First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[Kildare49]

Cornish X are my fryers. DP are my roasters, stock & canning ( also can a lot of Cornish X ). Not using for fryers so I'll grow out to 20-24 weeks.

I'm sure type of breed & intended use may back that time frame from 16 -20 weeks. Have been doing Cornish X, just started with DP. So I want to go to that 24 week range to see if their is a cockerel that I would consider using to replace rooster.

 

[duluthralphie]

It look flat chested and thick legged! How did it taste?

It was tender and delicious!

They have a different texture than the CX's. But is reality they are plenty big for my wife and I, we will get 2 meals and a soup off it.


I like dark meat also, but I have to say I did like the white meat on this one it was so juicy and flavorful! This one was process at around 19 weeks. (give or take 1)

 

[JessicaThistle]

So I have a silly question: Do any of you know if chickens have bad dreams?

Scenario: I was jolted awake at 1 am last night to ba-gawking! Remember my coop is 20 feet from my bedroom window. I heard several ba-gawks, jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom window, this is right next to my bedroom and clear vision to the coop. I look out and see a hen with her head up and she is bagawking in a funny sleepy manner. I see nothing else, the motion light is off. Near full moon showed nothing to make her alert. I hear no other hens, roos, rustling...just nothing.

I go back to bed and lay there awake hearing nothing more until my daughter comes home from work. That doesn't bother the chickens. In the morning, everyone is fine and I see nothing that may have bothered her. Any ideas?

 

[duluthralphie]

So I have a silly question: Do any of you know if chickens have bad dreams?

Scenario: I was jolted awake at 1 am last night to ba-gawking! Remember my coop is 20 feet from my bedroom window. I heard several ba-gawks, jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom window, this is right next to my bedroom and clear vision to the coop. I look out and see a hen with her head up and she is bagawking in a funny sleepy manner. I see nothing else, the motion light is off. Near full moon showed nothing to make her alert. I hear no other hens, roos, rustling...just nothing.

I go back to bed and lay there awake hearing nothing more until my daughter comes home from work. That doesn't bother the chickens. In the morning, everyone is fine and I see nothing that may have bothered her. Any ideas?

She was just checking to see if you really cared about her or not....


My silly question is multi part..

Do your CX's sleep on the ground or a roost?

Do you have any roosters that do not use a roost?

Why does Rick prefer to sleep just outside to chicken door on the ground or just inside the coop on the ground?

Is this something a :"head" rooster does? I noticed when Brutus was alive he slept on the floor too.

Rick use to sleep on the roost when I had Brutus and for a short while after I lost him. I think Rick is head rooster, I saw him stop my nameless rooster in mid coitus. The rooster did not fight back just ran and forgot about that hen. Ernie and nameless seem to only crow from hiding. Ernie under a topper I have for them and nameless in a lean too on a granary. I assume that makes Rick the top chicken.

 

[JessicaThistle]

She was just checking to see if you really cared about her or not....


My silly question is multi part..

Do your CX's sleep on the ground or a roost?

Do you have any roosters that do not use a roost?

Why does Rick prefer to sleep just outside to chicken door on the ground or just inside the coop on the ground?

Is this something a :"head" rooster does? I noticed when Brutus was alive he slept on the floor too.

Rick use to sleep on the roost when I had Brutus and for a short while after I lost him. I think Rick is head rooster, I saw him stop my nameless rooster in mid coitus. The rooster did not fight back just ran and forgot about that hen. Ernie and nameless seem to only crow from hiding. Ernie under a topper I have for them and nameless in a lean too on a granary. I assume that makes Rick the top chicken.

1. My CX's always slept on the ground, but I raised them in the chicken tractor on pasture. The silkie house where Sunny lives in quite small and doesn't have a roost. Unfortunately the silkies sleep in their nest. There is a piece of 4X4 that separates the nest from the other side of the silkie house. Sunny will often sleep sitting on that, I guess it's a semi-roost.

2. My (4) roosters seem to all roost but they are still quite young, going on 16 weeks. I think they have established the "head" roo amongst themselves but aren't displaying it readily and the older hens haven't accepted him yet. It sure will be interesting to see how they integrate in and establish themselves. None of them are crowing either.

My chickens are just weirdos really. They have a lovely coop with an attached run. Only one of the hens sleeps inside of the coop. The rest roost in the run. The perches are the same inside and out - birch branches. I don't really understand it, but it's their "house". I guess they get to decide.

 

[mountain mom]

Happy New Year!! We decided to head further into the mountains and hide from the world for 5 days!! It was lovely.

Of course I can't remember which pages or who posted what, but here is my 2 cents:

On DP birds, I really did like the Freedom Rangers. More dark meat than the CX's, tender, juicy white meat. Didn't like the birds themselves as much though. We processed them at 20 weeks.
For bulk though, you cannot beat CX. Nor can you beat their hilarious personality. Obviously, everyone here has a soft place for them!

Linda- I love your idea! Good luck with all your plans!

Ralph- I know you have missed me poking fun of the North. I think your brain froze a bit while you were out. Totally natural. Mine does that too... usually when I have not had enough libation to keep things moving. More than once I have gone to lock up the gals, poke my head in with a light to be sure everyone is there, shut the door and say goodnight. Only to find someone outside running around before I have let them out. I'm awesome at counting to 8.
On the roosting note, Pearl goes back and forth. The CX didn't have a roosting bar in their "coop" which was really a mini chicken doghouse type of structure I built by my very own two hands (my husband is an amazing carpenter and couldn't be bothered with such a menial task). None of them really roosted on top of the coop or in the tree. Just didn't enjoy it I guess.
I think your head roo is looking after your flock! That is what it sounds like to me.

Jessica- My gals have a great coop and attached run as well... but they don't like the run! Even when it is nice. They are currently hiding inside the coop. Haven't been out since Christmas Eve. Snow makes them unhappy I guess.
Good thing you live in Oregon! Or maybe that is why they don't feel the need to go inside.

 

[duluthralphie]

Welcome back MM.... We (cough,cough,cough) ahem, missed you.


Rick decided to make a liar out of me tonight. I went to lock them up and Rick was on top of the nests. Not on a roost but off the ground. BTW it is beneath his dignity to be petted. So, I petted him.

Freedom rangers and Dixie rainbows are the same bird aren't they?

The one so expertly roasted by me was a black sex link. I color coded my rooster carcasses when I packed them so I would know which breed was which and the better eater.

 

[LindaB220]

Hi everyone, I'm happy, happy ,happy. I bought a kill cone to process the 8 Cobb 500 hens. It hasn't come in yet but I heard of an old fellow that really really needs for chickens for eggs. These 8 girls have been going through the molt and will start laying again soon. So I sold them to him for $3 each. Giveaway prices but what the heck. Getting rid of the aggravation of these oinkers is a win-win. Now I don't have to worry about getting a boat for them in that lake that I call a coop. It's rained almost 5 inches in 2 1/2 days.

He was so pleased that they were so big and healthy. I told him I feed the fermented feed and I've never seen a more bewildered look on his face. He throws out "some chops" . I told him he had to do more if he wanted to actually get a good supply of eggs. Hog feed is about the same price and is 13% protein instead of 8% like corn. The brand I buy says it's for agri animals with a picture of different animals including a chicken.
Yes, he loved them and how nice they looked.......until I took him over to show him my prized White Plymouth Rocks.

Super funny. He's dying to get some when I start having chicks. I'm going to raise every fertile egg I can get my hands on. Everyone that has come out to check out the chickens has left me their number for me to call. I'll have two separate lines and can get some good bunches going. The Bob Blosl rock pair has the silver gene and all the pullets can be mated with a New Hampshire to get sex links. Premium ones. And the XW poultry rock trio is shaped so good that mixing the two will make some gorgous birds So I'll be breeding 3 separate lines. Blosl, XW, and the mixture. Gotta order some toe punchers.

Now that it's stopped raining, I plan on having my handyman put down some bags of soil around the new coop. It's on a slope and all the rain has just come blasting through. What's even worse is the fact that the fellow that build it for me only put plastic on one side of the A frame 12 x 12. The open side got even more rain that just kept trickling to the covered side. I know that the Cobb's will be happy. They loved it here. No doubt about it especially since I'd been letting them roam out for a few hours a day. Happy birds. George will also put on the 3' tall hardwire cloth I bought. That's about the extent of my spending this month so next month he will do the tin roof and get the roost ready for my Isa Brown's coming the first part of next month.

Not going to talk about my gardening plans now but to say that I'm gearing up and getting supplies. Woohoo!!! I feel so good about this coming year. I think it's going to be a banner year for all of us. (Can I still come on here now that I have sold my CX's?)

 

[Fyremelody]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Sorry, I've been absent; holidays got really really in the way.

I'm sorry for the losses mentioned, excited Sunny laid her egg, and Ralph, your stories get more and more entertaining. Linda, you're making me want to be on a list for those White Plymouth Rocks. LOL.

Chicken life is the pits here -- its cold cold cold. I had to deal with my first broken off toenail last week. And my layer house is still trying to get through molt. I think they're done and someone else turns up nekkid.

Did have a little bit of a happy story to share. One of our CX girls, Lulu turned up lame one evening. Of course, I automatically presumed where it would end. I put her in the chicken house and resolved to see how she was the next morning. No dice -- sore leg. But it wasn't dysfunctional, just obviously sore. So I put her in the house in our recovery cage. And watched her hobble in a circle, for the most part, for a few days.

Two weeks later, by George she was healed! I was sooo happy that we were able to catch the hurt leg before it became dysfunctional and limit her activity accordingly. Lulu is back in the pen with Lori and Lola.

And I am uber proud to announce that at least two of the girls are laying steadily. Boy was I surprised when the eggs turned up brown though. I was expecting white. White chicken = white egg, right? Laugh. Evidently not. Now, I'm a bit perplexed about what to do. I've become so paranoid about their legs that I'm afraid to let a roo in. The roo I intended for them, Ben, can't live outdoors due to a leg injury. Buckeye #2, Jerry, the girls hate. They won't leave their house when he's in residence. (And he's never gone after them for anything, he paces the fence in a continual stare-down with the banty roo.) I keep thinking a lighter small roo would be better on their legs, but...that sort of destroys the purpose of breeding them. Sigh. What to do, what to do. I guess I have time. I won't be introducing anyone to the ladies' house until we have warmer temperatures and ground they can't slip on.

Anyway -- just wanted to check back in! Glad to "see" everyone!

Val

 

[LindaB220]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Sorry, I've been absent; holidays got really really in the way.

I'm sorry for the losses mentioned, excited Sunny laid her egg, and Ralph, your stories get more and more entertaining. Linda, you're making me want to be on a list for those White Plymouth Rocks. LOL.

Chicken life is the pits here -- its cold cold cold. I had to deal with my first broken off toenail last week. And my layer house is still trying to get through molt. I think they're done and someone else turns up nekkid.

Did have a little bit of a happy story to share. One of our CX girls, Lulu turned up lame one evening. Of course, I automatically presumed where it would end. I put her in the chicken house and resolved to see how she was the next morning. No dice -- sore leg. But it wasn't dysfunctional, just obviously sore. So I put her in the house in our recovery cage. And watched her hobble in a circle, for the most part, for a few days.

Two weeks later, by George she was healed! I was sooo happy that we were able to catch the hurt leg before it became dysfunctional and limit her activity accordingly. Lulu is back in the pen with Lori and Lola.

And I am uber proud to announce that at least two of the girls are laying steadily. Boy was I surprised when the eggs turned up brown though. I was expecting white. White chicken = white egg, right? Laugh. Evidently not. Now, I'm a bit perplexed about what to do. I've become so paranoid about their legs that I'm afraid to let a roo in. The roo I intended for them, Ben, can't live outdoors due to a leg injury. Buckeye #2, Jerry, the girls hate. They won't leave their house when he's in residence. (And he's never gone after them for anything, he paces the fence in a continual stare-down with the banty roo.) I keep thinking a lighter small roo would be better on their legs, but...that sort of destroys the purpose of breeding them. Sigh. What to do, what to do. I guess I have time. I won't be introducing anyone to the ladies' house until we have warmer temperatures and ground they can't slip on.

Anyway -- just wanted to check back in! Glad to "see" everyone!

Val

Great story, Val. So glad when you have a happy ending.