"Grass fed" Cornish?

[trifecta]

As far as the clover toxicity, I am still trying to find a legit resource that discusses the toxic principle... I found information on moldy clover, which is toxic like any other spoiled grass/hay source, and the site on BYC lists Alsike clover specificially, which has been linked to photosensitization in horses for sure. The general consensus I found online (again, lacking legit resources here) is that red/white clover is fine, they have red clover and chickory in their mix right now. I'll try a pubmed search when I get back from work and see what I find and post here. Anyway, my guys did fine but also didn't get a ton of it, more to supplement the green portion of their diet when I was paranoid that they were all going to run away if I let them out of their run

 

[Kildare49]

Red or white clover...alsike..duranna..mamoth red....chickens have had.

Variety folks....no different than if all they had was chickory or brassica.

In our sandy low soils...alsike, chickory, buckwheat & winter rye grain will do well ( unless drought ).

 

[wolfpak]

The CX birds we had processed today were all 11 wks old (yesterday). None had any joint problems, many weighed almost 10 lbs, one bird dressed out at 8 lbs! They averaged 6 lbs. , dressed. These birds had been in a portable outside run, with one side shaded, since about 5 or 6 weeks - if we'd had it completed prior to then, I'd have put them out at about 4 wks.

We had them on fine grass, clover, dandelion greens, misc. weeds in & out of the pen. They seemed to love it & were very healthy & fairly busy for such huge birds. Even butchering so late, we had about a 2.5 feed to gain ratio. I had included some of the layer grind/mix the last few weeks, and also used one 50 lb bag of rolled steam pressed oats mixed in with their chick starter (Kent, Chick-Go). They consumed about 300lbs of starter feed.

There is no question in my mind that not losing a single bird after putting them outside, despite a couple terrible storms, and the many days of extreme heat, was due to them being in "better shape" due to having greens to eat, fresh air, sunshine & exercise.

 

[Island Roo]

My second batch of meaties seemed healthier and a little bit more like chickens with open access to pasture compared to the enclosed run setup of the first bunch. They had room to run around and flap their wings.

Every day I gave them kale, collards and whole cabbage plants (head removed) to strip clean. They loved it so much - they would come gyrating over at a run with their wings flapping - tripping over themselves.

Great entertainment value.

The average dressed weight at 9 weeks was 6 pounds. Not much different from the first batch. The majority of their food came from the feeder. 85% I guess.

I'm going to have my first taste tonight.

 

[enel 1]

when you say"Cornish" I assume you mean 8 week commercial broiler chickens,just for an "FYI" broiler chickens (aka Cornish rock cross) are NOT Cornish,all though Cornish were used in the breeding of these "meat birds" that was over 50 years ago. modern commercial broiler chicken are a hybrid of 2 distinct parent breeds,which are pure breed pedigreed chickens who's genetics are owned by the giant broiler chicken corporations,such as Cobb-Vantress and Hubbard. these birds are known by names such as Avian 700,M77,Cobb500 etc. these parent breeds can't be bought and can only be owned by the corporate giants. to refer to these as "Cornish is inaccurate and there is very little resemblance in the two.there are some great threads on here that go into more detail,but once you see and actual Cornish you will never confuse the two again and hopefully will call a Cornish a Cornish and a commercial broiler a commercial broiler.

 

[triplepurpose]

when you say"Cornish" I assume you mean 8 week commercial broiler chickens,just for an "FYI" broiler chickens (aka Cornish rock cross) are NOT Cornish,all though Cornish were used in the breeding of these "meat birds" that was over 50 years ago. modern commercial broiler chicken are a hybrid of 2 distinct parent breeds,which are pure breed pedigreed chickens who's genetics are owned by the giant broiler chicken corporations,such as Cobb-Vantress and Hubbard. these birds are known by names such as Avian 700,M77,Cobb500 etc. these parent breeds can't be bought and can only be owned by the corporate giants. to refer to these as "Cornish is inaccurate and there is very little resemblance in the two.there are some great threads on here that go into more detail,but once you see and actual Cornish you will never confuse the two again and hopefully will call a Cornish a Cornish and a commercial broiler a commercial broiler.

Thank you! Point well taken, I hope.

 

[Beekissed]

Yes, access to pasture land for foraging does not mean grassfed in the case of omnivores. To call chickens "grassfed" is confusing, because chickens hardly eat any grass. They are mainly looking for insects that live in the grass (or in the leaf litter, or compost pile) and munching the occasional weed or seed now and then. Chickens are omnivorous, so they cannot digest cellulose like a ruminant. But they can digest very well the bugs that eat the grasses, etc. Therefore, a chicken that has eaten wild insects and to a lesser degree other native forages is the nutritional parallel to grassfed beef or lamb, if you are talking about the Omega 3 and 6 fatty acid ratios, fat-soluable vitamins A, D, etc., and all that other good stuff found in nutrient dense (a k a real) food.

I beg to differ. The chickens I raise and especially the CX are out grazing on clover like cows each evening. Not bugs, actually mowing down clover patches...you can see the birds clipping the leaves and not just an occasional leaf, actually picking them off over and over until a stand of clover is mowed down.

These two CX are in the process of doing this right now..and their coop mates not shown in the pic are mowing the other, larger patches of white dutch clover.



Like these CX...they forage for bugs all day but in the evening they are grazing this spot like cattle. If you look at the clover closely, the whole tops will be plucked off, leaving the stems.

 

[triplepurpose]

I beg to differ. The chickens I raise and especially the CX are out grazing on clover like cows each evening. Not bugs, actually mowing down clover patches...you can see the birds clipping the leaves and not just an occasional leaf, actually picking them off over and over until a stand of clover is mowed down.

I understand your point, but I still would never use "grass-fed" to refer to an omnivorous animal. "grass-fed" or "grass-finished" is used with herbivores (like cows) to mean that they were fed and raised on nothing but grass (their complete and natural diet) for part or all of their lives, respectively. Chickens cannot eat ONLY grass, so I think that calling any chicken "grass-fed" is misleading to the ignorant, annoying to those who know better, and confounding to everyone. I just don't see the point. Why not just say "pastured" or "forage-based" or something else more accurate?

 

[Beekissed]

I really don't call mine anything like that. I just called mine free range...in the truest sense of the word. I guess that grass-fed sounds a little more palatable than marketing chickens as "bug-fed" or "worm-fed".

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

So ... I was talking to an official chicken expert the other day ... and she said if we were to consider doing the CX broilers we should treat them entirely differently than our egg flock. She suggests not letting them move around too much or they'll be too tough to eat. She also said they must be kept very calm and in completely stable environment. So now I'm thinking a barn arrangement instead of a broiler sled over grass. Argh. Sometimes advice is so confusing!

Has anyone here raised CX both ways? And if so, which way "tasted" better? Which way was more successful in terms of getting the maximum number of birds to maturity?