How late in the year can I go with pastured birds

[Pheistane]

Wow this is such an informative thread on the Cornish x! I just bought my first Cornish x (well first chickens ever too) and they are a week old today . I was wondering how they could ever go out when they were processed between 8-12 weeks and chickens were only suppose to go out around 7 weeks. However it seems like a lot of people allow these types out earlier on. Is it because of their size? And if anyone has any tips it would be great. Been doing a lot of research, but you never know if you've missed something. Thanks!!

 

[GitaBooks]

Wow this is such an informative thread on the Cornish x! I just bought my first Cornish x (well first chickens ever too) and they are a week old today

. I was wondering how they could ever go out when they were processed between 8-12 weeks and chickens were only suppose to go out around 7 weeks. However it seems like a lot of people allow these types out earlier on. Is it because of their size? And if anyone has any tips it would be great. Been doing a lot of research, but you never know if you've missed something. Thanks!!

Congrats on your first birds!

I let my birds out between 3 (warm weather for bantams) and 6 weeks. None of mine are Cornish x, so I'm not sure if there is a difference or not.

 

[ade-chick]

We usually put the cornish+ out in chicken tractors at 3 to 4 weeks if the weather is nice. The cornish grow very fast and will forage better if put out fairly young

 

[Sabz]

Yeah I allow them out much earlier then layers.

I keep them inside the house one week.
The next week they go to the coop, in a box with a light.
They stay there not long.. 7-10 days then I remove the box and keep the light for another week.

By then they are already huge and pretty warm. They cuddle and don't seem to be cold!

I let them go outside starting week 3. It takes around 10 days for them to understand to go back in the coop at night

 

[Pheistane]

Awesome. Thank you . I like having detailed dates to work around so I have a clearer picture of what I should be doing. My layers and broilers are mixed at the moment, going to be trying to have another area built so I can seperate them within the next week.

 

[cafrhe]

This is my batch #2 and both batches went out at 2wks. Both are summer batches though, so my night temps were high 50/low 60s up to high 60s. Daytime has been 80-90s.

We had a cool front come in right when this batch went out. It was 50s again. I hang the heat lamp and if i think it is going to be too cold, I just plug it in. I also start them in a plastic pool, I cut the pool in half for better storage. I take one half out to the hoop house with the chicks, so they have a better place to huddle. I take it away when they dont seem to want it (which is only a few days). By 3 weeks old, I stop worrying as much. I do have a tendency to wake up at night and I will peek out at them. I have not seen any serious huddling, so I assume they are warm enough.

We had always intended for hte birds to have some time out free ranging but had a little trouble making that happen with the 1st batch until they were probably 4-5 weeks old (by then they were pretty big). This batch got to free range after being in the hoop house for about a week (they are so small!), so by 3 weeks old. They range quite a bit. They are also getting food 24hrs because they are smaller at this age than batch #1. I am on vacation this week--we will see how big they are when we get home and decide if we want to go back to 12 on 12 off. I also soak the food--not an organized fermenting process, but I have found the wet food makes for firmer poop. I will probably try to formally ferment when I read more about it.