Cornish X Dying - can we eat them?

[discodannio]

Ok, so I'm not asking whether or not we can eat the dead ones. However, they seem to start showing signs of 'slowing down' a couple days before they die - usually about 3 days before. Is it ok, when we see them starting to slow down, to process them then? I'm guessing that they're succumbing to ascites - is that the one where they're just growing too fast, and their hearts etc. are not able to keep up with the rapid growth? We made a few booboos re: restricting their food along the way, so we've lost a number due to getting too big and fat too soon.

Anyhoo, we don't really know what to do. They're about 5 1/2 weeks right now, so definitely as a small processing size. It just seems such a waste to have these nice fat birds dying on us.

*sigh*

If you could give some help that would be great. This has been a learning experience, that's for sure. These things are like fine china - they break at the least amount of pressure...

DD

 

[SpringChickens]

As long as you process them before they die, they should be fine. We're having the same problem with out 5 1/2 week old meaties right now too, and we did restrict feed, etc. I think its just too hot for them right now. We were going to mass process in 2 weeks, but I think we're going to do it next weekend instead.

 

[justbugged]

Try slowing the growth down, you can do this by removing the feed at night. So feed for 12 hours a day, and then let them go hungry the other 12 hours. I agree that as long as they are alive you can process them, and they should still be fine for eating.