Cornish x: Batch two

[Tre3hugger]

Well Said, Late August Early September is the best time to get meat birds. The worst time is March through June (depending on location) when foolish ol me tends to get them.

I think it greatly depends on location. Here in the Northeast it seems doable from april through october with slight tweaks to husbandry approach.

 

[Parront]

I think it greatly depends on location. Here in the Northeast it seems doable from april through october with slight tweaks to husbandry approach.

A lot does depend on the weather where you live. It was still pretty hot here in late August and I had some shipped ducks arrive DOA. It might have been better to get them from someone local, if possible. It is nice to do your processing in cooler weather, especially after a hard frost that kills the flies!

 

[Compost King]

I think it greatly depends on location. Here in the Northeast it seems doable from april through october with slight tweaks to husbandry approach.

Good point, I grew up in NY State and the heat waves are short and sweet so you can wait one out before you process in that nice cool evening weather even in summer, and unlike here in NC you do not want to process in the middle of winter because its either snowy, windy or muddy and usually a combination of all 3 at once. So where you live is definitely a factor.

 

[Parront]

snowy, windy or muddy and usually a combination of all 3 at once.

We do have those times here in the AZ mountains. Add in the lightening storms and power outages, that is us in Dec. and Jan. I don't want chicks to brood then!

 

[Tre3hugger]

Got a buyer for 10 out of 26 birds coming tomorrow. Getting 2/3 of my money back for a little over a third of the birds so that is cool. Leaves me with 16 to raise for $27 so 1.68 per bird. Not bad.

Seems like the Freedom Ranger Hatchery chicks are super robust. They shipped in 60 degree weather and none of them have failed to thrive after 5 days(knock on wood), Really excited to see how these grow out. They are apparently Ross 308 line, as opposed to my unspecified line last time from thechickhatchery. Don't know if it really matters but what can I say, I am the type to analyze every variable, maybe to a fault. lol Anyone seen differences from different lines of Cornish from different hatcheries?

They will be a week old monday, and I will start doing weekly weight averages. Thanks for reading!

 

[Torinik]

I have definitely seen differences between different batches. We used to buy them on one of the weekly markets around here as was convenient. So often bought from different vendors, although there was one market with only one vendor and we bought several batches from him over the years. Even there noticeable differences at times. Often the weather I think too. Too hot and they won't eat, too cold and they burn off calories. Daytime length, I'm learning now, plays a role too.

In the '70 and '80 the prevalence of leg problems and laying around lethargically was much more pronounced, I think. At least around here, and from my limited experience, because I read here on BYC that some people are still facing these issues.
The batches I bought, let's say the last 20 years (and they were very few because of lack of time) hardly had any leg problems and certainly did not lay around in their own dirt. Those I always grew to about three months because I like a bit more texture and redder meat.

So, I've been in doubt wether what I can buy here is really the CornishX. Or what strain, that maybe has been down-tuned a bit. Who knows? Asking doesn't help, because the standard answer for as long as I can remember is "these are meat-chickens" and there's no getting passed that wall.

The last batch I bought was 5 weeks old (and made the parent stock for what I hatch now because I can't always buy them when I want to buy them) and usually they say they are 6 weeks old and don't need additional heat. They are nice little meatballs by then that would probably give you well over 1 pound processed. But +2 pounds seems to be the standard from what I read here on BYC at 6 to 8 weeks.

This post is probably more confusing than clarifying. Sorry about that, but I'm still confused. My guess is there must be several different strains, and then within a strain even some deviation from a set standard.

It turns out that there's quite a few companies breeding them, and those companies have different sites to do so. That in itself would cause genetic (guessing for words now) drift, deviation, difference, I would think. Maybe the vendors just buy them where they can at a particular time and then sell them to us. And the same for the hatcheries in the US where you guys buy your day-olds, who buy their eggs from whoever happens to have them on offer? I'm just guessing, I have no idea how the broiler industry works on the corporate level.

 

[Tre3hugger]

Just did a one week weigh in./"check up". After selling 10 birds I am left with sixteen to raise. Everyone seems to be thriving with clean butts and big appetites.

@speedy2020 Average weight for 1 week old is 4.44 oz. Or about 1/4lb. Individual weights in oz: 4,4,4,4,3,5,5,4,5,4,5,4,5,4,5,4.

Been free feeding them 20% Dumor starter/grower and supplementing their water with McMurray's broiler booster. So far so good!

 

[Tre3hugger]

Did my two week weigh in this morning. Average weight 9.3 oz. They have more than doubled in size on average in the last week! Some are considerably bigger than others,I am wondering if this is an early sign of sex determination, with males being larger. Individual weights 9,6,12,9,9,11,7,11,13,12.13,7,9,6,10,10. With 6oz as the low and 13oz as the high, that seems like a rather large gap. Maybe they will even out this week. Pics to come!!

 

[speedy2020]

Did my two week weigh in this morning. Average weight 9.3 oz. They have more than doubled in size on average in the last week! Some are considerably bigger than others,I am wondering if this is an early sign of sex determination, with males being larger. Individual weights 9,6,12,9,9,11,7,11,13,12.13,7,9,6,10,10. With 6oz as the low and 13oz as the high, that seems like a rather large gap. Maybe they will even out this week. Pics to come!!

Are you feeding them 24/7? My Bresse cross has about same weigh, but took 4 weeks. They have access to food during the day only.

 

[Tre3hugger]

Are you feeding them 24/7? My Bresse cross has about same weigh, but took 4 weeks. They have access to food during the day only.

Yes I free feed for the first three weeks while they are in the brooder. Next week they will go on pasture, and I will start limiting feedings to 1 hour sessions, twice per day.

The brooder is outdoors and has natural light only though (heated with a CHE), and I doubt they eat much overnight.