CORNISH ROCK CONVERT

[3 NH reds]

We raised Cornish Rock for the 1st time this year. Previously I raised Red Rangers. I kept a few Rangers and bred them, good egg layers. This year I decided to try the Cornish. I was hearing all kinds of horror stories about Cornish with medical issues finding them dead etc. Nothing like that for us they were healthy good birds, calm in nature and not little pigs! We even had some times they did not finish their feed. They were raised side by side with Ranger chicks the same age. Cornish were so big com-paired to the Rangers. We Processed half at 10 weeks and the rest at 12. The largest bird was 8 lbs at 10 weeks and 12 lbs at 12 weeks. They ate grower mash and greens. I will process the Rangers at 20 weeks. The photo is them together at 12 weeks. All I can say about process day was that I had to get an XL killing cone and I am so glad to have a whizbang plucker.

 

[carolb5]

Our first time with Cornish also. We had to get a larger traffic cones also. We butcher our spent Leghorns and their cones were not going to work. And we have built a Whizbang plucker also. I agree. Our experience with them wasn't horrible at all. I wasn't feeding high enough protein early on which is why we held on to our birds longer to get some weight on them.

Thanks for letting us know how it went. When is your next batch? I'm waiting until next August.

Carol

 

[3 NH reds]

Yes we discovered at week 10 that our cone was going to be too small. The reasons we waited were two fold: first we had a two week period of under feeding them due to bad calculations and we had electrical problems with the outlet going to the plucker. Our next batch will be early spring when our coop sells them, no shipping and no dead chicks in a box. I might be raising some to sell next time. Some people we know are interested in getting birds that are cage free and had a life. How many birds are you thinking for next year?

 

[cmchickens]

I'm jealous of anyone with a plucker. I get 25 birds at a time, twice a year, and process in batches of 12 or so.The first time I tried to pluck them all by hand. I quickly gave that up! I pluck a couple of the biggest now and skin the rest. I also found my cone wouldn't work for my Cornish X. I had to cut the top off of a large traffic cone for them. Wonderfully tasty birds.

 

[rc4u]

where did you get yours as it looks like they have some black in them...jeff