Feeding the Cornish X

[WVDan44]

I can't imagine why folks thinks that they have to adhere to this accepted model of raising CX

.

I mean, if the experts are suggesting it and sending the instructions with their orders, somebody like myself who has never raised CX would consider following their instructions instead of the trial and error method. As I said though, it is good to see that so many people report excellent results with a variety of feeding programs. I guess it comes down to what we feel comfortable doing. So I suppose I could feed game bird feed or turkey feed or organic soy-free feed, or table scraps, and possibly end up with similar results, in theory. But then it would also depend on if I feed them 24/7 or take up their food at night. I said in an earlier post last week that I am a slow learner. I am trying to grasp what everyone is saying and I'll keep trying till something sticks. LOL. Thanks for this post, I appreciate it and your opinion. :yipchick​

 

[Beekissed]

Yeah...I guess it all comes down to if someone is a risk taker or if they are not. Very hard to imagine myself adhering to the common or accepted way of doing something. I'm always looking for a solution to problems. I didn't mean it to sound like an insult...I am truly puzzled by this recurring dilemma of new CX raisers getting confused about feeding, protein percentages, heat lamps, lighting, feeding schedules, etc. If I were that confused about it all, I would come up with something more simple...which I did.

When I first joined BYC and read about the meaties, I was appalled at the number of deaths, reports of unhealthy or crippled chickens, gangrene in chests and wing tips, etc. I immediately started thinking of why this was happening and how to prevent it. So...if everyone who reports these difficulties are raising their birds in the same way, then I concluded that it was insane to keep doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.

I tried an experiment...and it had great results. It was easy, the birds had a great and healthy life and the end product was comparable to other's except for one distinction....mine were so incredibly clean, healthy, full feathered and had healthy organs. I started with 20 birds, ended with 20 and put over 100 lbs of meat in the freezer. Meat that is different from store bought chicken because they were not raised like store bought chickens~which is way that Meyers is advocating.

What is the point of raising your own if you want them to turn out like store bought? Because you cannot raise them as cheaply as the broiler operations, you will have more money in them in the long run and you will have the exact same end product. Just buy them in bulk at the store and save all the trouble.

I guess I just can't wrap my mind around the reasoning behind it all.

 

[jamband]

Quote:
so what was your experiment?????? i would love to hear any suggestions you have from experience...... also no factory farms are raising chickens on pasture and outside with access to bugs greens etc so simply the environment makes a much healthier bird to begin with.

 

[booker81]

I think the Welp way is a good start if you want to start somewhere.

That said, I'm like Beekissed - I don't like to work harder than I have to (though I will work hard when I need to

).

I fed one 15lb bag of non-medicated starter to mine, then the rest of the time they were on 20% starter/grower to the end. I didn't feed 12 on/12 off, I didn't restrict. I did put their food and water separate so they had to walk back and forth. I did just dump shavings in daily toward the end so they weren't in their poo - sure, I had a foot of shavings and poo layers to shovel out when it was done, but it went right in the garden to give me one heck of a bounty of veggies this year. The birds stayed clean and there wasn't stink in the coop.

I pretty much went out once a day, put in shavings, topped off the feeder, topped off the water and checked them over for general well being.

Oh, I did nail a heat lamp in there since I put them in the coop in March and didn't want to deal with the water freezing.

I started with 12, and ended with 12 at 7 weeks, averaged over 5lbs each packaged, beautiful meat. It was tasty.

Going to do it again here shortly, but they will be kicked out to the garden to start my fall cleanup. As I finish harvesting each of my crops, they'll get that area to roam. They'll have to walk back and forth to food, water and shelter. I intend on doing unrestricted food and water again.

FWIW, I went through 200lbs of feed for 12 male broilers in 7 weeks.

 

[WishboneDawn]

Quote:
Yup. We raised CX for the first time this year and basically took the path of least resistance in every way (we're a very lazy family

). The heat lamp was turned off rather soon, they were outside rather soon, we let them free range and just dumped a bunch of food on the lawn several times a day. They were active, fit, happy, sweet-tempered, hardy birds that countered a lot of the wisdom I'd read online. We did lose two but one was doomed from the start and the other we don't know but it wasn't the classical flip death.

I'm a noob and this probably seems cocky but I just can't help but wonder if a lot of the issues people have with them is more to do with conventional wisdom on what to expect from them and raising them to those expectations rather then something inherent in the birds themselves.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
so what was your experiment?????? i would love to hear any suggestions you have from experience...... also no factory farms are raising chickens on pasture and outside with access to bugs greens etc so simply the environment makes a much healthier bird to begin with.

I have a thread on here somewhere that tells about that experiment...a search will find it. I have dial up so it's a pain in the patoot to even turn a page on here sometimes. You folks with high speed could find it in seconds. I placed 20 meaties under a WR broody and let her brood them, raise them on free range with the rest of my layer flock and fed them just what I fed the rest of the flock....once a day, laying mash and whole grains. They walked up a ramp into the coop each night and down again, free ranged all over 1 acre, had to go in the coop each time they wanted feed or water. When it got really hot I put their water out in the grass for them but that was the only concession I made to their breed...and I do that with my layers each summer anyway.

I had birds that actually foraged, survived in perfect health, had a fully feathered body and finished out about the same weights as those who were fed on high pro, continuous feeding and with lighting schedules. It was easy as pie and I had no extra work involved in raising them. The thread shows progressive pics of their growth, their processing and the finished product. I am still eating on those birds and that was last spring! I put over 100lbs of fresh, healthy meat in my freezer with as little effort as one would do in raising and feeding layers.

If and when I do it again there will be things I change but I listed those changes in the thread.

simply the environment makes a much healthier bird to begin with

You could be right, I'm sure fresh air would be some kind of benefit, if nothing else.....but why all the threads about trying to prevent deaths, changing feeding proteins at this week or that, etc. if they are still so very healthy for being raised outside?

They are simply a product of what they eat...if they are only moved a couple of times a day in a tractor, they are consuming very little greens....they poop far too often and too liquid to have any edible grass under them in those tractors. I had a chance to see Salatin's so-called pastured poultry and the grass under them was merely trampled and a mess of fecal matter. The tractors also allowed very little actual sunlight exposure....one corner is exposed to sunlight and the rest is shaded. Too many birds per tractor, continuous feed....it just looked like mini broiler houses to me. I can't imagine any meatie will forage if their factory designed food is readily available under their noses at all times.​

 

[PotterWatch]

We don't really bother with feed restriction at this point. The natural light ours get once they are about two weeks seems to serve them well enough to keep them from eating 'round the clock. If they need light longer than two weeks, we will take food away at night if we remember, but certainly once they are out in the tractors, we don't take food away.

 

[redriver]

Quote:
I have a thread on here somewhere that tells about that experiment...a search will find it. I have dial up so it's a pain in the patoot to even turn a page on here sometimes. You folks with high speed could find it in seconds.

Found it.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=325493

RedRiver

 

[WishboneDawn]

Quote:
Loved that thread! It was one of the pieces of information that convinced me to trust myself and the meaties and led us to our free-ranging and other lazy methods. Thank you for that. We had a wonderful summer with our meaties and I can't wait to do it again next year! Might pick up a broody hen so there's even less work.

 

[WVDan44]

Wishbone, I couldn't agree more! Bee's thread was what I needed to clear up the haze. That thread should be placed at the top of the forum and marked "required reading" LOL. I don't have a broody either, but I can sure give the chicks the rest of what Bee suggested. I'm gonna call around today and see if I can find an old broody. Some people don't want to keep a hen once it goes broody.