- Apr 26, 2011
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oh and the cornish x is the most effecient feed to weight conversion of all chickens.....This is BIG business after all
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They have issues due to fast growth not small hearts....in fact their organs are much bigger than standard breeds. The hatcheries recommend food 12 on 12 off to reduce losses.
Mine foraged but unfortunately it didn't seem to make a difference. I knew what I was doing when I got him but was curious how a Cornish X would do raised with layers. So from the day we brought him home, he got the same treatment as the layer chicks in the same batch - no special food, and no 12 on, 12 off of food either. When they transitioned to the outside chick run, so did he. And when I opened that door and allowed them all to start free-ranging with the big girls, he went along with that too. At about 8 weeks I noticed he started to slow down. Where the young, lithe layers could flit about from one end of the yard to the other, he would kind of trudge along, just barely keeping up. Poor thing - sometimes he would no sooner catch up than they'd flit off somewhere else and with a sigh he would trudge along after them again.
I *thought* the excercise and not sitting at the feeder all day would help him to grow up healthier and live longer but at 10 weeks I guess it got too much and he "flipped". RIP. He really was a special little guy and had a good life.
I can hear his plea " I'm not fat, just big boned.. Hey! It's a glandular condition"! In his case.. It was genetics..lol
I think you are correct on your guess of cockerels. That is a HUGE size difference!I believe both birds are cockerels, I picked out the largest birds of each breed to compare.
In addtion, the nasty mess they were always in disgusred me, since they couldn't even get up out of their own poop, and by slaughter, they had callouses on their keels, some on the fronts of their thight joints, from hobbling on them..I wound up skinning most of them because of that caloused nasty skins.
I think you are correct on your guess of cockerels. That is a HUGE size difference!
I'm sorry to hear you had such an unpleasant experience. My one and only (single chick) was raised with layers and never did do the "sit at the feeder and eat" thing. He was up and running around with them the whole time, which also meant he didn't grow as fast. I wonder if a lower protein feed makes a difference in the "nastiness" and/or starting them earlier so you don't run into heat losses, would make a difference?