First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[KCMOLisa]

Sorry you had to cull one early, Betsy, but it definitely sounds like something was going wrong with her. I wonder what other breed the hatchery sent you. It sounds like from her size that maybe she wasn't even one of the Cornish Cross.

I am like you, I wouldn't want to do multiple sessions. That's another reason I like the Cornish Cross. They seem to grow at around the same rate and you just have to have one marathon processing day and you're done with it. I was surprised at how mine were all so similar. All my females were within 2 or 3 ounces of each other and all the roos were within 2 or 3 ounces of each other. I had one runt that was a pound less than everyone else, but he was the only exception. My brother and I broke it up into two days back to back, 11 the first day and then 13 the next day. I think if we have a plucker and a good table set-up, next time we can easily do a batch of 25 in a day.

 

[Betsy57]

Sorry you had to cull one early, Betsy, but it definitely sounds like something was going wrong with her. I wonder what other breed the hatchery sent you. It sounds like from her size that maybe she wasn't even one of the Cornish Cross.

I am like you, I wouldn't want to do multiple sessions. That's another reason I like the Cornish Cross. They seem to grow at around the same rate and you just have to have one marathon processing day and you're done with it. I was surprised at how mine were all so similar. All my females were within 2 or 3 ounces of each other and all the roos were within 2 or 3 ounces of each other. I had one runt that was a pound less than everyone else, but he was the only exception. My brother and I broke it up into two days back to back, 11 the first day and then 13 the next day. I think if we have a plucker and a good table set-up, next time we can easily do a batch of 25 in a day.

You got yours from McMurray Hatchery didn't you? I did.

 

[KCMOLisa]

I got mine from Cackle. I live about 2 hours from them, so I went and picked them up.

 

[Betsy57]

I got mine from Cackle. I live about 2 hours from them, so I went and picked them up.

Okay. I got mine from McMurray. I was wrong in the previous post. First time getting birds from McMurray. I usually go with Cackle too since they're the closest hatchery for me but did try Meyer in Ohio once and then McMurray in Iowa. I wish I had a closer hatchery, I'd go get my birds too. I've always had good "luck" with Cackle. Pleased with McMurray and the first time I bought from Meyer, I had 8 out of 28 die. I was devastated. The next time, lost none.

 

[holm25]

I was just out watering our milk cow and calf and the turkeys started screaming. So I looked and there was a kawk trying to get chickens. Our chickens are to smart for that hawk they all his the second they heard the turkeys.

 

[CoHomestead]

My girls will be 6 weeks on Monday and so far so good. They are all roughly the same size. Not much variance in them. We're planning to butcher between 8-9 weeks. Not looking forward to the cold lol. Second batch should go Christmas week. I think I will do straight run in the spring just to see how it compares.

 

[Betsy57]

My girls will be 6 weeks on Monday and so far so good. They are all roughly the same size. Not much variance in them. We're planning to butcher between 8-9 weeks. Not looking forward to the cold lol. Second batch should go Christmas week. I think I will do straight run in the spring just to see how it compares.

What do you have now? All male or female?

 

[CoHomestead]

All female in both batches. I'm curious to see the boys would be bigger. Here is batch one from this morning.

 

[Betsy57]

All female in both batches. I'm curious to see the boys would be bigger. Here is batch one from this morning.

Mine will be 6 weeks Monday also. They weigh between 2 lbs and 3.5 lbs. The bigger ones are Cornish x and the smaller ones are Cornish roasters. Got them from McMurray Hatchery, BBQ Special. They seem to be growing slowly compared to others' posts.

 

[CoHomestead]

I'd wondered if the cornish roaster would be much slower since the website said they need another two weeks. I figured the extra feed for two weeks would negate the savings of the bbq or fryer specials they had so I went with cornish cross. I'm curious to see if your roasters pack on more weight towards the end.