Help with feeding Free Range Cornish Cross

[mandy1202001]

Hello, first time meat bird raisers but have over 35 egg layers. My son is going to raise about a dozen cornish cross chicks for 4-H and ultimately for our freezer. We want to free range them with the rest of our flock to help keep them going until fair in 11 weeks. The chicks we're getting are already a week old today, so they'll be atleast 12-13 weeks at butcher. Seems free range is about the only way to get them to this point and still be happy healthy birds. What I can't find info on is how much to feed them from when we bring them home this week through butcher. Any advise or recommendations would be appreciated. Also wondering if they need perches in their coup at night or just some straw to snuggle into.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Cornish cross won't likely roost by that age. For showing, they will need frequent bedding changes.
They tend not to feather well early but should be OK by that age. I'd shoot for free access to a complete poultry feed in the range of 20% protein now and cut back to about 15% by about 7 weeks.

 

[Northern.Ontario]

Hello, first time meat bird raisers but have over 35 egg layers. My son is going to raise about a dozen cornish cross chicks for 4-H and ultimately for our freezer. We want to free range them with the rest of our flock to help keep them going until fair in 11 weeks. The chicks we're getting are already a week old today, so they'll be atleast 12-13 weeks at butcher. Seems free range is about the only way to get them to this point and still be happy healthy birds. What I can't find info on is how much to feed them from when we bring them home this week through butcher. Any advise or recommendations would be appreciated. Also wondering if they need perches in their coup at night or just some straw to snuggle into.

I wouldn't keep them in the same pen as the egg layers because they have different nutritional requirements. I think there is a "layer feed" and a broiler type feed. I give my Cornish cross a medicated 18% chick starter for the first 3 weeks; full 24 hours access to food. After 3 weeks or so, they are put on a 17% grower/finisher feed with ONLY 12 hours access to food. I remove their feed in the evening and put back in the morning. They don't need perches because they aren't the roosting type. Though mine are 6 weeks old and can still fly over a 2 foot high wall.

 

[mandy1202001]

I wouldn't keep them in the same pen as the egg layers because they have different nutritional requirements. I think there is a "layer feed" and a broiler type feed. I give my Cornish cross a medicated 18% chick starter for the first 3 weeks; full 24 hours access to food. After 3 weeks or so, they are put on a 17% grower/finisher feed with ONLY 12 hours access to food. I remove their feed in the evening and put back in the morning. They don't need perches because they aren't the roosting type. Though mine are 6 weeks old and can still fly over a 2 foot high wall.

We're looking to free range them to keep them longer than the 8 weeks before butcher. Feeding them like a regular butcher schedule you noted above will have them growing much faster than we want. Thank you though

 

[Northern.Ontario]

I also "free range" mine within a large poultry fenced area. They wont be butchered until 10 weeks old. "Free ranging" doesn't mean they should be fed less. They wont get much nutrition from free ranging alone. They certainly aren't like cattle that eat pounds of grass a day. They peck at things and eat a couple bugs but still need their broiler feed.

 

[aart]

I think they might range well when kept with layer chicks of same age.
I know I've read about folks doing that, but can't remember details on feed control.
Not sure they will range on their own with the adult layers,
the adults may attack them as 'intruders'.

 

[JiminyChristmas]

aart may be on to something.

I mostly tractor my CX and let them out often in the evenings. Feed twice a day which is usually cleaned up in less than two hours. They still don't forage much if at all. My last batch were plenty mobile and healthy at 12 weeks when I butchered.

That said, I've been raising some CX/Brahma crosses the last few months. 2-3 in each hatch. They've all been raised with layers of the same hatch. They jump, run, fly and roost just like the others, yet there's no denying where they came from.

 

[Brayjj]

We free ranged our Cornish this year. Near the end we did keep them inside a poultry fence only because I was being tackled by 65 birds every time I walked outside because they thought I had feed. We did not feed them all day like others. They were fed maybe max 3-4 times a day and consumed that feed quickly. (Basically breakfast, lunch, dinner). We let ours go longer then your desired goal. Ours wanted to roost and jumped and ran around like crazy. They don’t need roosts but ours fought over them. We treated them like normal chickens.