First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[JessicaThistle]

Ralph: Sunny's birthday is August 4th. Are you serious that you never heard of them broomstick method?f

Linda: I know of the woman on youtube that you speak. She is a bad a$%!! When I saw her video, my chin hit the floor and I couldn't pick it up until 10 minutes after the video was over! I was so sure that I could do the deed the same way after she did it. But alas, I had to cull two sick 3 week old chicks and tried to do it that way. I was a basket case and had to abort the mission and make a small cone. I just couldn't be in that much contact with the bird. By the way, your story made me laugh!

Welcome to the thread Fryremelody!!

 

[Fyremelody]

Thanks for the welcome!

Did I follow along correctly -- you're waiting on your CornishX, Sunny, to lay?

These three are my holdover CornishXs. We had six, but Lucky had heart issues, Lilly the rooster (believed a hen until weeks before he passed) took a misstep and couldn't walk and the vet put him down, and Lucy, was dead in the house one morning after a perfectly normal shut-in the night before.

We now have Lola, Lou Lou, and Lori. They were born July 13th and I've yet to see an egg out of them Lilly was well over 15 pounds and just passed about 10 days ago. Just before Thanksgiving. I too am waiting on eggs. LOL. Though as far as fertility goes... the 'extra" rooster we picked up for our planned breeding project scares the girls--he's never touched them and they refused to be near him. The roo that wasn't extra for the project they adored, but he had his own set of health issues and I had to teach him how to walk again. He's inside for the winter and won't be covering any girls. So, not only am I hoping for some eggs, but I'm hoping everyone makes it to spring. LOL.

Pic was taken around the time Lilly broke down, so a couple weeks ago--ish.

 

[duluthralphie]

Jessica, I have never heard of the broomstick method. When I read what it was my eyes actually popped out like the emoticon and I thought " NO WAY, these people are screwing with me"

I would never use that method myself, mainly because anytime we have a broomstick around here my wife takes it for a flight.


I have used the "hunters method" to finish off birds and beings we are being gross here, it works well to breast and leg a bird fast. The killing method is to simply place the birds head between your fingers and snap your wrist quickly and the head comes off.

The stand on the wings and pull the feet and the breast are skun ( spell check does not like the past tense of skinned we use up here) Then you can just peel the rest of the skin off the legs and thighs.


FRYEMELODY I like your birds. How did you raise your CX's? Did you severely restrict food intake and/or free range them?

The troubles you described are similar to the ones I had in my first batch. I worry all the time about mine dying from some genetic disease or condition. Yours are two weeks older than mine. Mine were "born" on July 29th.

I am not looking for eggs yet. The days are too short, it is too cold here and they are just so young and do not know the facts of life, except the one was raped by one of my roosters that is serving a sentence in freezer prison for his crime.

I am failing in my duties as a CX caretaker and have not named any of them other than the rooster, Bert.

 

[mountain mom]

Ralph- Up to your usual antics I see! Your eggs are beautiful! And hopefully your wife doesn't read over your shoulder anytime soon...

We do not sell our eggs (I know I would try to charge waaaayyy too much because, of course, my eggs are the best you have ever had . But, when we had eggs coming out our ears, we lovingly gave a dozen here or there to the neighbors or friends. I consider it my good deed for the year. Ha, not really... but kind of. Eggs are a prized possession around here.

Was the tom making all the racket the same one that attacked you? Sounds like he is quite the ornery teenager!

I am surprised your frog moms don't have names yet! I absolutely love naming animals.

I have never heard of the broomstick method either... not that I am versed in all methods of culling, but never heard of it. If it had popped up on my first google search as the main method to cull, I would NEVER have gone forward with meat birds. It is horrifying.
Not that chopping off heads or slitting arteries is so much better, but it is. It is better in my mind.

Linda and Jessica- Your stories cracked me up! Sounds like some vodka would certainly have been in order after all that!

Fyremelody- I am with Ralph. Did you free range them and limit food? Your gals are so pretty!

I never knew I would love the way a white chicken looked. I was totally against getting just an ordinary looking chicken of any sort. Yes, chicken snobbery at its best. But my white Dixie Rainbow started melting my snobby heart... and the CX finished it off! Pearl is quickly becoming a favorite too She is so funny, she believes she belongs in the house. She sits by the door on the porch. All day. She leaves to scratch in the yard, sit in the sun and take dust baths, then comes right back. Guess pampering her with the luxury bath and hair dryer was a bad idea!

 

[LindaB220]

Ralph: Sunny's birthday is August 4th. Are you serious that you never heard of them broomstick method?f

Linda: I know of the woman on youtube that you speak. She is a bad a$%!! When I saw her video, my chin hit the floor and I couldn't pick it up until 10 minutes after the video was over! I was so sure that I could do the deed the same way after she did it. But alas, I had to cull two sick 3 week old chicks and tried to do it that way. I was a basket case and had to abort the mission and make a small cone. I just couldn't be in that much contact with the bird. By the way, your story made me laugh!

Welcome to the thread Fryremelody!!

Jessica and Ralphie, I knew you wouldn't let me down. I put this on a couple of other sights and they didn't get the humor at all. It was funny!!! They told me to not despair and try another way yada yada. I wanted them to laugh. I'm sore as he// after the fall, but I'm feeling really good today. Got rid of that greedy gobble gut and leaves the 8 hens with a better place. Little do they know that a real Man is coming to visit them. They have just about shut down for winter but the eggs have huge yolks and are great. When they do another cull in March at the hatchery I'm going to get about 8 more.
And you know I may hatch some White Rocks over them and get big chicks.

 

[LindaB220]

Ralph- Up to your usual antics I see! Your eggs are beautiful! And hopefully your wife doesn't read over your shoulder anytime soon...

We do not sell our eggs (I know I would try to charge waaaayyy too much because, of course, my eggs are the best you have ever had . But, when we had eggs coming out our ears, we lovingly gave a dozen here or there to the neighbors or friends. I consider it my good deed for the year. Ha, not really... but kind of. Eggs are a prized possession around here.

Was the tom making all the racket the same one that attacked you? Sounds like he is quite the ornery teenager!

I am surprised your frog moms don't have names yet! I absolutely love naming animals.

I have never heard of the broomstick method either... not that I am versed in all methods of culling, but never heard of it. If it had popped up on my first google search as the main method to cull, I would NEVER have gone forward with meat birds. It is horrifying.
Not that chopping off heads or slitting arteries is so much better, but it is. It is better in my mind.

Linda and Jessica- Your stories cracked me up! Sounds like some vodka would certainly have been in order after all that!

Fyremelody- I am with Ralph. Did you free range them and limit food? Your gals are so pretty!

I never knew I would love the way a white chicken looked. I was totally against getting just an ordinary looking chicken of any sort. Yes, chicken snobbery at its best. But my white Dixie Rainbow started melting my snobby heart... and the CX finished it off! Pearl is quickly becoming a favorite too She is so funny, she believes she belongs in the house. She sits by the door on the porch. All day. She leaves to scratch in the yard, sit in the sun and take dust baths, then comes right back. Guess pampering her with the luxury bath and hair dryer was a bad idea!

And can you believe that I was out of Bourbon and had to "borrow" one of SIL's Miller Lite's. Not the same. Going to the store today and shop for my kind of tipple.

 

[Fyremelody]

Linda -- I've lost it in the thread -- you're getting eggs from, and considering crossing White Rock's on Cornish? Just trying to keep up with all the different ideas and discussions

Ralphie and Jessica, I did not free range the birds. I kept all the chicks on 16% feed from four weeks on and only ever allowed them to eat during daylight hours (even in the brooder). They were confined with what I learned (my first attempt, I learned as I went) was too small a space. What ended up as 41 birds were in a three foot long run with about the same indoor 'coop' area. We processed late and next year I think I would allow any I intend to process to really pile on the food two weeks prior to. They were quite a bit small for my liking when we processed in late September. But about two weeks before they did go in, we moved them out of the chick area into the other half of the coop in the picture above. Six moved over to where those three are -- the ones we intended to keep.

That coop is five foot wide, and the run is 14 feet long. The ones bound for butchering moved up to 20% feed, until the day of. The six we held back are still currently on 16% layer crumbles. I severely ration their food (at the vet's demand. lol!) The three of them get 1/2 gallon of feed in the morning. When it's gone, it's gone, until the next morning. They aren't quite cleaning up the feeder, but what's being left behind is the same amount that was being left behind when they were allowed a full gallon of food daily.

The vet actually recommended I cut more and consider feeding them all scratch on the ground. I've not adapted that yet. Mainly because of the weather now; we're damp, and that's a dirt floor, (the picture is greener because the camera kept trying to focus on the wire on the walls.) and picking scratch out of the mud just doesn't sound appealing for The Girls.

Thanks for the compliments though! I am pretty fond of them, though Lucy was my gal, and I've tried to distance a bit since we started having a few losses.

We intended to cross these gals with a Buckeye, by the way, and get some large birds as our 'production stock' and cross them back to the Buckeyes using that second generation as our meaties. Given The Girls hate Jerry and Ben is in rehab, that may or may not happen. Laugh!

 

[mountain mom]

And can you believe that I was out of Bourbon and had to "borrow" one of SIL's Miller Lite's. Not the same. Going to the store today and shop for my kind of tipple.

Not the same at ALL!!! Miller Lite- beerish flavored water... mmmm.

 

[holm25]

ralphie almost the same thing happened to us but the two toms attacked the turkey we are keeping. So we butchered one yesterday and one today that is whats for supper.

 

[LindaB220]

Not the same at ALL!!! Miller Lite- beerish flavored water... mmmm.

And I didn't make it to the store. I'm okay with coke now that it's not stressful.