How late in the year can I go with pastured birds

[cafrhe]

I had planned my 3rd and last batch of cornish x to be processed the 1st or 2nd week of Oct. They would be mature and if it got cooler at night, they would be fine. I was considering maybe having a 4th batch that got processed no later than the last week in Oct. I am in NJ. Has anyone done birds this late? They are in a hoop house and free ranged during the day.

Looking at averages in NJ in October it is 60s during the day and 40s at night.

They would be 3 weeks at the beginning of Oct and if they go until 8 weeks--that would be the 31st.

 

[GitaBooks]

What kind of roosting area do they have? Could you provide thick hay/straw for them to cuddle in or perhaps a heat light? Chickens are very hardy, but from pictures I see that Cornish Crosses don't seem to have as many feathers as many other kinds, probably because of the game bird in them.

 

[donrae]

I would think wet would be more of a concern than cold. I've not had meaties that late, but I've had them in spring when temps were around there and they did fine as long as I could keep them dry. Little buggers don't handle the wet well at all.

 

[ade-chick]

As a Custom Processor we have free range cornish cross scheduled all the way into mid November. Remember as the days get shorter the birds will eat less (as it gets dark at 7:00 PM vs 10:00 PM that is 3 hr less daylight to eat) and grow slower. We also have more birds condemned by Inspection late in the season (do to septox) than any other time of year. If you give them a draft free shelter to sleep in they should still do fine.

 

[cafrhe]

Thank you for the things to think about.

They are in a hoop house and that is opened up every day for them to free range. The area they free range in is fenced. I imagine that I would add more tarps/shelter to the hoop house. I did make them a solid corner to sleep in by attaching plastic roofing material to the sides of the hoop house. It would be easy to add more to cover the entire back end.

It could be a wet fall. We have had plenty of rain here for the last couple of years.

If I have customers wanting a last batch, I may go for it. I sold most of the 1st batch and I will see how the 2nd batch goes.

 

[ade-chick]

We did visit one of our market customers on a pasture poultry tour with Ohio State University and they had Cornish cross out in large movable pens in November and it was very cold. This was part of a research project on temperature and lighting. One pen had a solar light for a few hours compared to the natural daylight. Those birds grew larger in the same time frame. They came through the cold okay.

 

[cafrhe]

That is very interesting! I dont have much experience yet, but most farmers around here go from April until Oct. I would buy 4-5 if I could to freeze.

I may try a small batch for myself and see how it goes later in the year. We even have solar light already!

 

[AkChris]

They'll be fine at those temps. I live in Alaska and our summer temps are often 60s during the day and 50s at night. This last week has been really cold for July and we've dipped down into the upper 40s a couple of nights. I have an open pen full of Rangers and they're just fine. My meat bird pen is two sides open wire and two sides covered (plywood and greenhouse panels). No fully inclosed coop or insulated area. They are just fine in that from early spring to fall and our night time temps often get down into the 40s during that time. I don't personally raise Cornish X but I have several friends here that do and I've never heard them mention any problems with the birds handling our weather and the cooler temps.

 

[cafrhe]

Thanks! Good to know.

 

[Sabz]

Last year I butchered mine in the first snows of november. They did not mind at all. I close the coop door at night and their body heat kept it warm!