They look great...reminds me of a woman on here long ago that ran her CX free range with her layer replacements. Those birds were active as all get out, she had some great video of them ranging, changed my mind forever about CX being 'feeder potatoes'.
Moyer Broilers - Week 8
Cornish cross - week 5
Robust White
5
(Pretty consistent makes and females right at 5 lbs)
(82%)
Royal Red
5.25 (biggest rooster is 6 lbs. smallest is 4.5. Most right at 5) (95%) <— wow
Cornish Cross
3 lbs (65%)
Body Shots:
(Both the Robust weigh 5 lbs. note the slightly different body shape of male vs the rounder female. Also, that female only looks so red because I had to lighten the photo because the sun was behind us.)
Royal:
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Robust:
Female:
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Male:
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Notes:
Another impressive week. Tons of growth. I actually decided with the intense heat we are having to go ahead and process half next Thursday at 9 weeks. I’ll take most all of the Royal Red and half the Robust White. For the most part, all the males. The Royal Red forage less and I’m afraid they’ll put on too much growth over the next three weeks and be too hot. The males just have a “thickness” about them that makes me question their ability to make it through weeks of 100+ heat indexes. I could be wrong, but they’re fine size and the last thing I need is 50+ 7 pound processed weight broilers. Plus, in general, I really prefer the Robust white personality. They forage far more than the Royal Red do for the last several weeks when I originally thought it was the other way around. It may be a male/female thing. I’m going to raise all females next round. The female Robust white have a beautiful shape and are the clear winners in desire to get out and be chickens. They are just as described and a total answer to a modern broiler that can be raised on pasture.
I’m floored they’ve all come so far even with the “slow start” that worked so well with the last Cornish. Theyve all almost caught up to standard weights that Moyer gave me and that’s awesome. The royals basically HAVE caught up to standard weights. It would really be interesting to study their feed conversion on pasture. Another day....
I think they (the royals) absolutely could handle 3 more weeks, especially at another time in the year. But they would certainly act more and more like traditional broilers and that’s what I want to get away from.
It’s so hot so they can’t be out on the grass all day, and I’ve set up a port-a-cool fan that pretty much lowers the temp of the entire pen by at least 10 degrees. Most the birds stay here from 10:45 or so until 6. They forage everywhere before and after. Even my laying hens stay in the pen with them all day. It’s pretty much “feels like” 100+ for the next 45 or so days. They’re handling it like utter champs. I’m concerned with the Cornish growing out but we will see. Once I process a bunch of the reds I’ll be able to focus on the Cornish and keeping them comfortable. The fan should do most of the work.
body wise I would note that both of these birds hold themselves better than a Cornish. And they poop smaller. It’s fascinating. The Cornish at 4 weeks started developing the poop behinds on a few, right on cue. Ugh. They’re 3 weeks behind these birds, half their size, and poop more.
I included a photo below from these specialty broilers of a fresh poop next to the gigantic 5.5 pound broiler that made it.
What’s pretty interesting is there is an entire set of the Robust white that find their breaks outside of the pen where most of the reds don’t venture too far from the food for most of the day. This group has no interest in sitting in there eating and can always be found in a muddy shady spot cooling off. Interestingly, they are all for the most part female and they’re also huge.
Overall I am still thrilled with these royal reds, and they are pretty active when it isn’t so hot in the morning and late evening. They’re very healthy and jump and play around all the time. Still, a preference has built for me for the Robust White so far because the royals are getting so large and starting to act evEr the slightest bit “uncomfortable”. Will be interesting to judge the taste. I’ll hold a couple reds back for sure so I can get that extra three weeks of flavor.
As I’ve said before, I couldnt be more impressed with Moyers. If you try them out, call John. He is the most forthcoming with information and sharing individual I’ve encountered in the hatchery business and such a support to me as a grower. I’m going to make an additional post later today with all the information he gave me this morning. A long post that maybe shouldn’t be buried in my thread, but will be interesting to a few of you reading along for sure.
BEHAVIOR NOTES:
The boys are boys, but they’re docile. A few crow but it isn’t loud. The first photo below is the Cornish pen that I opened up this week and you can see how the large roosters have no issues with the other birds.
For now... here are additional weekly photos!
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Poop:
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@Compost King and new York Rita I’ll just keep you updated with “juicy” tidbits. I’m going to get some Delawares from one of these breeders and I’ll highlight what I find out of importance to us all looking into these goals.
Yes, I’ll gather. Frank reese’s Institute or conservancy or whatever it is exactly I believe is working on a much larger research study and he works closely with the APA.
