Chicken in the road

[Carolminifarm]

Like Ridgerunner has said it's not ideal to introduce it to your flock. Meat birds without limiting food will get overweight and die of heart failures or suffer from legs problems. They should get food twice a day. This can either be a 20 min time limit to eating or a set amount. I use a set amount of 1/2 cup in the morning and 1/3 cup in the evening. Cornish cross type meat birds suffer from chronic hunger and therefore it's important they either get veggies or can free range outside. Letting it free range under supervision might be a way to slowly introduce it to the flock. Be aware that it is not fully feathered yet, so colder weather is not great.

One thing that is also important is if it's injured in any way, especially the legs. Cause if it has a leg injury it would take a lot of effort for a chick weighing this much it to heal. Probably would be better to cull it in that case.

Also it might look like an immature adult, but it is still (mentally) a 6 week old chick. If introducing it to the rest of the flock will be successful might depend on the other breeds present, as Cornish cross chickens tend to be low on the pecking order. So with friendly breeds there are more possibilities.

I have all different large breeds, rescues. I am actually allergic to feathers so never handled. They do come when I call them. barbs, red,lavender,black

 

[Carolminifarm]

I had no idea chickens were genetically altered to grow faster. This seems wrong.

 

[Carolminifarm]

Please post a picture of the chicken, is it a cornishX or laying hen?

 

[ABQ chicken keeper]

View attachment 4298479

Yep, a cornish type.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yeah, that is a Cornish Cross. Coloring, conformation, and the thick legs.

I had no idea chickens were genetically altered to grow faster. This seems wrong.

Genetically altered by selective breeding. The same method used to develop the chicken breeds you have, that developed the commercial egg laying breeds, the different breeds of dogs, horses, and domestic cats we have. Not developed in the lab, just by selecting which get to breed.

Think what chicken meat would cost at the store or what a dozen eggs would cost if they didn't use this method to develop these specialist chickens. How many more people would go hungry or be malnutritioned?

These chickens were developed to be butchered by 6 to 8 weeks old and provide a lot to eat. They are not meant to be pets. They may live short lives but if they are managed the way they are designed to be they don't suffer. It's people that want to use them some other way that can cause suffering.

 

[Carolminifarm]

Yeah, that is a Cornish Cross. Coloring, conformation, and the thick legs.


Genetically altered by selective breeding. The same method used to develop the chicken breeds you have, that developed the commercial egg laying breeds, the different breeds of dogs, horses, and domestic cats we have. Not developed in the lab, just by selecting which get to breed.

Think what chicken meat would cost at the store or what a dozen eggs would cost if they didn't use this method to develop these specialist chickens. How many more people would go hungry or be malnutritioned?

These chickens were developed to be butchered by 6 to 8 weeks old and provide a lot to eat. They are not meant to be pets. They may live short lives but if they are managed the way they are designed to be they don't suffer. It's people that want to use them some other way that can cause suffering.

Well I am a vegetarian and only eat the eggs from my girls. I dont like the way animals are treated. This chicken obviously never touched the ground, doesnt know how to scratch, or seen the light of day. Was very pale a week ago. Seems cruel.

 

[MotherofOrpies]

I had 2 cornish cross chickens. i tried to keep them, but they were beat up by my grown up chickens, so i kept them extra and let them out to roam for 1 hr. When the older chickens had gone to bed, after 3.5 months they no longer got up, though I tried to give them calorie reduced food like lotS of greens someone else processed them for me, one of them had a split chest muscle, they weren’t really bred for longevity

 

[Carolminifarm]

Yeah, that is a Cornish Cross. Coloring, conformation, and the thick legs.


Genetically altered by selective breeding. The same method used to develop the chicken breeds you have, that developed the commercial egg laying breeds, the different breeds of dogs, horses, and domestic cats we have. Not developed in the lab, just by selecting which get to breed.

Think what chicken meat would cost at the store or what a dozen eggs would cost if they didn't use this method to develop these specialist chickens. How many more people would go hungry or be malnutritioned?

These chickens were developed to be butchered by 6 to 8 weeks old and provide a lot to eat. They are not meant to be pets. They may live short lives but if they are managed the way they are designed to be they don't suffer. It's people that want to use them some other way that can cause suffering.

Well I googled cornish cross and everything all of you have said is right and now I am in a pickle with this bird.

 

[Skyeknight]

I have all different large breeds, rescues. I am actually allergic to feathers so never handled. They do come when I call them. barbs, red,lavender,black

What breeds specifically? For example a Brahma tends to be lower on the pecking order and should therefore be more friendly than a Rhode island red. But to be honest even if you manage to put the Cornish cross with the others, how would you limit the food for only him/her?

This chicken obviously never touched the ground, doesnt know how to scratch, or seen the light of day.

Right now you probably see the Cornish cross lay around a lot and occasionally preen. If giving the opportunity it will learn by itself how to scratch around and that insects are edible. Mine did have a few older slower growing Cornish cross to learn the behaviour from, but it took them about a week to 2 weeks to start scratching around. Learning to eat bugs took quite a while longer as they dropped them at first, about a few months.

The thing with Cornish cross is that they take way more specialized and intensive care than normal chickens. I would say that if normal chickens are kinda like cats, then Cornish cross are like dogs in care intensity.

 

[Carolminifarm]

What breeds specifically? For example a Brahma tends to be lower on the pecking order and should therefore be more friendly than a Rhode island red. But to be honest even if you manage to put the Cornish cross with the others, how would you limit the food for only him/her?

Right now you probably see the Cornish cross lay around a lot and occasionally preen. If giving the opportunity it will learn by itself how to scratch around and that insects are edible. Mine did have a few older slower growing Cornish cross to learn the behaviour from, but it took them about a week to 2 weeks to start scratching around. Learning to eat bugs took quite a while longer as they dropped them at first, about a few months.

The thing with Cornish cross is that they take way more specialized and intensive care than normal chickens. I would say that if normal chickens are kinda like cats, then Cornish cross are like dogs in care intensity.

plymouth rock, golden laced wyandotte,austyralorp,red, only 1, cornish and a speckled sussex, black ameraucana and australorp. 1 white stray. lol