggest birds) you will be able to produce large fast growers which will also provide you with a usable amount of eggs per week. This project will take you around 8 months or so before you will have your first eggs of the crosses in an incubator, good luck.