Cornish X's = Nastiest birds EVER

[Beekissed]

I'm finding I'm having problems too with the CX smell. I only have 8, and they're 1.5 weeks old today. They are stinky! I said in another thread that I think all chicks start stinking past the 1 week mark, no matter how often I clean the brooder, but since these guys poop more, they stink more. Way more. Using fermented feed (from day 1) hasn't made a difference. Or, if it has, I wouldn't want to know how bad they might really stink. It's warm enough that as of yesterday, they can spend all day outside, and nights in the garage. For another week, max. Then they'll be outside for good. I couldn't imagine having them in a brooder for 4-6 weeks. It'd be nasty. I guess that's one benefit of living in the desert--getting chicks outside early on!

I had been planning on raising CX throughout the winter (too hot here in the summer), but after this batch is ready, days will be in the 40s-50s, which is too cold for chicks...and these things can't be in my tiny house after a week. I guess I'll just have to move somewhere with a barn! I'll at least have to wait till March for my next small batch of meaties.

It's very easy to establish an outside brooder with some extension cords and some ingenuity. I can't even fathom keeping meat chicks in any kind of structure close to the house. It sounds like you need much, much, much more ventilation in the area in which they currently reside. Cleaning the brooder often isn't the answer...ventilation and deep litter, combined with the fermented feeding, will keep your birds fresh smelling and cleaner. If you are not free ranging to get their poop out of the brooder/coop area, you are dealing with much more fecal matter...this means you need to get your hands on some good, dry bedding and each day layer it over the feces that are deposited. It doesn't even have to be a deep layer, just a layer of dry bedding enough to keep them from laying in their own poop.

You can also arrange them wide, comfortable roosting areas so they can get up and off the floor. This is as simple as 2x2s, plastic netting and some overturned buckets, or even a 2x6 board stretched between cinder blocks. Meaties take a little more managing than regular chicks but they do not have to stink nor be dirty. I had 54 free ranging out of a hoop coop in 98* weather and 65% humidity and you couldn't see a fly or smell much at all in the coop. I didn't have to bankrupt myself on bedding either.

Free range all day, feed in the evening, deep litter, fermented feed, creative roosting...it all adds up to a better experience.

Here's a pic of my birds on a hammock roost made from old tomato stakes, plastic netting and a couple of old buckets...they loved it!




Open air cooping, deep litter, nipple bucket watering....all these things add up to clean, fresh living quarters.






Invest in some electric poultry netting if you don't have a place to free range safely...and get those stinkers OUTSIDE. I only used this fencing for a brief time before I just let them out of it and let them run wild...no fences and absolutely no predator losses here in the middle of the forest. A good dog spells great success!

 

[pipemum]

The only real problem witj these chicks is that they were inside. Livestock does not belong inside! I don't care the management, any animal that poops inside without a flusher is gonna stink. My husband strongly suggested the chicks stay outside all night. I just went to check on them and ants were everywhere in their pen. I hate ants. I hate the suggestion to use de because it does jack all to the ants. I think they party in it. They only move their ant mound over. Anyway, these are leaf cutter ants that only come at night and probably won't swarm and kill the chicks but I'm not ready to risk it. I'll spread de around the edges of their coop, I think they at least avoid it, even if it doesn't affect them. They aren't even after the feed, so I'm not sure how to keep them away. The ants come in from the wash outside my yard to my garden to decimate every green thing in sight. I thought ant season was over and stupidly put the meatie pen in the freaking ant path. Oh I'm so mad at myself!

 

[pipemum]

Your setup is gorgeous, bee. I don't have the setup to let them out free range all day, but they will have a few hours of free range every day. That should be okay. I will make a roost for them, that'll make these ants a non-issue. How high, or low should i say, from the ground should the perch be? Right now they have a 4x4 log in there, but they seem to prefer the ground.

 

[Beekissed]

TY! Mine were about 2 ft. off the ground but I had some that would hop to the top of my water bucket to roost...about 3-3.5 ft. up. 4x4 will be too narrow for them...their breasts make them tip forward and they can't balance on a narrow roost well. That's why they prefer the ground right now...but give them hay/straw bales or a hammock style roost and they prefer those more.

If you free range them..do it in the morning if you can, when they've gone without feed all night and are motivated to go out and hunt. Need to get them out really early on free range to get that instinct going, so 2-3 wks old is a great time to start. After they range, then get them back to the coop with the feed ration.

Keep us posted!!

 

[pipemum]

Right now my chicks aren't even 2 weeks old, so not yet too big for the 4x4! Hehe. I do have a 2x6 somewhere, I'll rig up something for them this weekend. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Beekissed]

YW! I put a roost in with mine that young too and they would try to roost on it but would fall off when they fell asleep...funniest thing ever! A couple of them would still try to roost on it and would slump over....slowly...oh, so slowly they would slide off the roost.

It was an old pitch fork...they loved sitting on the metal tines because they were warm from the heat lamp...

 

[pipemum]

I kept my chicks outside last night. The ants weren't out. Covered up the pen up with blankets and they did fine--they generate a lot of heat! They did cool down a bit this morning when I took the blankets off, but it'll heat up soon enough. I can't run extension cords out there for a heat source. I stuck my head inside their coop when they were still covered--no smell. Also, their poop has finally firmed up--ff alone wasn't doing it, but mealworms, fresh veggies, earth, and fresh air have helped!

 

[Beekissed]

Maybe the absence of the heat lamp was the deciding factor on messy poops? That's often the culprit in pasty butt issues...too hot of a brooder.

 

[pipemum]

Yeah, it could be possible, but I think it was just the whole brooder situation all together. I only had the heat lamp on for a couple of hours a night, and they didn't display any signs of being too warm. If I do meaties again, I'll have to figure out a better brooder area for the first 2 weeks. Not being able to use an extension cord for a heat lamp is limiting! By "not being able to" I mean my husband would completely flip his lid--he's like, fire safety guy to the max. There's a teeny chance we may be able to remodel a horribly done, falling apart sun room soon, and we can put in outlets on the exterior and run electricity out to the shed. That'll solve the outside brooder, no heat, issue.

Sorry, JenniferH for overtaking your thread. I'll start posting on a more general thread. Especially since I don't think CX are nasty!!

 

[JenifferHartman]

No worries. My trouble was keeping them in the brooder too long. First time raising meaties. Learning as I go..