Cornish X behind on gains

[schipmom]

Mine are also from sunnydide hatchery and are about 7 weeks old. They currently range from 5-7 lbs and I intend to keep them another week or so with a goal of getting them all up to 7 lbs do I get 5+ pound birds dressed. Mine have had fermented feed since day one and have been getting a 17% layer feed (fermented) since 5 weeks. They have been outside since three weeks and I had some unfortunate losses due to near freezing wet weather and I butchered several early who were showing signs of ascites. They were exceptionally flavorful as cornish game hens so not a big loss there. I also had half a dozen smalls that like yours were slow to grow and I lost them one by one. I had one little pullet that made it to almost 7 weeks but she never fully feathered out (still had fuzz on her head) and was just over a pound when I lost her this last week on a 40 degree night. The birds I have left are thriving and I am happy with but this is my second batch from Sunnyside that had multiple smalls and ascites problems. I just got a new batch from Whelp hatchery and am hoping this strain is a bit heartier. If you are going to switch away from the fermented feed be sure to increase the amount of water you have available for then as they will go through 2-3 times the water they do when getting fermented feed.

 

[Kildare49]

I have been doing broilers from sunnyside for awhile. There feed is fermented.

I restrict feed and give them a large enough run to be able to scratch for their own feed.

I rarely butcher @ 8 weeks. Never beyond 10 weeks. I have never lost a bird to leg or heart problems.

I always order cockerels. I did have a year were they subd. pullets without telling me. That was a batch
that I had to take to 10 weeks to get to a size I wanted to butcher. And they did very littler foraging on their own.

What are their weights? I have no idea. Don't own a scale. I don't use one hunting....don't need it to tell me when I want to butcher.

I ferment for 3 reasons: 1.) taste 2.) Manure mgmt. 3.) water intake

I have created a monster though. The layers are dry feed ( they get most of their feed foraging ). I gave them some fermented feed.
Now they come running went I go to the broiler coop. Unreal how they attack it.

 

[wvhomesteader]

We have 4week old CX and they rang from 2.5-3.3lb as of yesterday.

 

[WIchickens]

Well at least i am not alone in gains . I agree that the benefits of health and manure management are priceless! I weighed them over the weekend...6 weeks...3.2 pounds. but that was with empty crops first thing in the am. They look bigger than that to me! Maybe they just arent sitting still. I donno.
Starting sunday i am giving 2 buckeds of ff before work, then filling the feeder with dry feed. Then they get 2 more buckets of ff before bedtime. We will see if it helps!!!

 

[123RedBeard]

Are you sure your scale is accurite?

Place a five pound bag of sugar on it ...

 

[WIchickens]

Good news today! Weighed a few birds. All 3 were about 5 pounds. Apparently the extra dry feed available during the week was just what they needed. I am feeling a lot better about things.

It has been hot here the last couple days, in the mid 80s. They didn't seem to care for the heat, not that I am surprised! Besides making sure water is available and giving them some shade, anything else I can do to keep,them cool? It is supposed to cool off to the 70s for the next few days so they will enjoy the break from the heat!

Hoping they hit 7-8 pounds in about 2 weeks before we are in the real heat of summer.

 

[eviemethugh]

Thanks for the update! I'm starting to doubt the benefits of ff for meat gains. My birds certainly loved it and tore it up, but logically I tell myself they need dry matter and ff doesn't have asuch as it would if left alone. My thinking is that they eat less because it fills them up faster since the feed is a bit bloated. Possibly this makes nutrients more readily available but they are getting less of it. And they are receiving little to no dry matter which is very important. I'm thinking my ff studies will have to continue with egg layers, I can't afford low weights on my meatballs! Side by side meatie gains would be the only way to tell for sure with no other variables. It's always hard for me to tell in one group because their feed intake is always increasing....who knew raising birds would require math and science