antiqsolo
In the Brooder
- Sep 28, 2016
- 39
- 1
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First off, I'm not sure if this is the right forum, if it's not, then please redirect me. Secondly, boy oh boy, am I confused..
Last week I worked at a poultry processing plant (myriad of reasons... need money because we're moving, and I wanted to see exactly what I was feeding my family.. let me tell you, we're never eating commercial chicken again). Something I found oddly confusing was the number of hens, Cornish Cross, plopping out shell-less eggs. I had thought that the Cross was, well, a cross- one that rarely made it to egg production age largely due to its inevitability to keel over due to its monstrous size and how quickly it grows.
The plant manager not only told me that these birds were twelve weeks old, but that they start laying at eight weeks! Surely he can't be right... can he? Does their rapid growth enable them to lay eggs sooner, or (more likely) does he not know what he's talking about?
Thanks so much for any information anyone can provide!
Last week I worked at a poultry processing plant (myriad of reasons... need money because we're moving, and I wanted to see exactly what I was feeding my family.. let me tell you, we're never eating commercial chicken again). Something I found oddly confusing was the number of hens, Cornish Cross, plopping out shell-less eggs. I had thought that the Cross was, well, a cross- one that rarely made it to egg production age largely due to its inevitability to keel over due to its monstrous size and how quickly it grows.
The plant manager not only told me that these birds were twelve weeks old, but that they start laying at eight weeks! Surely he can't be right... can he? Does their rapid growth enable them to lay eggs sooner, or (more likely) does he not know what he's talking about?
Thanks so much for any information anyone can provide!
