Cornish X Meat Birds Butchered Today - Weights

wolfpak

Chirping
9 Years
May 9, 2010
77
9
91
Have been raising meat birds this summer, ordered 25, lost a couple early as they were growing FAST, none since putting outside in a portable run, & adding some rolled oats to their feed to slow down growth & fill them up. They also were happy to graze on grass & weeds as we moved the porta-coop around. . The local processor we use was on vacation when these would be ready, so they were 11wks+ a day old at time of processing

The 22 surviving birds weighed 140.8 lbs, processed, (almost 150 lbs including hearts, gizzards & livers). Eleven weighed between 5 & 6 lbs processed, 10 weighed between 7 & 8 lbs. (avg was 6.0 lbs)

We like cooking whole large birds, either boiling or baking, then making soups etc. with left-overs, so this should work well for us. Believe we ordered from Cackle. Very happy with the birds, all were getting around fine, no leg or "flip" problems, despite size!

DH states we went through about 300 lbs of food... (Kent Chick-Go, with a scratch/layer mix of grains added in small amounts the last several weeks). Chick-Go runs about $18 per bag.

Feed costs were about $125, birds about $60, processing about $50 = $235 total cost (about $1.68 lb, giblets not included) Plus labor costs to care for them. (They were pretty entertaining, so I guess free entertainment was part of the deal, too!) We ordered them with 5 Delaware chicks & 2 we hatched, who fared fine with the big CX in the same pen. The Delawares are so gentle we had no picking problems or issues with them together, & Delawares seem to have grown just fine, although they learned to ravenously "pig out" when they eat, just like the meaties!

Can't wait for that first big chicken dinner!!!
 
Last edited:
That's awesome. It sounds like with these birds just slowing their growth just a bit you have a better numbers. I've seen many people slow it down and not by much and they've had good outcomes. I'll keep that in mind when my time comes to raise them. Thanks for the info.
 
Wow 11+ weeks is crazy. I figured they wouldnt make it to that age or would be much bigger. Awesome weights though I hope my turnout is that good. My 26 CX are 5 weeks 3days old and are HUGE im thinking of processing at week 7(I dont know if I can justify continueing feed and put the added strain on them) we will see though 8 weeks would be better. Price per lb turned out good for you. Ive been writing down my number though I havent added it yet. Do you have pics pre process of all your birds?
 
Nice to hear someone else taking the cornish Xs past 8 weeks. We have about 180 and are planning to take them to 11 and 12 weeks. They are around 8 weeks right now. Ours are free range and we don't feed them in the morning or in the evening to encourage foraging while it is still cool out. It seems to be working well.
Were you fermenting your feed? What percentage protein were you feeding?
 
1/2 of my last batch were done a couple of days over 8 weeks and then the rest of them got a couple of extra weeks.

The older birds dressed out huge and the meat has a wonderful flavor and perfect texture. One half breast feeds 2 of us with leftovers. There is a lot of chicken in my freezer.

There were no health issues with carrying the birds extra weeks. I did have 2 dress out early. Bigger than game hens, but a bit smaller than supermarket chickens. My roof sprung a leak in a heavy rain storm and the poor chickens were up to their knees in heavy mud. 2 of them pulled tendons from the sticky going and I butcher them without waiting to see if they would recover. That is hardly the fault of the chickens.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom