First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[PlaidBattleAxe]

And scrambled eggs are definitely on the menu this morning for the new crew!!

 

[LindaB220]

Here is my final video for my first run of Cornish X Meatbirds! I did post a couple others, so please take a few minutes when you view this video to check out the last few weeks. Definitely check this video out. I caught one of the roos trying to crow for the first time! I'd never heard it before!

On Monday, we butchered 9 of our 27 left. We decided to let the final 18 grow for a few more days. It all went great. I eviscerated while my husband and daughter did all the rest. I kept up well. I didn't cut any intestines or bile ducts. We had withheld food for a few hours, but my daughter let them out of the tractor a bit before we started, and they attacked a pile of apples we had on the lawn for them. We had to deal with some apple sauce but that was way better than feed stink.

So the 10 chickens that we have processed all weighed between 4 to 5 lbs 8 oz. They total more than 48 pounds! Since I was aiming for 5 pound birds, I am quite pleased with the result.

I was so excited that I threw the final bird I processed into the rotisserie to cook up for dinner. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way to never do that. While there was good flavor, the meat was horribly tough. I will now wait out the rigor mortis instead of think I can beat it! I am now cooking the first bird we did on Friday night and am praying that it is wonderful after 5 resting days!

I will post again after I process the final 18. I have batch number two of 30 chicks in the brooder now. I forgot how small and cute they are. The cuteness is knocking my socks off!

I will certainly continue to post things I learn on this thread and read other threads in the Meat bird section to give advice.

Jessica, you have done very well. How long did it take y'all to do the nine? Yes, keep the thread going. It's one of my favorites. I think that the 25 CX's I was going to get (promised from 2 different sources) are not going to materialize. So I'll be ordering from a hatchery.

 

[JessicaThistle]

I dipped them all, and I'm sure some got dipped more than once (hard to keep track of them when they're running round like cottonwood seeds in the wind)--- I had 2 chicks (the one who was weak yesterday upon arrival, and then last night I noticed another one listless) in my sick bay, which was a box with lots of fluffy cloth and nice and close to the heat light (sequestered from the others, but still in the chick area, because I have no other area set up yet). This morning the first chick had died, and the second one was still droopy. I picked up the survivor and again dipped his beak in some maple syrup water. He stopped crying and I set him down and he began drinking on his own and then wobbled his way into the sea of other chicks. I figured I'd just keep an eye on him since he is showing pepp and holding his own ok.

This is rather nerve wracking stuff! I feel like I'm taking care of an entire class of preschoolers who speak a foreign language. Its hard to know what they're sick from/crying over peeping/etc. and how to take care of the issue. The others seem to be doing okay. A handful are sleepier than others and tend to stay under the light while the majority are fast and curious and h-u-n-g-r-y. I'm going to put marker on the fluff of the sleepy ones and make sure I can keep track and dip them routinely into the sugared water and apply more of the nutra-drench. I think like you said, I'll just get save-a-chick and put it in their water upon arrival the next time.

I received 25+1 extra. +1 was dead upon arrival, so I had 25 live. -1 this am, I've now got 24 chicks. I hate that the little guy died on my watch, but he came out of the shipping box and never stood or opened his eyes and was very limp the whole time. I had to pry his little beak gently and trickle nutrition in. I'm thinking he had a really rough shipping experience or was weak to start.

They were eating my pine shavings in the brooder so I had to put brown paper bags over top. They are so curious!! And chase the print on the bags lol, its very funny.

I've got 2 watering stations set up and 1 feeder. They went through about 1 1/2-2 cups of food yesterday. I refilled it with another mason jar (3 cups) gravity feeder and then put a little tray of food with water on it to make it soft for the other ones but so far they're playing on it and not eating it...

I'm thinking it'll get easier with time, I'm just going to go all hawkeye on those sleepy ones and make sure everyone perks up!

What do you use for bedding for the new chicks? I had read a lot of people used the kiln dried pine shavings (they're easily each flake the size of the chicks head), but mine are eating pieces... and I'm afraid of crop issues, because I don't have grit for them. I was told no grit needed when only using chick feed.

Thank you, Sensei!

Yes, raising this many chickens is a tickle on the nerves, especially due to their fragility. I have 60 chickens currently with my brooder CX. You can guarantee I feel like a preschool teacher! Sheesh,

So did you put all of the chicks into the brooder before dipping their beaks? I take one chick at a time out of the box, dip their beak and then set them down in the brooder next to the waterer. No chick could possibly get missed this way.

Don't feel bad about the two chicks you lost. It just happens. I received my new batch this week as well and have lost two. I can't for the life of me figure out why. I had one chick arrive with a bum leg. I nursed him to health, did a little chick physical therapy and now I can hardly find him in the brooder. However, I lost two that I never noticed had a problem. It is frustrating when you don't know what you have done wrong.

I use large pine shavings in the brooder, but I lay a layer of paper towels over the top of them for a couple of days. This way, I'm sure they know where the food is before the big pine shaving reveal. Yes, they tend to flip up the edges and scratch in a few but I'm not sure it's a huge issue. Of course, that could be the reason for my loss as well. I don't know. Watch your chicks on the paper bags as they could be slippery and cause leg issues while they are strengthening. If you don't see any slippy problems, than no worries!

Whenever I have a droopy chick, they come inside to my chick hospital (box) where I routinely offer water, baby vitamins, wet food, and scrambled eggs until they perk up and can go back or they expire. Just so you know, I have never had one expire that I did this with. The funniest one was one of my CX was like 5 or 6 weeks old and he must have weighed at least 5 pounds. I gathered him up along with the tub my dog likes to take a dip in and hauled him into the house. It was hilarious to be sitting on the couch and look over to see this big rooster head looking at me over the bin! I worked with him all day. He had eaten something that couldn't get through his system. I helped him, he passed it and lived. That little stinker went on to start picking on everyone at the trough. I recognized him because he had gray feathers on his back. Currently he is vacuum packed and resting in my fridge.

Just pay attention and take action when you see a potential problem. Really, try to relax and enjoy this. Even with all of the work involved, I have loved every minute to raising these guys. Nothing has warmed my heart while raising them like watching them run (stampede) across the pasture to greet me; or when they pour out of the chicken tractor and surround me tickling my legs with all of their feathers as they pack in around me. As you can probably tell, my children are grown so I don't get that kind of attention anymore.

 

[JessicaThistle]

Jessica, you have done very well. How long did it take y'all to do the nine? Yes, keep the thread going. It's one of my favorites. I think that the 25 CX's I was going to get (promised from 2 different sources) are not going to materialize. So I'll be ordering from a hatchery.

Thank you Linda. I really appreciate you reading my thread and all the advice and encouragement you have offered. We will certainly need to keep up the encouragement for PlaidBattleAx.

It took us 2 hours to do the nine, that includes set up and clean up. I don't know if we made good time or not but we seemed to be moving along well.

Yes, hurry up and get those chicks ordered Linda so we can encourage you. Plus the final result is delish!! I cooked my rested chicken and it was amazing. I also for the first time ever, cooked the heart, liver and gizzard for my husband and he loved it. Good thing I threw all that stuff into a zippy bag in the freezer because he is going to want more of that. I'm not a fan but good to know that I can cook it!

 

[PlaidBattleAxe]

Thank you so much for the advice and info. I really appreciate it, and your willingness to answer all my questions. I'm finding this to be a good learning experience. I'm still nervous, especially since 4 have what looks like the start of pasty butt. I've taken the sugar water out of their arena (it's been 24 hours) and I thought I had probiotic in the house for them, but I do not. I'll go to TS in the morning and get some and put it in their water, as well as some yogurt. I made them egg and they weren't too crazy about it, but they are nuts over the chick crumbles. I'll just mix some of their crumbles in with the yogurt and see how that goes. I cleaned their raw looking bums and put some vasoline on them.

I've been so consumed with my chick saga that I didn't see until today that you said you've got your second batch of babies! And 60 of them! Good luck with your venture, and thank you for such a thorough thread---I don't think I would've had the courage to acquire this batch of babies without having read about your experience first. I would've waited till spring, and who knows what would've rolled around by that point. So again, thanks!!

 

[JessicaThistle]

Thank you so much for the advice and info. I really appreciate it, and your willingness to answer all my questions. I'm finding this to be a good learning experience. I'm still nervous, especially since 4 have what looks like the start of pasty butt. I've taken the sugar water out of their arena (it's been 24 hours) and I thought I had probiotic in the house for them, but I do not. I'll go to TS in the morning and get some and put it in their water, as well as some yogurt. I made them egg and they weren't too crazy about it, but they are nuts over the chick crumbles. I'll just mix some of their crumbles in with the yogurt and see how that goes. I cleaned their raw looking bums and put some vasoline on them.

I've been so consumed with my chick saga that I didn't see until today that you said you've got your second batch of babies! And 60 of them! Good luck with your venture, and thank you for such a thorough thread---I don't think I would've had the courage to acquire this batch of babies without having read about your experience first. I would've waited till spring, and who knows what would've rolled around by that point. So again, thanks!!

You are very welcome for the advice. That is most certainly why I did this thread. I think threads from very experienced people are wonderful, but sometime learning together as newbies can be even more valuable!

Mine aren't thrilled with the eggs either. Mix them in with the crumble. Yogurt is great idea too. I forgot about that. I've mixed eggs, crumble and yogurt all together before and they ate it fine. I add apple cider vinegar to their water too. I don't know if it really helps with the pasty butt or not (many on here swear by it), but I haven't had a pasty butt problem, so worth a try!

Yep, I got my second batch but only 30. I have 18 CX in the tractor still growing out, 8 laying hens, 1 Cochin Roo, and 3 silkies. My little Roo is so excited that he can finally see all these lovely ladies that he is out of control of himself. He is driving me and my hens crazy. I'm not sure how long he will stick around.

We have had a lot of friends say they want to buy chickens from us and I've had a couple of people that raise beef say they would do a beef for chickens trade. My husband thinks he wants to build at least one more chicken tractor over the winter so we can raise more. I'm sure the day will come that I will have 60 CX. They don't call me the crazy chicken lady for nothing.

 

[PlaidBattleAxe]

Good suggestion about mixing all 3 together---the crumble, yogurt, egg. I'll do that tomorrow. It's a bummer because the nearest TS is a 45 minute drive from my house, and a grocery store that carries ACV with the mother in it (I like Annie Braggs) or plain organic yogurt is about 30 minutes away. DH calls me his "poultrygeist" (instead of poltergeist) because I'm always ambushing him with chicken-this and chicken-that.

My sister wants to collaborate our efforts this spring. She and her DH will purchase birds and feed and DH and I will raise them. It'll cut down our bird:cost ratio and it'll help my sister's family to eat healthy organic ethically raised meat.
A beef and chicken swap sounds nice. Clean meat both ways and an increase on variety. It's nice to have friends of that mindset and resource!

 

[PlaidBattleAxe]

And yes, I agree about learning together as newbies! Normally I google everything, but it is so nice to have a human being who is actively pursuing the same result as myself, to talk to.

 

[LindaB220]

Good suggestion about mixing all 3 together---the crumble, yogurt, egg. I'll do that tomorrow. It's a bummer because the nearest TS is a 45 minute drive from my house, and a grocery store that carries ACV with the mother in it (I like Annie Braggs) or plain organic yogurt is about 30 minutes away. DH calls me his "poultrygeist" (instead of poltergeist) because I'm always ambushing him with chicken-this and chicken-that.

My sister wants to collaborate our efforts this spring. She and her DH will purchase birds and feed and DH and I will raise them. It'll cut down our bird:cost ratio and it'll help my sister's family to eat healthy organic ethically raised meat.
A beef and chicken swap sounds nice. Clean meat both ways and an increase on variety. It's nice to have friends of that mindset and resource!

Honey, that sounds like a bargain from heaven. I don't have anybody that is remotely interested in chickens. I will be individually processing mine. That's why I'm going to take my time and do it right. The first birds I ordered are layers and several had pasty butt. Beekissed, my mentor, said it was because I let them get too hot in the brooder. I had trouble regulating the temp. Good luck with your hatch. I have 12 Silver Grey Dorking eggs coming on the 25th. I'm really happy about that. I lucked into these. Two separate lines from Horstman and Urch. They are pretty much the best. The lady selling them lives in AR and I'm in NW La. I've got to have more coops.

 

[JessicaThistle]

@ Plaid - I also don't have a local grocery store. It closed a year ago because they were 4% below where they wanted to be in profits. I was there daily and really relied on them! I have to drive 15 miles one way or 20 the other to go to a store now that has variety. IRRITATING!

My first bottle of ACV was just Heinz from the local "mart" because it was all I could get here. I honestly can't tell any difference. Flexibility is key when you live rurally.

Do you have a convenience store that has one serving plain yogurt? Anything is better than nothing. I don't have TS here but can you find a local feed store? My local feed store actually has waaayyy better prices than the bigger commercial feed store in my area. I just bought feeders and waterers for like $10 to $15 less at my local feed store over nationwide store. I couldn't believe that I hadn't bothered to look there before.

As Linda says. I would definitely go with anything beekissed recommends regarding brooder temp causing pasty butt. Aoxa and Beekissed are the reason I decided to raise Cornish X. I was scared to death until I saw their videos and pics of their lovely Cornish X running around. They were adorable and I knew that was what I wanted for my birds. Those two really inspired me and gave me hope that I could do this despite all of the bad news regarding these birds. I am so happy that I made this choice! I doubt Beekissed or Aoxa are reading my thread but they really are my inspiration and I send them much thanks! I egwill forever defend the raising and the free ranging of CX properly with those two!

Plaid- I admit sometimes I really hate googling stuff. There is just way too much info from way too many sides and I seldom make much sense of it. I way prefer a real person to help me out. You can't even imagine how touching it is to me that I have inspired you. I will always be here to offer advice if I can as I am going through the same thing. I LOVE that you have family wanting to get in on this. That is wonderful and will be so awesome for providing both of your families some lovely healthy meat and a healthy experience raising them. I imagine in NY that may be harder to come by affordably as it is here in the west.

Linda - I wish I lived closer to you. I can just tell you are an awesome lady and I would want to be your chicken raising buddy. I would LOVE to be standing right next to you watching for those eggs to hatch!!

Oh, and on edit. My hubby and have decided on a second coop for my 3 Silkies and Cochin Roo rather than trying to push them in with my laying hens. Yay!!! On monday, I pick up the materials!!!