Hatchery Suggestions for Meat Birds????

[akcountrygrrl]

My daughter wants to do chickens for a market project in 4-H. The chicks have to be hatched after 23 Mar and in our possession by 6 Jun. The Fair weigh in will be 6 Aug. The chicks have to be 6 1/2 pounds by then. I've never dealt with fast growing meat chicks but I've read enough and seen enough to know what to expect. I'm assuming that Cornish crosses would be the best way to go???? Does anyone have any other suggestions as to a fast growing meat breed that might not have the heart and leg problems? How about a hatchery with nice, healthy fast growing meat birds? I would also appreciate any additional information/advice you all could throw my way.

 

[LadyinRed]

Just a suggestion, People will reply when they get to your post. You do not have to post 15 times on the same thing.

 

[akcountrygrrl]

I didn't mean to. My computer was acting like it wasn't posting so I just kept hitting submit...

 

[LadyinRed]

Ooh, computer problems! never good!

Good luck though on your meaties! I personally don't know a great deal about it but that is an interesting question. It would be nice to know of some meat birds that dont have all the leg problems!

 

[akcountrygrrl]

I know it's probably a long shot but we're going to give it a try. My daughter was going to do a goat market project but has since decided that she is too "bonded" to the goat to sell him a market.

So, now I guess we're going to train him to be a pack/cart goat.

The market chicken project will be all new to us. And we'll only have about 8 weeks to get them to market weight. I'm guessing I'll just have to buy the cornish x. I've been looking at some of the hatcheries but would love some feedback on which is best to go with.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

I think it was a problem with BYC. Sorry about that!

I've removed all the duplicates.

 

[akcountrygrrl]

Thank you.... Thank you.... Thank you.....

 

[silkiechicken]

Cornish x are pretty much all you have to go with. They should get to 6.5 lbs easily in 8 weeks, even if they are all girls. Never did the fair thing, but have heard it is best to go with all one gender so the group being shown are all as equal as possible, and that cleaning up after them to keep them clean is also a big deal because they aren't your standard type of bird. They will grow as much in 8 weeks as your layer takes 6 months or more to do... so imagine 6-8 months of regular chicken poo in only the span of 6 months. I would use the hatchery closest to you as to minimize stress of shipping.

 

[thereseiam]

I just bought some wonderful cornish cross chicks from Schlecht Hatchery out of Miles, Iowa. If you google them, they do have a website. They were super nice folks, had some of the fluffiest, healthiest chicks I've ever gotten, and I couldn't recommend them more highly.

Before I got this batch of chicks I bought 5 meat bird chicks as 'guinea pigs' to see how I'd do with the raising my own meat bird concept, and one thing that my feed store guy recommended was either feeding chick starter/grower straight or cutting the meat bird feed with half starter/grower, as that would slow down the growth enough to save their legs but would still allow them to gain. Trust me, it definitely still allows them to gain--I picked up some layer chicks at the same time as my meat birds, and the meaties are three times the size as the layers. These meat birds are serious freaks of nature--in Iowa we joke about listening to the corn grow, and I'm pretty sure that if you sit in the hen house you can watch your meat birds expand!

Therese

 

[blueskylen]

i got the best cornish X this year from Meyers Hatchery - thick legs and at 7 weeks all 60 are doing great. just remember that after the 2nd week - 12 hours feed - 12 hours no feed. to keep them from being ravenous i usually feed 3 times during the day so that they don't run out of feed and make sure the light is off at night after they feather out -