Hoover hatchery Cornish cross mini rant

[rollinrockell]

No way. It is cruel to keep a meat bird alive.

I agree personally but some people do. Different case for each person.

 

[rollinrockell]

week 6
hi ho hi ho it off to freezer camp they go. Soon

 

[cluckmecoop7]

How should I weigh my meat bird

 

[NatJ]

How should I weigh my meat bird

That depends on what kind of scale you have, and whether the bird will stand still.

You can stand the bird on a scale.

You can put the bird in a bucket, and either sit it on a scale or hang it from a scale.
You can wrap the bird in a towel and sit it on a scale.
(Put the bucket or towel on the scale, zero the scale, then put the bird in the bucket or towel.)

You can stand on a scale and weigh yourself, then hold the bird and weigh yourself again, then subtract your weight to see how much the bird weighs.

 

[rollinrockell]

How should I weigh my meat bird

I have a kitchen scale. Zero out a pot and a towel. Wrap the chick in the towel, put in the pot or container and weigh that way .what natj said. I got the scale for $10 at walmart.it only goes up to 15 pounds but it does grams for when they are little.

 

[rollinrockell]

It's the final countdown....
53 pounds of processed chicken.
For a Grand total of $1.98 a pound in the end.

 

[jmurno]

I got a shipment of broilers from Hoover's last week. They were very small. But of the 20 only 1 didn't make it. A week later and they have already more than doubled in size and seem to be doing well.
Not Saying Hoover's is good nor bad, just saying that my 1 experience with them is fine so far.

 

[Shugercube]

No way. It is cruel to keep a meat bird alive.

Please excuse my ignorance, but why?

 

[NatJ]

Please excuse my ignorance, but why?

Health problems.

Cornish Cross meat chickens grow very fast. They grow so fast and so big that they have major health problems by the time they are a few months old. They often become too large to walk properly. They are also known for dropping dead sometime between 2 and 4 months of age (heart attack or similar problems.) They don't ALL die at that age, but almost all of them are heavy enough to have welfare problems by then.

They can live longer if you restrict their food to make them grow slower, but that must start when they are quite young. That works by stunting their growth (semi-starvation). They would need their food strictly limited for their entire lives, and would still have shorter lives than most other chickens.

 

[Molpet]

Health problems.

Cornish Cross meat chickens grow very fast. They grow so fast and so big that they have major health problems by the time they are a few months old. They often become too large to walk properly. They are also known for dropping dead sometime between 2 and 4 months of age (heart attack or similar problems.) They don't ALL die at that age, but almost all of them are heavy enough to have welfare problems by then.

They can live longer if you restrict their food to make them grow slower, but that must start when they are quite young. That works by stunting their growth (semi-starvation). They would need their food strictly limited for their entire lives, and would still have shorter lives than most other chickens.

As a person that struggles with keep my weight below obese, rather like a CX, and having kept a CX pullet for breeding, it about the same. I would eat constantly if I didn't know better and I am always hungry. I had a few CX pullets that I feed all they could eat in 20 minutes 2x a day. They had to forge in-between with the layer pullets. I butchered all but one at 12 weeks. Dressed around 8 lbs. The one I kept was healthy and started laying about 20 wks for a month or so. She didn't start laying again before she died at a year old. Snowy winter was her down fall when she couldn't get out much. I gained 15lbs LOL not sure what she gained. So if I do that again, I will butcher when they quit laying in the fall or before winter snows.
Most of my flock are out of her cockerels and dress out 5 to 7 lbs at 16 weeks.