Cornish Rock broiler growth rate

[fishpick]

Quote:
I'm still not getting it -
How long before they are feathered out? 4 weeks? 6 weeks? And if they get "the axe" at 8 weeks - how does the tractor paradigm really work for these birds?

I'm about 80 pages in "Pastured Poultry for Profits" - and there's a graph in there about heat requirements for Cornish X's - suggesting they are "good to go" at 40F by day 23... I take it that's not true.

 

[blue90292]

Quote:
I'm still not getting it -
How long before they are feathered out? 4 weeks? 6 weeks? And if they get "the axe" at 8 weeks - how does the tractor paradigm really work for these birds?

I'm about 80 pages in "Pastured Poultry for Profits" - and there's a graph in there about heat requirements for Cornish X's - suggesting they are "good to go" at 40F by day 23... I take it that's not true.

aren't cornish X made to not feather out by 8 weeks so they're easier to pluck?

fishpick, treat them as you would any other chick. if the weather is cool in your area still, they'll need to either stay in the brooder or have heat lamps. most people raise their cornish x in an enclosed area anyway. alot of us put them out in the tractor to give them an opportunity to be outside. and trust me, by 3 weeks, they'll be pooping up a storm and you'll WANT them in that tractor so you don't have to clean the poop and you can fertilize your pasture.

it really depends on how you want and plan on growing your cornish x. missprissy has a very good thread on how she grew hers. you may want to check it out. if that's not your cup of tea, greyfields has a wonderful thread on how he grows his freedom rangers.

personally, i bought the FRs and had them in a brooder for almost 3 weeks. they're now in a tractor out in my pasture with two heat lamps that have a 150 foot extension cord connected to it. it can get very humid and in the 60's still here at night and i don't want them to huddle and suffocate each other. 3 weeks was about the time they really started pooing and i got tired of cleaning the brooder so out they went.

 

[greyfields]

Quote:
23 days with 40F temperatures and yes you can put them on pasture. I know you want certainty, but you really can't just mark a date on the calendar and say "today they go in the tractor". You have to monitor the temperatures and weather. Their first day on grass should not be in a wind & rain storm.

Regardless of how long they stay in the brooder the marketing term "pastured" means they were on grass once they left the brooder. Here is my management:

- I have two tractors. One I can pull by hand, the other takes the tractor.
- Once they leave the brooder they go in the small tractor. I move this tractor daily providing feed and water inside of it. It's light, I can just skoootch it along the ground.
- Once they start making a mess of the grass before noon, I think upgrade them to the larger tractor.
- The larger tractor then gets moved every day.
- Once they start making a mess out of the larger tractor, I erect portable electric netting around the tractor and let them out during the day.
- That means in the last couple weeks, I only have to move every other day instead of every day. This means a lot when feeding as many animals we have.

 

[greyfields]

Quote:
I do not know if the lack of feathering is desired or if it's a function of them growing so quickly that they can't keep feathered. Purebred Cornish, as well, will have a bald keel line. So it may be coming through from those genetics as well.

That's why I like FR's, since they are fully feathered the whole time.

 

[fishpick]

"FR's"? What are they? A specific Cornish Cross?

 

[nmred]

Check out this thread: http://www.plamondon.com/pasture_hover.html
This is a great idea and we are going to try/use it this year. We don't pasture our birds (can't--don't have any!) but we do free range them once they get old enough, about 4-5 weeks, depending on weather. Since we are so high (7300+) we get very cold nights still and I think this will help a lot to keep them warm, especially the first few weeks. Hopefully, by about week 5 we'll be able to turn off the lights and just use their body heat. By that time, they're never under the heat during the day, but huddle under it every night, so I'm hoping this might help with the electric bill.

 

[blue90292]

Quote:
freedom rangers. check out this thread.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=12691

 

[blue90292]

Quote:
i love that hover. i will have to make one this weekend and try it out.

 

[DoozyWombat]

Check out this thread: http://www.plamondon.com/pasture_hover.html
This is a great idea and we are going to try/use it this year. We don't pasture our birds (can't--don't have any!) but we do free range them once they get old enough, about 4-5 weeks, depending on weather. Since we are so high (7300+) we get very cold nights still and I think this will help a lot to keep them warm, especially the first few weeks. Hopefully, by about week 5 we'll be able to turn off the lights and just use their body heat. By that time, they're never under the heat during the day, but huddle under it every night, so I'm hoping this might help with the electric bill.

Great idea, but the link is broken. It should be
http://www.plamondon.com/pasture_hover.html

 

[centrarchid]

My experience with Cornish X is limited. It has involved rearing the birds under conditions that are not thermally neutral which mean temperatures be below and above the optimal. Getting away from the optimal slows growth. Wind, rain and direct sunlight complicate further. Time to harvest has been longer than what commercial producers realize. It has been taking about 7 to 8 weeks to get size of interest which is larger than what KFC prefers. We can get KFC size in 5 to 6 weeks.

Feed we use may not be best for commercial growth rates. Certainly more expensive and has been sitting around longer before use.