First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[LindaB220]

I'm high altitude, so was thinking rangers?? That the high altitude is hard on cornish x? I'm wanting to process before Halloween time, as that is crop-tober for me and a busy time!!

@ plaid I know your feeling. My bf has all these tools, I have projects but being sick in the hospital 3.5 years (& YES gluten is in EVERYTHING! ) and just celebrated over 1 year without a hospital stay!! & had to relearn how to cook/bake/read labels, and came to the conclusion I will be even better if I really control my food sources.

This is for my very life and to not just survive, but to thrive and be happy and know where my food came from. That comes with raising my food. Now though, I have learned many tricks and am back up in my culinary standing lol, and my best friends are executive chefs at top restaurants and always go gaga for my stuff. My chocolate cake is thing of beauty of legend.

I'm really hoping I can find meaties. Otherwise I will snatch up the dominiques for $12 each ready for processing, but then I feel like I'm missing out on the whole point. Gotta fill my frrezers.

Hey Double Kindness, glad you are feeling better. Natural food is the best. I battle with it because I don't have any processed chickens or a freezer.

But I plan on doing it this year. You will be so disappointed if you go for the dominiques. Small and not fleshy CX's are the way to go and so easy to raise if you do it right. Make them get out of the coop or wherever you have them and roam around. They will love being outside unless you have given them all they want to eat with no boundaries. They are like a toddler and will eat and eat. Feed them 2 or 3 times a day whatever they can eat in 10 min or so. I promise you that bowl will be empty. I won't have a big run but will give them some running room. Food at one end and water at the other. Off the ground so they have to stand up to eat and drink. Check out the fermenting feed for CX's or meat birds threads. Very informative. Hang in there.

 

[Double Kindness]

Helps if I could complete a thoughg fully, I have stuff to build stuff, but not very strong. My bf beats up cars for a living, sometimes they fight back! So I understand he's tired etc, but I'm doing this for his health too. He eats a chipotle burrito every weekday for lunch. Ugh.

A few times a month friends come up and they just cleared a bunch of trees etc which opens up a lot of possibilities. The raised garden bed could easily be built up as tall as me with a dog run fencing and hardware cloth, they can get it ready for my spring garden planting. A big maple was in the way of that area ever getting sunshine. It's next to my composting pit, which is quite deep. Convenient for getting the poop situation taken care of. But then they will be in linesight of my layer flock.

I'm trying to develop another part of my property for growing stuff also. Which got me thinking rotational grows to get my outdoor garden areas ready, or if I'm good about it, a side by side experiment with cornish x vs rangers if I find them locally? If not, was thinking fry pan special from one of the bigger hatcheries?

Locally on Craigslist there's a listing for Dominique already grown out ready to process for $12 each.. My bf kinda nixed that idea too. Idk how they would dress out?

Do I need to get chick grit as well as medicated chick starter?

I think I'm set. There's a coop locally I can get to transition them from brooder box to the "finishing coop/run" area. And another coop that's a tractor type thing, I was thinking of putting on the area that is needing more soil etc compost to get ready to plant in springtime. It's fenced, but would need reinforcing with hardware cloth to keep out rabbit and squirrel.

Not pimp like my current coop, or the one I plan for the stuff in my friends incubator, plus trying my hand at hatching. Cuz I just really want to make a silkie cemani..and add the bkue and maroon eggs from french maran & cream legbar. Chicken math.

 

[katbriar]

Double Kindness - I live at 7,500 ft elevation and had good luck with something several of the hatcheries call "slow growing" cornish x. They are built like cornish x with the heavy breast meat but they take a little longer (a few weeks) to grow to butcher size. That lets their system keep up body growth and so they are much less likely to develop ascites. They are also kess likely to have the heart and leg problems.

I butchered my males at 12 weeks and females at 16. Based on the fat the girls had I should have done them at 14 weeks. Weights were 3.5 to 4 pounds.

I also fed them ff from the start.

I ordered mine from Privett hatchery in NM but when I checked a couple of weeks ago they weren't available. I think Stromburg's carries them. Murray McMurry has a cornish x the call (I think) a roaster which say it's slower growing. I don't know where else they might be available.

I was very happy with the health of my birds and the meat they made for the freezer. And they were faster and with more white meat than the rangers.

 

[JessicaThistle]

After my chickens got a good several days rest, I finished the packaging and weighing of my birds. From the lovely 28 chickens I got 147 pounds of meat, not including offal. This brought my per pound cost to raise up batch #1 to $1.76 per pound. I only added expenses related to their care such as feed, bedding, vitamins and processing items such as ice and bags. I did not count costs for chicken tractor, feeders, knives, you know the stuff that will be in use with additional batches.

My smallest bird was 4 pounds and my biggest must have been part-turkey at 7.5. HaHa! Man did I struggle to bag that guy up!

On our trial processing week, I packaged them in vacuum bags with my sealer. It took forever!!

So we bought shrink bags from http://www.nadyaspoultry.com/ They cut my time in half and I packaged twice as many birds. They worked great and cost less than the vacuum sealer bags.

All in all, I am quite pleased with the results from this batch. I wish that I hadn't lost 3 chicks as that could have added an additional 15 pounds to the mix. But I won't beat myself up over it as this was the first batch and an amazing learning experience!!

Fried chicken and mashed potatoes tonight!

 

[Double Kindness]

Great great information! ! Another local byc member is going to look at big r and I'm going to look at wardel's tomorrow for meaties.

I'm looking for cornish x or/& rangers &/bresse. The bresse I would like to use as my sustainable meaties, and wait intil their chicks are born in the spring for my spring/slower growing meat birds.

Jessica- awesome job!

Katbriar- thanks and also awesome job!!

Lindab- I'm with ya!!

 

[PlaidBattleAxe]

Nothing yet. I just have regular chickens. White rock, Golden Comets etc. until Sept. Don't forget the grit. Construction sand will do then small grit. You can add some to your bucket. They grow so fast that after the first couple of weeks on starter I'd add BOSS and scratch. Azomite rock dust adds over 70 something trace minerals. Great for the garden and chicks. 2-3 T per 5 gallon bucket. I fill mine 3/4 way full. I'm in the south so I get rice bran 12% protein. Just keep adding feed to 2 gallons water and stir until tick oatmeal. Cover with a towel or lid loosely and stir daily for 4 days. It will sometimes have a white layer on top. That's the good stuff. Stir it in daily. I like to use scratch because it has seeds, oats, milo and cracket corn. Some has wheat. But adding 2 scoops of starter, 2 scoops of scratch, 1/2 scoop BOSS and sometimes 1 scoop of Gamebird feed. It's 26% and bumps up the protein that it looses in the scratch and rice bran. I'd love to add oats to it , about 20% of the mix, but it takes days and days to soften up enough to eat. I ferment it separately in just water and acv. Adding water for 5 days as it soaks up. I made a bunch 25# of triple washed oats and it pretty much doubled or tripled. It stinks but the chickens like it and it's good for them. If your mix molds, don't dump it, just hollar.

My method is exactly like tikktocs.

Lots of good info, grazie! I'm ashamed to say that the pong emanating from my 1st attempt at FF with the mold scared me and I dumped/buried it in the yard! I won't be such a chicken liver this time around haha. I can get oats/grains from a farm about an hour away but their prices make it worth the drive! I think I'm going to do a basic chick feed starter batch and then do a separate bucket with all the goodies in it for my big birds. Good idea with the scratch, btw.. I hadn't even thought of it!

After my chickens got a good several days rest, I finished the packaging and weighing of my birds. From the lovely 28 chickens I got 147 pounds of meat, not including offal. This brought my per pound cost to raise up batch #1 to $1.76 per pound. I only added expenses related to their care such as feed, bedding, vitamins and processing items such as ice and bags. I did not count costs for chicken tractor, feeders, knives, you know the stuff that will be in use with additional batches.

My smallest bird was 4 pounds and my biggest must have been part-turkey at 7.5. HaHa! Man did I struggle to bag that guy up!

On our trial processing week, I packaged them in vacuum bags with my sealer. It took forever!!

So we bought shrink bags from http://www.nadyaspoultry.com/ They cut my time in half and I packaged twice as many birds. They worked great and cost less than the vacuum sealer bags.

All in all, I am quite pleased with the results from this batch. I wish that I hadn't lost 3 chicks as that could have added an additional 15 pounds to the mix. But I won't beat myself up over it as this was the first batch and an amazing learning experience!!

Fried chicken and mashed potatoes tonight!

Awesome!! That was a big bird! I'm glad you posted the shrink bags link. I've been curious about them, and I know I've got a lot of time until I'll need them, but it doesn't hurt to start prepping now methinks.

Great great information! ! Another local byc member is going to look at big r and I'm going to look at wardel's tomorrow for meaties.

I'm looking for cornish x or/& rangers &/bresse. The bresse I would like to use as my sustainable meaties, and wait intil their chicks are born in the spring for my spring/slower growing meat birds.

Jessica- awesome job!

Katbriar- thanks and also awesome job!!

Lindab- I'm with ya!!

Oooh! Excited for you and your chicken acquiring. Hope you made out!




So, I've been at work these past two days (which is why I haven't been on this site... its more addicting than facebook ever was back when I did have it). I wrote down DETAILED instructions for DH to follow in taking care of my CX chicks. I also got up early to feed them, change their water, add more bedding as needed with the deep litter method. I leave the house at 5am. Get home at 7pm. My birds yesterday didn't eat from the am (445/5am) when I fed them, until I got home. Water dispenser (x2 of them) were bone dry. No food. I explained the importance of checking on them. Today. Same thing. I'm irritated. I honestly feel alone with this endeavor. My sister will help next year. But I'm in it completely alone this year (with the exception of this thread) until butchering time when DH will help me. Sorry. I had to vent, but I'm really stewed about this.

Here is a question, with the pine shavings, do your chicks sneeze? I've got the kind TS carries, and they are kiln dried and screened for dust. SO according to the package, they should be resistant to mold and dust free. My chicks have started sneezing since I put them in the new brooder/pen two days ago. Now a lot of them are sneezing. Not all the time, but enough for me to be concerned. I put more bedding in this morning and then I started sneezing and my nose ran for two hours after. I thought maybe it was a bad bag of bedding---so I got rid of it, and opened a new one. I didn't scoop out their pen and replace the bedding, but I added bedding from the new bag on top, and they scratch it all up together. If this is not typical (this is their third day with shavings, since I'd abandoned it upon their 1st day and used paper towel), I'll change it all out for stuff from the new bag. My guess is it's just a baby critter thing, a new thing being introduced into their environment. They're still eating like crazy and drinking and growing and showing NO signs of distress other than some sneezing.

Okay, and I feel the need to redeem myself a little, but it'll probably just make me feel more silly----it wasn't poop on their bellies!!! I thought it was (upon picking up the chicks a few days ago to handle them), that had matted their little belly fluff together (not brown part of the poo, but the wetness from the poo). Ready for this? It was their pin feathers growing in

. I HONESTLY thought it was dirty baby chicks (like I said, it looked like they had hair gel in), but it was just natural feather growth. Now they DO poop on each other when they are laying in the sleep pile, but it doesn't stay on them, it just falls off. I've never handled/seen baby chicks before so I had no clue that it was supposed to do that on their bellies/bodies. I can see the same pattern happening all over them as their feathers change, and I feel really silly but a whooooooole lot less of a bad chick mama. It was totally time for them to get out of the pool, it wasn't healthy, and I should've seen that sooner, but I am just very glad to find that I hadn't somehow neglected them to get crusted poo bellies.

Lastly (see? This is what happens when I go for more than one day off this site lol): I'm building a small hoop coop for them outside! I'm so excited. It'll be my meatie hoop coop and I'll be able to use it again for the next batch, in the spring. It'll pave the way for me making a large scale hoop-coop house for my to-be-expanded flock of layers in the spring too. I've got the construction green light from DH. I'm going to TS tomorrow to buy the largest waterer and feeder to put in the pen with them now. Then I don't have to rely on DH to replace water/food. Id've gone today but I got out of work late and I will have to make the trip in the morning. En route home, I will be going to the hardware to scope out and score some supplies.

 

[Betsy57]

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.

They get pasty butt also if you feed them before you let them have water. Since I've just given them water a few hours before food, I've never had a problem with that. I will be getting my first batch of meat birds this week so appreciate all the input on this post. I will put them in the basement bathroom first (in a plastic tub) and then move them outside to a small coop (like a dog house) and let them run in the grass. Hopefully I'll have good results too. A friend said his never moved but just ate and pooped. I hope mine move around and enjoy the grass/bugs.

 

[Betsy57]

I'm so glad I stumbled across this thread!

I was thinking meaties in the spring. Am I too late to get oh 30-40 meaties? Cx? Rangers? I have my layer flock.

I'm getting in a 1/2 of an organic grass fed beef into the butchers this week or so. I'm stocking up my freezers.


All grass fed angus beef will get old. Eggs will get old eating day in & out. I think I must add meaties.

I'm near denver, co. I'm going to the feed store this weekend, maybe they will have some cornish x? How much should chicks cost?

After reading this thread I'm inspired. I can rent a plucker/scalder for $50 a day. If I had say 5 ppl, how long to process 30-40 meat chickens? I have a garage/ storage empty but for a bale of straw for my current flock.

I'm gonna do it!! I'm getting a brooder box ready for some cemanis, but they're going into my laying flock, these will be food to get me & my family through the winter/early spring. I will have to get another deep freezer, as mine will be filled with beef.

I'm interested in raw milk,, a2a2 raw milk, can it be frozen for storage?

I'm really trying my hand at sustainable living, biodynamic living, organic, local.. after spending 3.5 years living in a, hospital every other week for a week, was not living. A change in diet changed all that (celiac).

I'm getting my first 5lb bag of chick starter feed fri. Chicken swap/feed store sat/sun... surely I can find a decent amount of chicks still? Not more layers. And when it comes time to process them, I will be grateful for their lives.

locally someone is selling leftover meaties for $12 each, ready to process. Is that maybe a better place for me to start? Get a dozen birds, raise them a week and process them?

Your experiences are very valuable for me to learn from. Thanks!!

I buy raw milk and freeze it. It is fine

 

[Betsy57]

I pick up our 30 Cornish Cross tomorrow. Brooder is ready! I wonder how ready I am!

I will post pics her and share my experience along the way to help any other people that can learn from my experience.

How many hours did you have light on for them?

 

[JessicaThistle]

How many hours did you have light on for them?

When I first got this batch, it was in the 50s during the day and dipping into the 30s at night. I left the light on pretty much non-stop for the first two weeks. During week 2 it heated up some and once the nights were dipping to the 50s, I started turning it off during the day and on at night. When I saw they weren't huddled under it, I just left it off totally.

With the batch I currently have, they are two weeks old tomorrow. I left the light on all day until I realized that our temps were 90 plus and they were not really peppy. I shut the light off totally when they turned one week old and they have come to life. Our temps came down some into the 70s during the day and we have a 50 degree night but even at a week old, they snuggled and were way happier than having a heat lamp.

I would keep the heat lamp on for at least the first 3 days 24/7. I suggest that you just monitor your temp where the brooder is and their activity level. If it is hot and they are laying around panting, shut it off. If they are active and running around, they are happy. If they are all snuggled in a chick pile, they are cold.