Cornish X Rooster pictures (2 to 6 weeks of age)

[Cara]

Hand over the recipe

My husband hates chicken, and i'm trying to persuade him otherwise!

 

[chickenmama22]

Perfect Roasted Chicken

3 carrots, peeled and cut into thirds
3 ribs celery, peeled and cut into thirds
3 onions, peeled and cut into quarters
1 (3 1/2 to 4 pound) chicken, rinsed and patted dry
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons cracked white pepper
1 lemon, halved
2 fresh bay leaves
6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
4 sprigs rosemary, roughly chopped, plus 1 tablespoon for gravy
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons roasted garlic
1 cup dry white wine

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.

In a 9 by 13-inch roasting pan, add the carrots, celery and onions. Season the chicken both inside and out with the kosher salt and white pepper. Squeeze the lemon halves over the chicken and place the rinds inside the cavity. Place the bay leaves inside the cavity. In a small bowl, combine the garlic, rosemary, olive oil and butter. Rub the chicken both inside and out with the garlic rosemary blend and place in the roasting pan.

Place the pan in the oven and roast the chicken for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the juices run clear. To test this, insert a thermometer in the thickest part of a leg. It should register at 160 degrees internal temperature. Remove the chicken from the oven and allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before carving.

Pour off excess fat from pan and return to heat. Whisk in chicken stock, roasted garlic, white wine and chopped rosemary, scraping up the bits on the bottom of pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Reduce gravy by half, until thickened.

Serve chicken with gravy on the side.

 

[Cara]

Wow that does sound good. I never thought i'd hear myself saying it, but I wish my Cornish Rocks would grow quicker!

 

[suburbanhomesteader]

Thank Goodness you posted those photos!

From Ideal, I ordered 20 Cornish Xs and 10 Black Broilers as my first meat birds ever.

They were born within a day or two of 10/25, and the CX grow more hideous-looking as the days progress. Also, my birds have enormous reddish pink "butts"; yours looked yellow and fluffy. I was afraid I was doing something wrong, but based on your photos, I guess not.

You are right about them practically killing themselves for the food; I'm not yet taking away their food at night, but when I do, I'm going to have to get more feeders because even if the feeder runs low, I'm afraid someone is going to get crushed in the throng.

So far, I only lost 1 black broiler, and he was a runt from the start; he was about 3/4 the size of the other black broilers when he got here, and at the end of the first week, shortly before he died, he was half their size. The black broilers look more like Bo and the Production Reds did as they were growing up, which is a lot more reassuring, but they are not growing nearly as fast as the CXs.

The smell is awful. I have them in an 8x10 shed on pine shavings, and have to replace all the shavings twice a week. I'm afraid the neighbors will complain! I moved the brooder light over to a corner, and run an oscillating fan (at floor level) continuously during the day to try and dry things out, so the smell is reduced. I can't believe the amount of poop they generate!

It looks like yours were on kitty litter at one point? Did that stay drier than wood chips do?

I'm not giving them vitamins anymore; should I be?

How do you weigh them? You're being a lot more organized than I am, and I applaud you letting us know what is to come. I can barely keep up with filling their food and water, and still work a 50 hour week!

 

[chickenmama22]

suburbanhomesteader, thanks for the comments! Mine definitely had pink feather-less rears. I think they are finally filling out, but initially, they look like they have an egg stuck in there or something.

I have had to improvise on the feeders because I was taking their food away each night. I have used some old cookie sheets (as an excuse to buy some good quality ones LOL) and those large plastic trays / flats that plants come in.

I am now a stay at home mom, so I try to make the time to tend to the birds. If I worked 50 hrs / week, that would be tough. A few things that I do: stir the food up a couple times / day. They come running! They also come running when I add vitamin water to their feed. They love the food wet. Now, I don't know if that's a bad idea, but I will say it could be dangerous if you don't remove or replace the uneaten wet food. I let them eat it all in 24 hours or toss the wet food so it doesn't get fusty.

I think your Cornish X were born on 9/25, right? 10/25 is a typo? Yes, they do start to smell really bad. We had a lot of old, half dead trees on our property and we cut them down last year. My hubby chipped them up. I have been raking up the wood chips and dumping them into the greenhouse / coop floor each week. I was just piling it up, but started removing some the other day. If I didn't have wood chips, I would probably rake leaves or pine needles and put that on the floor. The weather has turned cooler here in NJ (mid 40s tonight) and that REALLY helps with the smell.

I am still giving them vitamins. I don't know if you're supposed to, but I figured it can't hurt. Hope I'm right!

Kitty litter - yes, someone told me that you can use kitty litter (just clay litter, not deodorized / clumping litter) under the chicks. It helps up to a point.

The experimenting scientist in my likes to weigh and analyze the meat birds

I use my ebay digital scale that I bought at a thrift shop. It weighs up to 25 lbs. I have to disinfect it afterwards, but it works. The first time, I just put 10 in a box and weighed the box. The next week, only 5 fit in the box. (Boxes weighed 8 pounds each week, by the way.) After that, I had to weigh them individually. Welp's website has a chart of expected weight per week for their cornish roos and hens.

Hope I answered your questions! When do you plan to butcher yours? I am trying to decide if I should do the deed based on weight of the birds or age. I don't think we can process 27 birds at a time though I do have a lot of friends asking if they can help!

Nancy

 

[silkies4ever]

My goodness they grow quickly!

I bought a "leghorn" from a grain store once that wasn't in good shape....Turned out she was a young cornish gama hen!

I was keeping her as a pet and her final weight was 12 pounds, when she ran, you almost expected an earthquake

She was a laying hen believe it or not. With the rich and varied diet it I had her on, she regularly laid double yolked eggs.

I lost her that winter though, she got some kind of flu and wasn't able to pull through it.

 

[suburbanhomesteader]

Chickenmama-
Yes, you were right; 9/25 and not 10/25.

I think you've answered just about all the questions, including the "swallowed an egg butt". Today I decided they looked like they were carrying dirty diapers.

It's going to be 89 and humid here tomorrow; I hope there's a strong breeze to carry away the eau-de-chickpoop.

Deer season opens the first Saturday of November, so with any luck I will get my two does that weekend, process them by Sunday night, and then I'll harvest (how's that for a euphemism?) at least the largest CXs the 2nd weekend of November. I will be doing it by myself; based on how I clean wild turkeys I have shot, I think I should be about to do 10-15 in one reasonable day.

I need to go out and get a freezer; I lost mine in the divorce! I am going to make chicken jerky; has anyone ever done that?

Thanks for your help, Chickenmama!

 

[chickenmama22]

I took 12 roosters and a Cornish X Rock roo to a farm auction tonight. I got $6 for the Cornish. I was just "testing the waters" so to speak. I wanted to see what he would go for at 4 pounds and 5 1/2 weeks old. I think I at least got more than my cost, but it's not worth giving them away when I'll happily eat them!

I've been asking my friend for a picture of her 5 month old Cornish Hen... maybe I'll get one soon! She's watching her for eggs and said that it looks like the roos have been 'bothering' her. Will post the picture when I get it.

Stay tuned for the 6 week old photos... coming on Tuesday or Wednesday!

Nancy

 

[chickenmama22]

Here are the 6 week photos. The roosters made some very nice growth and over 50% of them have reached the 6 lb mark.

The last photo has a red milk cap in the photo for size comparison.

Heaviest 2 birds weighed 6 1/2 lbs. Lightest one weighed only 4 lbs 5 ounces. Seems like some of them are less ravenous than the others.

That's all for now

Nancy