Cornish X Roosting...Pic

Meet Big Moe 1 1/2 years old. He was from McMurray hatchery broiler stock. He is a big baby, obese, fat and lazy and too large to fly up on the roost anymore. He has a special box in the coop where he lays at night !

 

Nice pictures!! I reallydon't understand the bad press the Cornish X get. I like them and I think they are fun to raise. They poop a lot because they eat and drink a lot more than your standard chicken and I think folks don't take that into consideration when estimating the amount of bedding and/or space necessary to keep them clean. We bed ours on shavings and we add more shavings whenever necessary. We don't give ours roosts because they go to freezer camp before roosts are really necessary. Plus I am a little concerned about them hurting their legs when they jump down. The very first Cornish X I got I wanted for pets and I did everything wrong. Managed to kill them all except for one. He grew to be huge. Glad to see yours are doing so well.

 

Mine are in the freezer now but they ran with my other chickens. They free ranged all day & after feeding at night they went to roost with all the other birds. Some times they would be roosting as high as 7' which is the highest perch I have for them. I only had problems with one bird that could barely move around. She would stay inside & lay on the ground all the time & only got up to eat. She was half the size of the others & died while I was sick & my 6 year old was the only one taking care of them on the hottest days of this summer. Mine probably didn't grow as fast as others but they were healthy, taste great, & didn't eat much feed. They would have rather laid beside the feeder & waited for another scoop but I liked the pasturing idea better.

 

Great pics!
Cornish X are bred for a purpose and a time frame for harvest like any other crop.
Great birds and we grow a crop to replenish our freezer when needed.

Are you trying to breed to raise your own?

 

OK-so I am NOT the only one that loves their meaties. I recieved my first bunch (11 1wk. ago) and their poop DID smell worse (to the extent that it was the cleaned up material from 1 day prior still in a feed bag by their brooder) but in general they did NOT smell worse. they moved to chicken shed at 2 days old with heat lamp and ruby dog to guard them at night and they are doing wonderful. this post kind of worries me because now i think I will be able to differentiate one from another and it will become a pet.

 

Congratulations! When one educates oneself on the qualities of the Cornish X, understands their purpose, and raises them by following the established protocals, one has great success with these birds. As the old saying goes... " the eye of the master fattens the cattle".

 

I hadn't heard that they WON'T roost, but that you shouldn't LET them roost if they are to be used as broilers.