Considering some Cornish Cross birds

[donrae]

My Honey did the actual killing and the skinning for years, then I'd do the gutting and finish work. It was just last year I got brave enough to dispatch the bird myself. It was hard the first few times, but now I'm pretty comfortable with it. We had a lovely chicken pot pie last night from my latest round of butchering

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I do think the CX are the way to go, for a first timer especially. I will warn you, though...some folks are kind of repulsed by them, cause they're so big so fast, etc. But I find the little piggies so appealing, it's an effort not to get too attached. They're very food motivated which makes them appear friendly to humans, they'll follow you around given the chance. Stay strong and remember they're food, not friends

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You may work up to dual purpose birds when your life is different. That's mostly what we eat now, are the excess cockerels from my hatching addiction

. They are a different quality of meat, a little more chew for the most part,and way less meat per bird (mine are bred for egg production, not meat). I'm sure they're not as financially effective either, those CX are about the bomb for what they've been bred for the last few decades.

 

[triplepurpose]

Thank you for this, I can see myself falling victim to this line of thinking pretty easily. 

My husband would do the actual killing, at least at first, but I would help with the processing. He doesn't have the same emotional attachment to the birds. He likes them and helps take care of them but would have no issues culling one if the situation called for it. Hopefully we will make a good team

Interesting idea about raising DP birds. I had considered it but had some reservations-namely having to raise them much longer before you can process them. Maybe I'm over thinking it but my concern would be having roosters starting to crow, becoming more attached to them, etc. It would be pretty difficult for me to cull a perfectly good young hen who is close to POL. I have 3 pullets just shy of 4 months old right now and I cannot imagine culling them. 

Clearly I still have things to think about but I really appreciate all of the good advice given here. 

Those are some valid points. We usually try to cull at least most DP cockerels before they start crowing, but more for feed expenses. They arent that large then of course, but are no less delicious, split in half, marinated and grilled--to us the superior flavor and nutrition and sustainabilty factor are worth the tradeoff in sheer size.

There's no reason I could see in a simple BYC type situation to cull a DP pullet close to POL unless she is sick or something. She's better kept as a layer, even if not used for breeding. So you can avoid becoming to attached to the cockerels but treat the pullets more as pets if you like. If for some reason you have too many pullets/hens there's always the option of selling some--lots of people will jump at the chance to acquire started pullets, which could pay for your broilers feed--I can see lots of ways to make this work if you wanted to....

Also, if you can find sone good heritage meat strains they will produce a larger carcass at a younger age than most hatchery-grade DP. There are also Freedom Rangers and other types of single-purpose meaties that are similar to CX without the tendencies towards the associated health problems.

Just to keep in mind, It need not be "either/or," there's lots of room in between...

BTW When I first raised meaties I tried a few Dark Cornish cockerels, and they were fabulous--excellent meat-type conformation.

(And not to confuse the issue too much, but have you considered rabbits, which taste much like chicken breast, don't require plucking, have great feed conversion, and are easy to keep and breed--and never crow? )

 

[javaferret]

I started the way you are thinking of starting. I had 4 CX that I picked up at the feed store and it worked out well for me for a few reasons:

1)CX are nothing like my beloved egg laying hens who I spend way too much time with.

2)CX have a expiration date if you will...they are not meant to live long past butcher time ( you can keep them alive with limited feed, and females do better than males...but ya don't think about it if you are trying to do the separation of pet and dinner).

3)CX are really built to make dressing out easier, large body cavity which makes cleaning out so much easier.

4)White feathers, are more forgiving if you do plucking and are not proficient at it. ( I totally recommend skinning though ).

Doing them in a smaller batch is a lot less work...omg you will not believe the amount they poop out in a day its also easier if you decide that butchering your own isn't your thing...you can get past 4 and not be too overwhelmed or traumatized.

Now having done about 30 birds, I am curious on trying Freedom rangers or duel purpose large breeds, just because I am more taken with the idea of pasture raising the meat birds, and maybe even raising my own. It does come down to cost and ease, which CX win from what I have experienced and am reading on the forums. Who knows...I might just give it a go sometime just so I can see for myself, and I will start small if I do.

Good Luck!!!!

 

[lutherpug]

Everyone here has such good advice, as always.

My inclination is to maybe just try 2 or 3 CX and see how things go. I think they're the best choice for right now although I could definitely see us branching out to other breeds, etc once our situation is a little different. Our coop space is completely maxed so integrating new DP pullets isn't an option and I don't really want to conduct a bunch of Craigslist deals to rehome them. Plus, our neighbors have been pretty gracious with our chickens although they'd clearly prefer we didn't have them. No need to push our luck. Keeping 2-3 CX is doable with a chicken tractor we had built previously. We aren't in a huge hurry-maybe in a few months we will pick some up and see how it goes. I need to get these silly pullets I have fully integrated into my current flock as they're still refusing to put themselves to sleep in the coop out of fear of their larger sisters. Gotta get that sorted out first

I had to chuckle about the rabbit suggestion only because I absolutely HATE rabbits! Back in my college years I worked at a pet store and the worst bite I ever suffered by far was at the hand of a giant male rabbit. I've just despised them ever since. Although, that may make them easier to butcher.

 

[Birdinhand]

I've gone through this as well. I have neighbors all around and we only have 10,000 square feet. we have two small children, 6 pet laying hens ... it's a lot of factors to juggle. I built in a second story to my coop where the meat birds go. they can not be seen by neighbors. they are generally pretty quiet. I found a strain of the cornish cross that is robust/less repulsive/more chicken like. some strains are so jacked up on their own growth hormones, basically designed to eat and make meat as fast as possible, that they grow too quickly, they become disgusting creatures. you can also moderate the protein count of the grower formula to avoid the nasty diarhea. after 10 days of 24 hour food access they do best if switched to 12 hours on/12 hours off, where you actually take the food away for the night time and put it back first thing in the morning. I have found the cobb 500 line to be a decent balance of efficiency and humanity. I would try to find a hatcher close to you that breeds these, they are way better in my experience in terms of liveability and overall experience and finding someone close will cut down on travel stress. you have to stay on top of their water consumption especially. their metabolism is something like 10 times that of a regular layer and they can not handle going without water for hardly any length of time. also they are not all that heat tolerant. spring or fall seems like a better time to raise them. I have 37 going right now. I would not plan on going out of town while you are growing them out. it's fast, intense and then bam, done in about 60 days, they need attention at least twice a day, I've found.

when its time to butcher, you want to do it with little drama and noise. you really don't want "a chicken running around with it's head cut off" in an urban environment. I still have terrible memories of this as a child. I grab one firmly, tuck it upside down under my arm. this causes blood to rush to it's head and within seconds they become disoriented and stop fighting and quit down. I use a kill cone. Once they are pretty well out of it, I place them in swiftly, reach up into the cone and grab their neck, pulling it down and firmly hold their head while I slit their throat and let them bleed out. Last year I had a friend out who is part first nation and she sang a beautiful song for us while we were processing the birds, it really helped us stay in a good place with it all in our hearts and minds. there is a great book out there called "Animals make us human". it doesn't have a lot about chickens but the author does touch on them and I think it's good to consider the animal's experience every step of the way. there is no need for the animal to be toxic with stress hormones. I truly believe a peaceful passing is both more humane and results in a more healthy food. for the plucking, unless you plan to do a lot more birds, like 20-50 a year in the future, you can probably just get a drill bit style chicken plucker. they take some getting used to to use but are much better than hand plucking.

 

[jelong192]

I totally understand where you come from. I have 14 hens/1 rooster that are my egg layers and all have names, eat out of my hand, come when I call them and consider them part of my family. They will live as long as they are healthy and I don't eat my pets. I did have to kill one (Claire) that was sick and it really tore me up.

I also have 17 cornish crosses that are 7 weeks old and are numbered 1 - 17. I have considered them meat from the day I got them. I will have not problem processing these birds when the time comes. It helps that my brother will be helping also, and he for sure has not problem harvesting them. They have not been that much trouble. However, the next batch will not be in the winter months. We are in northern AL and it is just now getting warm. They have been in my garage in a 6 x 10 area with wood shavings underneath them. The amount of poop is unbelievable! I am hoping within the next week they can go outside in a 10 x 10 chicken tractor until time to harvest. We have not lost any yet. I have one particular chicken that I weigh daily and he hit 6 pounds tonight. Started out with 22% protein food for the first 4 weeks then dropped down to 18% protein which they will continue to eat until processing. The feed is both GMO and soy free. I feed them 12 hours and then take it away for 12 hours. They drink more water than you can imagine. I have two 1 gallon water jugs. Should have bought bigger for that many birds. I have to refill both jugs by early afternoon.

If processing day goes good, then I will probably do another 25 outside the last part of May which will allow them to be harvested before the hottest part of our summer which is typically August. Then another 25 the first part of September which will allow them to be harvested before the coldest part of the winter. I don't foresee doing any during the winter as I'm not sure I want them in my garage again.

Good luck!

 

[tmarsh83]

To me, for you, going the dual purpose route seems like asking for a problem.

CornishX birds are designed to be gone in eight weeks.

You're looking at 12-16 minimum for DP cockerels, if you did a cockerel only order.

It doesn't sound like, for now anyway, you're in a position to breed/hatch/raise your own birds anyway.

No need for that window of nearly twice the time to get attached to the birds.

You're going into it with a clear mind, just thinking about it like you are. Keep it simple by keeping it uncluttered. CornishX are for meat. Their only purpose is to exist for meat. Keep that cognitive thinking in place, and you'll be fine.

 

[lutherpug]

Thank you for all of the replies. I'm feeling more confident about it but we are definitely not ready for a few months. Our backyard is a mess and the tractor I would use isn't finished so we've got some work ahead of us at this point!