First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[JessicaThistle]

This batch of Cornish X are exploring way farther than the last one! This pic is taken from my back step. The last batch never went past the black trailer that you see the lawn mower on on the other side of the white trailer. Do you see the two white feather bundles here between the white sprint car wing and the overturned blue plastic tub? Several are on the other side of the hens coop too and one is there at the base of the big white trailers door. They chased me here and began to check things out!

A couple of these little stinkers decided to squeeze through the fence into the neighbor's yard today as well! Luckily my neighbors are AWESOME and would just send them back over the fence. Love these little guys!

 

[KCMOLisa]

It's awesome that you are both letting them free range! I have the room, but I am so nervous about just letting them loose when they're bigger. We have tons of possums, raccoons, foxes, snakes, hawks and owls around here. I might have to just suck it up and try it. I am building an 8x8 tractor because I found a lot of people were using that size for 25 birds. Now that I'm looking at it and looking at them, it is looking way too small if they all make it to full size.

Jessica: I think I'm going to steal your idea and feed them smaller amounts multiple times a day. I work from home so that won't be a problem. I was using puppy pads for the first few days and I finally uncovered the pine shavings today, and they all went to town scratching and pecking. It was so funny to see. I definitely want to keep them active!

 

[JessicaThistle]

It's awesome that you are both letting them free range! I have the room, but I am so nervous about just letting them loose when they're bigger. We have tons of possums, raccoons, foxes, snakes, hawks and owls around here. I might have to just suck it up and try it. I am building an 8x8 tractor because I found a lot of people were using that size for 25 birds. Now that I'm looking at it and looking at them, it is looking way too small if they all make it to full size.

Jessica: I think I'm going to steal your idea and feed them smaller amounts multiple times a day. I work from home so that won't be a problem. I was using puppy pads for the first few days and I finally uncovered the pine shavings today, and they all went to town scratching and pecking. It was so funny to see. I definitely want to keep them active!

You must open up that tractor and let those those guys out! If you can only do it when you are home to keep an eye out, that is ok too. I work from home as well which is why I worked the schedule the way I did. I am here to do it and it is very doable. Plus I just want to hang out with these guys! They are so good at reducing stress!

My tractor is about 10 X a little less than 6. So we are fairly close in square footage. I make up for the space with the free ranging. I do 30 at a time and now have 26. You will notice as they grow that they fill up that square footage. If you let them out during the day you will feel so much better about the space they have.

Love these guys! Pet them! You will find they are awesome little loving, social and entertaining birds. I thought that watching a cornish x run to me was funny but watching one running away is just as funny. Mine run to me and surround me to greet me and chase me when I walk away. They are awesome! I am so sad that chicken producers raise them to be frankenbirds and some people trying to raise them have had the same experience. These are awesome chickens that are seriously food driven, but if you encourage them to fend for themselves a little bit, they most certainly will.

For example, today we got up late because of a race last night. I only fed them 3 serving of feed today. I let them out to free range around 11 am. I fed them at 9 am and again at about 2 pm. Since they were open to free range they did their thing all day. When a group of them ran up to me around 6 pm, I felt their crops and they were stuffed! I don't know what they were munching on but they were stuffed and happy!

 

[duluthralphie]

I agree "Open up that tractor, Mr. Gorbachav!!!" said in my best Ronald Reagan voice...


What I did when I started Free ranging my CX's was put 2x4's under the corners so the chicks could get out and back again, if they felt threatened. It also allowed me to feed the chicks and not let the chickens into the food.


I should mention if I did not, I do not feed them in a pan or feeder, I throw the feed on the ground so they have to scratch for it... I know I waste some, but it is not as much as you would think.

Let them go free and you will love the way they act, they are so cute....


I also feed 18% protein instead of the higher stuff Tyson and Golden plum feed theirs, I want mine to grow slower..

 

[KCMOLisa]

Quote:

I'm going to! I need to just stop worrying so much about them. I have never had chickens of any kind and I think I have read way too many horror stories about Cornish X, so every morning I'm holding my breath when I open the door to the brooder and check on them. They are all looking great, though. They gave me 26 and I lost one the first morning (not sure what happened), but the other 25 are all alert and running around like crazy. I've been giving them Nutrena Meatbird food, which is 22% protein, I think.

Now I just need the weather to cooperate with me so they can go out on the grass! It was 95 when I picked them up on Thursday and last night it got down close to the 40s!

 

[JessicaThistle]

I'm going to! I need to just stop worrying so much about them. I have never had chickens of any kind and I think I have read way too many horror stories about Cornish X, so every morning I'm holding my breath when I open the door to the brooder and check on them. They are all looking great, though. They gave me 26 and I lost one the first morning (not sure what happened), but the other 25 are all alert and running around like crazy. I've been giving them Nutrena Meatbird food, which is 22% protein, I think.

Now I just need the weather to cooperate with me so they can go out on the grass! It was 95 when I picked them up on Thursday and last night it got down close to the 40s!

The majority of the horror stories are due to the person raising them like Tyson instead of like a backyard farmer. Then they blame it on the bird instead of accept responsibility for their own mistakes. Most of us wouldn't raised our laying hens like that. Why would we do it with the meat chicks?

I am also feeding the Nutrena Meatbird food. I have no complaints except for that it only comes in 40 pound bag here. I guess the 10 lbs less makes the bag easier for me to hoist from car to shop though.

Our weather has been miserably hot as well. We don't have much grass to speak of but the chickens don't seem to care. Once your birds have all of their feathers in the next week or so, the 40 degree temp won't bother them. Remember that there is also 25 of them and they are really good at snuggling and keeping warm.

 

[duluthralphie]

. Most of us wouldn't raised our laying hens like that. Why would we do it with the meat chicks?

I wonder how many problems you would have with egg layers if you gave them all the food they can eat and lock them in a small pen for 8 weeks?

I bet they would grow faster but,....

 

[JessicaThistle]

They'd probably do nothing but lie around in their poo when they weren't pecking at each other. They'd most likely just get fat and have health problems. That's just a guess though.

 

[LindaB220]

They'd probably do nothing but lie around in their poo when they weren't pecking at each other. They'd most likely just get fat and have health problems. That's just a guess though.

No, I have a small coop 7.5' x 12'. Big enough for 25 chickens but I only have 15. They aren't like CX's and will eat a good amount but not overeat. Of course I don't have unlimited food out. I feed 2x daily fermented feed and they roam the coop and fly and play. And with fermented feed I don't have the problem of them laying in their poop. No poop. It just disintegrates into the deep litter.

 

[1zooman12]

Really sorry about that. Might be a premature case of a condition called, Failure to Thrive which generally develops over a much longer period of time. With respect to our genetic makeup, no matter how defined and refined I am opined that chickens like all creatures great and small are subject to a number of genes of inferiority. Many of us (vertebrates) carry a genetic load of what are known as lethal genes which are often recessive to their counterparts at the locus involved. It is when these pair up that the trouble becomes apparent; too apparent! Let's hear it for heterosis!
Stay well,
Neal, the Zooman