Cornish Rock issues

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
We have 30 from Sunnyside that are a week old today. Even in the heat wave we are having this week they are thriving. We have them in a brooder ring on the floor of an old dairy barn. Not too much sun gets in there and the barn stays a little cooler than outside. I turn off the lights during the day and they tend to lay around during the hottest part of the day, but at night I turn the lights on and they spend the night frolicking around, eating, and drinking.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
I've never ordered chicks from too far away. When I lived in Texas I would order from Ideal and the regional mail sorting center, which was nearby, would call me to come get them about four hours after they were shipped, versus putting them into the local delivery system for the next day.

Here in Wisconsin, I've ordered from Sunnyside which is a few hours away. The last batch was delivered next day. They were delivered to our rural post office overnight and sat there until they opened the next morning. They called the first thing in the morning, versus putting them on the truck for delivery.

 

[Denninmi]

I always wondered how they do keep them alive in the heat in places like Arkansas and North Carolina? Pad and fan cooling in the production houses might be one possibility.

All I know is that I'm glad I got mine in the freezer last weekend, because now they're saying about 100 actual temp Wed and Thurs, and I know that would have been the end of them anyway, when I was at work most likely, and it would have been a loss. I actually had a 0% loss technically, 2 of 25 died on me, and one was having a near death experience when I found it, and I got them all processed within minutes of death -- I wasn't afraid of eating them, knowing they died of heat, not disease.

 

[Nessmuk53]

I wish I knew how to keep temps down easily. As you say, when air temps are at 100 fans only do so much. Since I plan on raising some several times a year I am considering putting in insulation and several window air conditioners in the 12x20 coop I will be using for them on a regular basis.

 

[cassie]

I don't have much trouble with my Cornish X except when I had to delay processing and kept them far longer than I should have. Summers here are hot, so I order chicks to come in the late summer or early fall after the worst of the heat is over. If I want a second batch I get them in the late winter or early enough in the spring so they will be in the freezer before the heat hits. I keep mine in a well ventilated 12 x 12 box stall in the barn bedded with shavings. I add shavings as needed but the stall is not cleaned until the birds leave. I feed them turkey starter, then turkey grower, and if I keep them long enough I feed turkey finisher. I usually leave out the feed for 12 hours and take it away for 12. When teh days are short I just leave it out because the birds don't eat in the dark. I use Broiler Booster, a supplement available from Murray McMurray, in the water and it seems to help prevent leg problems. This system works for me. Oh, and I look the birds over carefully at chore time. Anybody that appears lame or has a purplish comb gets processed then and there.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
The barns are long and narrow with an array of fans on one end wall and evaporative pads at the opposite end. Referred to as "tunnel ventilation" the fans can move air through the barn at high velocities to draw heat off the birds.

We have 2500 layer hens that are dealing with the heat. They don't want to go outside because of the heat so they are all milling around in the barn. Our ventilation system was never meant to deal with the heat indices of 115 that we have been seeing the past couple of days. I have all of the exhaust fans on (these normally run all summer), I have turned on circulation fans that I usually only use during the winter and pointed them down towards the birds, and I bought two 42" portable fans yesterday that I have sitting inside one of the overhead doors to push additional air through the barn. They are doing ok and I haven't lost any yet.

 

[Nessmuk53]

I would have thought that evaporative cooling wouldn't work well in the humidity of the south in particular. I was always told that the "Swamp (evaporative) Coolers" they use out west just don't cut it in the east. I guess it works well enough to function in the poultry barns though. I do believe that raising meat birds will be a cooler weather pursuit from now on though.

 

[Denninmi]

Quote:
I agree. Why fight it? I learned a lot from this first time, and one big lesson is start them either in April or late August to avoid the heat of summer.

Not all summers are like this here in Michigan for sure -- in 2009, it was just plain cold here all summer, had about 8/9 nights in July where we set record or near record lows, with temps hovering in the 37-39 range, just barely above the point where frost could form. It was our coldest July and 2nd coldest summer on record here. This year, its going to be the hottest summer since 1995 or 1988, if current trends continue.

 

[Nessmuk53]

Same here in the Charlottesville area. Last summer was a scorcher. When I ordered them earlier this year I figured we would likely not have a repeat of last years heat. I was wrong, seems quite a few areas are sharing in the misery too.
I will keep the air conditioner and fans going and put blocks of ice in the coop and muddle through. I am convinced the two I lost were to heart issues (I am not counting the DOAs).
I have a 12x8 tractor ready to put them in sometime next week and perhaps out sitting in the shade will not be quite the struggle.

 

[triplepurpose]

Sheesh!

I'll take dual purpose ANY day! What a nightmare!