got question on production meat birds

kbeagle

CHICKEN AND QUAIL LADY
10 Years
May 2, 2009
392
1
131
buffalo, south carolina
I got a big question that need some answers. I got some rode island red, black and red sex link baby chicks, how long do i need to raising to be a eating size. or can i even eat them at all. HELP!!!!
 
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Agreed, you won't get as much breast meat, but you also don't have all the health issues either! It is no fun walking out to feed your broilers and finding that 5-10 died earlier in the day, for no apparent reason, and are too far gone to eat.
 
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Ok, weird story about that.....

About two months ago, I had three BRs hatch in the incubator. One spent it's life happily with its siblings till it got out of hte brooder. then it went outside. Ihave meat birds, and this BR decided to live with the meaties.It has been with them for about 7 weeks, eating their feed, etc. The other two freerange around the yard, and they like to hang out near the quail cages.

Well, the BR in with the meaties is still roughly the same size as its two siblings who freerange. I take my meaties in on the 9th, and I will catch this BR and weigh him and compare him accurately with the other two, but to look at him, he is about the same size. Until then, I'm not so sure.....
 
Quote:
Agreed, you won't get as much breast meat, but you also don't have all the health issues either! It is no fun walking out to feed your broilers and finding that 5-10 died earlier in the day, for no apparent reason, and are too far gone to eat.

True, but that's not an accurate description of what will happen under normal circumstances. In my last batch of 53, I lost two- and both of them went lame, either sick or bad legs, so I culled them. At MOST, you may lose 10% of your meat bird flock, even with Cornish X's. They definitely require more care than layers, but layers require almost NO care after they get out of the brooder, and the huge, meatie birds FAR outweighs the little bit more time it takes to raise them.
 
Quote:
Agreed, you won't get as much breast meat, but you also don't have all the health issues either! It is no fun walking out to feed your broilers and finding that 5-10 died earlier in the day, for no apparent reason, and are too far gone to eat.

True, but that's not an accurate description of what will happen under normal circumstances. In my last batch of 53, I lost two- and both of them went lame, either sick or bad legs, so I culled them. At MOST, you may lose 10% of your meat bird flock, even with Cornish X's. They definitely require more care than layers, but layers require almost NO care after they get out of the brooder, and the huge, meatie birds FAR outweighs the little bit more time it takes to raise them.

I use to answer every post that was Dual Purpose vs.Cornish X vs.Freedom Ranger but found it got to be more tiresome than actually raising the bird itself. You are not going to convince everybody so I found the best advise to give people who ask is to try all your options then sit back and think about what would be the best choice for you. Taking someone's word can be very discouraging when your results don't turn out as they were described. Very few people talk about their egg on their face experiences and most people won't say they got dooped.
The only way you know for sure is by actually putting in your time and effort and deciding if the end result was worth it. You'll know when the feathers are off and it's on the table. Will
 
Quote:
Agreed, you won't get as much breast meat, but you also don't have all the health issues either! It is no fun walking out to feed your broilers and finding that 5-10 died earlier in the day, for no apparent reason, and are too far gone to eat.

True, but that's not an accurate description of what will happen under normal circumstances. In my last batch of 53, I lost two- and both of them went lame, either sick or bad legs, so I culled them. At MOST, you may lose 10% of your meat bird flock, even with Cornish X's. They definitely require more care than layers, but layers require almost NO care after they get out of the brooder, and the huge, meatie birds FAR outweighs the little bit more time it takes to raise them.

My only question to this is: What is "Normal" Circumstances? You live in Michigan, I live in Texas. Our summers generally are much hotter and your winters are generally much colder. What would be "normal" for you in your location might be abnormal in mine. What might be "normal" in my location might be abnormal in yours.

All I did was state an opinion, based on my experience with Cornish X's in my location with what might be considered "normal" for our area and time of year. All that does is mean that from my experience based on location and time of year, this is "normal".

Now we are trying colored broilers to see if they do better than the White Cornish X's. With that said, I would never buy the White Cornish X's for my location and time of year based on my "normal" experience.
 
Quote:
True, but that's not an accurate description of what will happen under normal circumstances. In my last batch of 53, I lost two- and both of them went lame, either sick or bad legs, so I culled them. At MOST, you may lose 10% of your meat bird flock, even with Cornish X's. They definitely require more care than layers, but layers require almost NO care after they get out of the brooder, and the huge, meatie birds FAR outweighs the little bit more time it takes to raise them.

My only question to this is: What is "Normal" Circumstances? You live in Michigan, I live in Texas. Our summers generally are much hotter and your winters are generally much colder. What would be "normal" for you in your location might be abnormal in mine. What might be "normal" in my location might be abnormal in yours.

All I did was state an opinion, based on my experience with Cornish X's in my location with what might be considered "normal" for our area and time of year. All that does is mean that from my experience based on location and time of year, this is "normal".

Now we are trying colored broilers to see if they do better than the White Cornish X's. With that said, I would never buy the White Cornish X's for my location and time of year based on my "normal" experience.

Oh, I certainly agree with that, and there are definitely good and bad points about both birds. I'm just saying that it's not typical to find ten dead birds in the morning. I would imagine that if you raised them in the middle of a Texas summer, you may have that happen, but I would also (knowing that they don't do well in the heat,) avoid raising them in the middle of the summer, even in Michigan. I can't imagine doing it in Texas. It's a good breed, it just takes a bit more work and research than the typical chicken.
 

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