Cornish cross seven year lifespan possible?

[bridgetchicken]

My local feed store only has cornish cross broiler chicks available and they have sold out of normal chicks. If I get a cornish cross broiler chick, is there any way I can prolong its lifespan to the regular 7-10 year lifespan of a chicken? Would using timed feedings of a very low protein amount of feed help?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

It would be cruel to the bird to keep it longer than the 8-12 weeks they're built to survive

 

[SilverBirds]

I haven't heard anyone keeping a CX alive for more than 2-3 years. A carefully constructed diet will prolong their life for a year or two, but they're just not meant last.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Don't try it. They are bred to put on a tremendous amount of meat efficiently. The commercial operations have spent a lot of money in how to keep the birds that lay hatching eggs alive long enough to get a season's worth of eggs out of them but that is a struggle even for them. There is a very fine line between feeding them enough to keep them alive and laying versus feeding them enough to eat themselves to death. You can try whatever you want but it will not end well.

 

[BillieVerdin]

If you raise a bunch of Cornish chicks together, all they will do is eat and sit after a certain age. If you raise a single Cornish chick with other breeds from very young, ideally a day old, its FOMO will be strong enough that he will run around to keep up with them, and that increased activity will have a positive impact on its bone and muscle and heart development. He will still be the first to sit, the last to stand up, and the first to the food, but he will be running around to keep up with them. Nothing funnier than a sprinting Cornish. This won’t perform miracles, his body will still be shite, he’ll still be huge, and he’ll probably need a regular supply of furosemide sooner rather than later, but he’ll be able to walk and run and dust bathe and be forced to be a chicken because all his friends are being chickens and he wants to be with his friends even more than he wants to sit down.