deleted

[barredrockobama]

 

[Rod-T]

I don't think it's healthy for them to live long lives.. there breed to gain weight fast. I think I'd butcher them or give them to someone to butcher.
Sounds like this is not a breed for you.. I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[bobbi-j]

Cornish X are not made to exercise or lose weight. They are specifically bred to gain weight quickly and can often suffer from health problems if allowed to continue to grow. I agree with the above poster, although I know that once you've become attached, it's a hard thing to do. You are the only one who can decide what to do with them, but sometimes we have to realize that the hardest thing for us to do is sometimes the best thing for our pets.

 

[123RedBeard]

Here is Buffy! Our Cornish/White Rock hen we acquired by accident in our order of cockerels ... She was the runt of the batch, and was always friendly, as he/she grew, we discovered that he/she was really a she!

As meat birds they ate grower ... And LOTS of it! We did have them in a 25'X50' run, and most afternoons they got to free range in our yard ... She had the same food opportunities as her brothers ... We usually butchered them between 12-16 weeks IIRC and they dressed out around 7-10 pounds ... This was back about 25 years ago ... No health problems that I recal, other than a few had a crooked toe ...

She then graduated from the meat pen, to the layer coop, and lived with 25 Black Sex-Links ... She ate the same food as they did, and we did not limit her food ... She grew big!

She laid HUGE eggs! Double yoker's and occasionally a triple!

As a pullet, she had a very light buff colored couple of feathers, but after each molt she would would grow more!

She lived through two laying seasons, then we ate her! Yum!

 

[bobbi-j]

Here is Buffy! Our Cornish/White Rock hen we acquired by accident in our order of cockerels ... She was the runt of the batch, and was always friendly, as he/she grew, we discovered that he/she was really a she!

As meat birds they ate grower ... And LOTS of it! We did have them in a 25'X50' run, and most afternoons they got to free range in our yard ... She had the same food opportunities as her brothers ... We usually butchered them between 12-16 weeks IIRC and they dressed out around 7-10 pounds ... This was back about 25 years ago ... No health problems that I recal, other than a few had a crooked toe ...

She then graduated from the meat pen, to the layer coop, and lived with 25 Black Sex-Links ... She ate the same food as they did, and we did not limit her food ... She grew big!

She laid HUGE eggs! Double yoker's and occasionally a triple!

As a pullet, she had a very light buff colored couple of feathers, but after each molt she would would grow more!

She lived through two laying seasons, then we ate her! Yum!

Nice that you could keep her that long, But Buffy doesn't look like today's Cornish X chickens. Her legs aren't nearly as thick for one thing. I think the breeding has changed a lot in the last 25 or so years to make them grow even faster. I hope OP can keep her birds as long as they can be healthy and not suffer as many of them do when they get too big.

 

[123RedBeard]

I agree that the breed may have changed over the years ... We lived just up the road from Hubbard farms, a hatchery ... But bought from a local feed store, so probably one of their strains ... We never had the health problems that are reported today ... We got 50-100 every year for 8-10 years ...

Looks like to OP has left the room/building ...