First time raising meat birds - my journey of raising Cornish X in the city

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Part of the lack of feathers is the "draw" of raising Cx. Especially as you are hand plucking; it will go much quicker with these birds vs heritage that are fully feathered. Even when they are out in the tractor, they will never get many feathers on their chest. And the ones that are there will be caked in poo, even if you move them 2-3x per day like I do. Just comes with the territory

As far as your mom - I get that most people can't handle doing this. My stepmom is the same way. She even refuses to eat the ones I raise even though has no issue eating the cheap ones from Shop Rite. You're doing the right thing here; the chickens we raise have the best of conditions before those rough last few seconds. Even "cage free" chickens are usually in a huge indoor tent walking around fecal matter and dead birds all day.

In my mind, if you cannot take a life that will provide for your family, you should not be eating meat. I treat it as a rite of passage of meat eaters, and to know they had the best lives possible. I also say a short prayer before I cull each one and thank them for their sacrifice.

I'm proud of you! (if that means anything lol).

Oh man I'm not sure I'm ready for that amount of poop in my little yard! Lol. But that's good that they won't be too hard to pluck.

And thank you for the kind words. I agree with you. It's really nice to have so many people on BYC who are so supportive. And of course you being proud means something!!! Thank you.

 

[Tre3hugger]

Beautifully put! Yeah people around me keep acting like what I'm doing is really out there and crazy, but the more I ponder on it the more I think raising my own meat is a very grounded and sensible thing to do. I think people get the wrong impression like people who raise their own meat just love killing stuff, but it reality, it's a lot of people like you and others on here who really love and respect these birds. None of us look forward to the day we must kill them, but in comparison with factory farming, like you mentioned, it's much more humane.

It is actually crazy the amount of times I have had this conversation with people that eat meat. They are like, OMG YoU Are GoNnA KiLL thTAt!? ANd Eat ItTt?!?!?!! And im just like "yea, u eat meat right" and if they say yes i say "well every time something eats, something else dies. It is up to you if you would liek to participate in your sustenance"

 

[Hopulence]

One tip if I can help more: They really are easy to take care of as long as you have fresh water and move them often (or clean their bedding when indooors).

I'm sure you read this, but I found it pretty critical to start to restrict their food in the 2nd or 3rd week. I use the chart that's referenced in this post (https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/appropriate-feeding-for-cornish-cross.786532/post-11326126).

I go a little nuts and weigh out their food based on an excel chart I keep. I try to feed them 3x per day with premeasured amounts and if I am not available for that, I do it 2x. Whenever I move them, I feed them.

I have yet to lose one of my birds to heart issues, broken, legs, etc. It might take them a bit longer to get to size vs just having food always available but I think it's safer and better for them.

Restrict their food entirely the 24h before slaughter so their crop is smaller and intestines are clear.

When I gut them I always notice grass/clover/etc in their crop which proves they do forage a tiny bit (but nothing like egg layers).

 

[Morrigan]

Oh man I'm not sure I'm ready for that amount of poop in my little yard!

Do you compost? Hopefully you can put some of the "goodness" in there. Or, if you can get a bale of straw, you can lay straw out for them to bed down on at night. Then, when you move your tractor, you can rake up the dirty straw and put in the compost. Since I had a shed for my meaties to sleep in, rather then a tractor, I had to use straw and clean it out daily after they got to be around 4 weeks old. But it all got composted and the birds stayed pretty clean.

Restrict their food entirely the 24h before slaughter so their crop is smaller and intestines are clear.

I've found that I can give them their normal dinner, and then butcher them the following morning without any issue with crop/innards. Although not strictly necessary, I liked keeping them to their normal routine as long as possible. The morning of butchering, I also gave them a little scratch. The grains in their crop actually make the crop easier to find and grab when you butcher. This is all stuff you can figure out closer in, however.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

One tip if I can help more: They really are easy to take care of as long as you have fresh water and move them often (or clean their bedding when indooors).

I'm sure you read this, but I found it pretty critical to start to restrict their food in the 2nd or 3rd week. I use the chart that's referenced in this post (https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/appropriate-feeding-for-cornish-cross.786532/post-11326126).

I go a little nuts and weigh out their food based on an excel chart I keep. I try to feed them 3x per day with premeasured amounts and if I am not available for that, I do it 2x. Whenever I move them, I feed them.

I have yet to lose one of my birds to heart issues, broken, legs, etc. It might take them a bit longer to get to size vs just having food always available but I think it's safer and better for them.

Restrict their food entirely the 24h before slaughter so their crop is smaller and intestines are clear.

When I gut them I always notice grass/clover/etc in their crop which proves they do forage a tiny bit (but nothing like egg layers).

Thank you for this!!!

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Do you compost? Hopefully you can put some of the "goodness" in there. Or, if you can get a bale of straw, you can lay straw out for them to bed down on at night. Then, when you move your tractor, you can rake up the dirty straw and put in the compost. Since I had a shed for my meaties to sleep in, rather then a tractor, I had to use straw and clean it out daily after they got to be around 4 weeks old. But it all got composted and the birds stayed pretty clean.



I've found that I can give them their normal dinner, and then butcher them the following morning without any issue with crop/innards. Although not strictly necessary, I liked keeping them to their normal routine as long as possible. The morning of butchering, I also gave them a little scratch. The grains in their crop actually make the crop easier to find and grab when you butcher. This is all stuff you can figure out closer in, however.

I do compost! Thanks for that tip. I'll probably have to do that so my neighbors don't hate me from the smell.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I’m not sure how well it would work since they grow so fast but you could try putting different color zip ties on their legs to be able to tell them apart

You’d just have to watch to be sure it didn’t get too tight but might be a good option if you’re wanting to tell them apart.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Or possibly food coloring on their heads. That might be better.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Or possibly food coloring on their heads. That might be better.

I like that idea! I'm a little wary of leg bands right now, as I just had to remove an EXTREMELY embedded and infected leg band from my Barred Rock. I got her from a rescue place (she came from abuse/neglect) so who knows how many years that band was on her. No one noticed it because it somehow slipped up to the top of her leg under the fluff, and that's where it became embedded. So yeah... no leg bands for me at least for a while. I know I'd be more careful but I just don't even wanna risk it lol. So that's why I'm not doing leg bands but I like the food coloring idea.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I like that idea! I'm a little wary of leg bands right now, as I just had to remove an EXTREMELY embedded and infected leg band from my Barred Rock. I got her from a rescue place (she came from abuse/neglect) so who knows how many years that band was on her. No one noticed it because it somehow slipped up to the top of her leg under the fluff, and that's where it became embedded. So yeah... no leg bands for me at least for a while. I know I'd be more careful but I just don't even wanna risk it lol. So that's why I'm not doing leg bands but I like the food coloring idea.

Oh that is awful!! The poor thing! I totally understand why you’d be leery after that But yeah, food coloring is a great, non toxic way to tell you can put it on their backs or heads or wherever but yeah.