Cornish crosses already weak at 4-5 weeks old

[User635240]

Hi, I bought 20 straight run cornishes from TSC about a month ago. 15 of the 20 are already lying on their sides most of the day. They look like their might weigh 2-3lbs each average. They do get up to eat but then lie down again. Is this normal? Am I feeding them too much?

 

[Rose the Legbar]

Take away the feed at night. At 5 weeks they do start to not walk as much anymore and hang out almost exclusively by the feeder.

 

[Perris]

Is this normal?

for the broiler industry, yes. What did you expect?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, I bought 20 straight run cornishes from TSC about a month ago. 15 of the 20 are already lying on their sides most of the day. They look like their might weigh 2-3lbs each average. They do get up to eat but then lie down again. Is this normal? Am I feeding them too much?

For straight run Cornish, that is not normal. For straight run Cornish Cross that would not be unusual. The broiler industry knows how to feed Cornish Cross to avoid that at that age.

You see that on here a lot. Cornish Cross have been bred to be fed a certain way to reach optimum butcher size at an early age. The commercial hybrid layers have been bred to maximize egg production being fed a certain way, which means limiting how much protein they eat to around 16%. Too much protein and egg sizes get so big they have medical issues. It is not a surprise to me when you overfeed either the Cornish X or the hybrid layers that they get medical problems.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

What protein percentage feed are they getting, and are you doing a 12 hour feeding schedule?

If you aren't doing a 12 hour feeding schedule, start now. Also, I'd suggest moving to 18% protein. I find that the suggested protein for broilers (~22%) is there to grow the meat as fast as chickenly possible and does not take into consideration the health of the bird. They will still grow quickly on 18-20% feed.

I think Meyer Hatchery has one of the best feeding suggestion guides out there (see photo below - and sorry for not cropping the screenshot lol). You do higher protein the first few weeks, and 18% the rest of the time. My birds have been healthiest with this and you can avoid leg and heart issues.

But I also want to add that CX do tend to lie around a bit more than other chickens. However, if you don't over-feed them, they won't be lying around all day long. That might be "normal" for most people, but personally I don't think it should be, especially since it can be avoided while still growing a lot of meat quickly.