Cornish Cross - Meat Birds

[chickney]

I want to second the info and instructions that Kuntrygirl gave at the beginning of this thread. They are not for everyone but it is possible. We kept one from last years batch and have lovingly named her "Big Momma." She is very attached to our catahoula "Levi". They sleep in the together at night (roosting is NOT an option for this girl) and take naps during the day close to each other's side. I even had to go out one night to break up a fight between he and her over who was going to sleep in the doghouse. Levi lost and had to sleep on top of the doghouse.

They are the perfect odd couple. She is definitely queen hen in our yard. This spring we added a few new egg layers so now she roams and forages on a full acre with no problem at all along with 3 wyandotte hens, a leghorn hen, and a BLRW roo named "Rosco." She has claimed Rosco as her own and doesn't like when the other girls get close to him. After her brooder-mates were put in the freezer last year I started weaning a CC roo and 3 CC hens off of high protein feed and onto forage. She was the only one who survived. The roo died first at about 20 weeks and the two other hens about a month later. She seems to be doing exceptionally well though. I have raised 4 batches of CCs and have never had leg problems. Heart attacks are too hard to diagnose so I'm not sure about that. I would treat them as much like normal chickens as you can. They can handle food 24/7 for about the first 4 weeks then I would go down to 12 on/12 off if you are going to slaughter. If you are going to keep them as a pet then I would bring the feed down to normal once a day feedings or whatever you do with your other chickens. Here are my observations from over the past few years. Pros

• Insanely high feed/meat ratio
• The quality of meat is like nothing you will buy in a store
• If kept as pets they are sweet even to small children
• They quickly take to new birds if introduced to a caged hen for a day then released
• pretty consistent egg layer (they will stop laying for a day or two if stressed out in the least)
• frequent jumbo double yolk eggs (I suspect this also happens because of stress but I cant prove it)

Cons

• As chicks they cannot be put with other breeds (they trample the little ones)
• They will be lazy if allowed. (I have had hens sleep with their head in the feed trough)
• They have a smaller margin for error compared to 'heritage' breeds. (They will drop like flys if not careful)
• They consume more feed than you think possible for such a small animal (17-20#s each by the end of 8 weeks)

What a funny story. Thank you for sharing the info.

 

[AK Baha]

I am going to order 15 next spring just for food.

 

[travifive]

Enjoy! Don't let them drive you crazy. They CAN be finicky but you'll get the hang of it. The meat is well worth it.

 

[chickney]

This is something interesting my husband and I just found out. We live in Washington State on the border of the wet (west side) and the dry (east side). So we get the best amount of balanced weather. We also get giant ant hills. We know that the other chickens and ducks that we have do not like ants, and we thought we would incorporate a giant ant hill into the run of our meat bird coop. This ant hill was about 2 feet tall and four feet wide. The chickens love eating ants, especially if we do the 12/12 hour feeding schedule. We also throw feed around the run to make them scratch and peck and work for their food. We seem to have noticed the increase in the exercise has them running around spreading their wings. They love it. They will be at 5 and 4 weeks this next week and they just keep on growing. Thought I would share that interesting fact about them eating ants...

 

[annewandering]

Cornish Cross do three things really good: eat, sleep and poop.
I guess you can keep them as pets. If you want an eating, sleeping and pooping machine as a pet.

They lay around and poop more than all the rest of my chickens put together. Still they are very sweet chickens. It might be because they are too lazy to get up and screech if you want to pet them. Mine are scared of any other chicken and with good cause. Had to make them a separate place to keep them alive and away from all the pecking on them.

 

[atitagain30yrs]

Questions about really big Cornish Cross. I have scheduling problems on getting my chickens processed at the nearest processing place. Transportation too. So if I cancel my work and reschedule (not something I want to do) I can make sure they get processed sooner. Otherwise it will be 11 weeks. That is the most convenient for me. I don't really want to wait that long the roosters are pretty big now, and I really don't want them to start crowing. If they get bigger does it make the meat any tougher? I haven't fed them corn or soy, but they are still really big.

There are a couple that are smaller. So now the really big question I have a Corn and Soy Free Layer feed that is cheaper than I have been feeding them. I know it has too much calcium, but would it be OK to feed them for a week? They are eating a huge amount now, and I would like it if they didn't get much bigger. I am moving them around on the lawn in a dog kennel that has been turned into a chicken kennel. As long as I move them frequently, if I back off on the feed - what would be appropriate amounts for 9 wk. old Cornish Cross per chicken?

 

[Faiza]

You are very welcome. Glad that she will have a home. Please post pics of her and keep us update on her progress. If you have any questions about her care, please feel free to PM me.

Thank you soo much for your information, is i bought 2 months ago cornish X, i wasn't knowing if they are cornish X cuz they were day old only n coloured (Rooster baby chicks). n now they r 2 month n 5 days old, i wish n hope they will live long life, cuz i don't want to kill then or wanting to be eat them, they r underweight, eats alot, but still in their diets, poop alot O.O i ot my whole day being getting busy with them, like making there special feed, cleaning the coop, cleaning their feets n toes with light warm water, cuz their legs get dirty when they walk all over whole day..so i really don't want any scaly mites in their scals or any germ when they get ready for their bedding..i really brush their feathers once in the week, n also their new feathers r still being bigger.

 

[Grammyloves]

Must Roos be castrated?

 

[kuntrygirl]

Must Roos be castrated?

No, it's not mandatory.

 

[trunkman]

Here's my story. My very first chickens were cornish rocks that I bought off of craigs list, I just finished building my coop and wanted some laying hens right away and found an add selling white rocks, 6 hens and 3 roos. The seller told me they just started laying and were hatched last spring, (I bought them in January of 2010). I was excited because I got an egg the very first day but thought, darn, these chickens are big. I was totally new to chickens at the time and had no clue of what I had purchased, I just loved the eggs. I kept them on feed 24/7 and noticed that they were getting bigger, almost huge and didn't have many feathers on their underside and butts, I thought they were looking disgusting and thought if all chickens are like this I really don't want to raise anymore. But when I looked at other chickens owners chickens I noticed the chickens had nice fluffy butts and great looking feathers. After a few months I was outside doing my chores and was watching my hens, I turned for a minute and heard a weird chicken cluck and turned to find one of the hens laying flat on her back dead as a rock. My first thought was wow, that was quick and what did she die from. In the next few weeks that followed the rest of them but one died the same way.

So for those of you who want to raise cornish as pets make sure you put them on a strict diet and give them plenty of room to exercise. But I have to say, they are the friendliest chickens I've ever owned.

I also have to say, since 3 of the flock were roos I processed 2 of them because of all the fighting, one of the roos weighed 11 pounds 6 oz. once processed!!! I baked it at a low temp for several hours thinking he might be tough but when I opened the oven door the meat was at the bottom of the pan and most of what I saw was bones, the most tender chicken I've ever eaten!

For me, lesson learned, egg layers for eggs, cornish rocks for meat!