How many of you FULLY Free Range your Cornish X Meaties? Tractors do not count.

[Mortey]

Thank you for this thread! I can't wait till my CX's can be outside - live in West Coast Canada and still a bit chilly out

 

[TexanFW]

I can think of about 223 solutions to that predator problem. The City has just about caught up with me but 15 years back when I built this house it was country. Yote problem was so bad that I started keeping a rifle by the front door. I cleared out 17 yotes the first year from my front porch mostly on my way out the door to work.

 

[JessicaThistle]

I love this thread! I especially love the videos of those fat waddly cornish x chickens running around free ranging!! They make me smile!

My husband and I have decided to do our first run of Cornish X. Our chicks arrive on June 10th. We will have them in a tractor and move that in our pasture each day and I will let them out to free range as soon as they are big enough to not shimmy through the wire fence into my neighbor's yards. I work from home, so as long as I don't have to leave to meet clients, I can be there to supervise most of the time.

I was feeling very uneasy reading all of the negative threads about the Cornish X but this thread really gave me a positive outlook and made me feel so much better about our decision. I will not be feeding 24/7. I will feed twice a day and free range comfortably knowing that I will raise healthy birds that had a good, albeit short, life.

An extra plus, my hubby does landscape maintenance and brings home all of the lovely fresh green grass clippings from his customer's yards that all of the chickens will love when the pasture grass gets drier! I bet a big pile of that yumminess will bring those CXs out to look for goodies!

 

[aoxa]

I love this thread! I especially love the videos of those fat waddly cornish x chickens running around free ranging!! They make me smile!

My husband and I have decided to do our first run of Cornish X. Our chicks arrive on June 10th. We will have them in a tractor and move that in our pasture each day and I will let them out to free range as soon as they are big enough to not shimmy through the wire fence into my neighbor's yards. I work from home, so as long as I don't have to leave to meet clients, I can be there to supervise most of the time.

I was feeling very uneasy reading all of the negative threads about the Cornish X but this thread really gave me a positive outlook and made me feel so much better about our decision. I will not be feeding 24/7. I will feed twice a day and free range comfortably knowing that I will raise healthy birds that had a good, albeit short, life.

An extra plus, my hubby does landscape maintenance and brings home all of the lovely fresh green grass clippings from his customer's yards that all of the chickens will love when the pasture grass gets drier! I bet a big pile of that yumminess will bring those CXs out to look for goodies!

Great to hear! We just ordered this year's meaties for the end of June. Only doing 25 this year. Still have some in the freezer!

ETA: Also ordered only girls. I liked that they grew slower, and we didn't feel as rushed to process them.

 

[LindaB220]

Great to hear! We just ordered this year's meaties for the end of June. Only doing 25 this year. Still have some in the freezer!

ETA: Also ordered only girls. I liked that they grew slower, and we didn't feel as rushed to process them.

I'm thinking that the end of June is the worst time of the year to start Meaties, but I notice you're in Canada and I'm in Louisiana.

I like the idea of girls also

 

[Baybrio]

I love this thread! I especially love the videos of those fat waddly cornish x chickens running around free ranging!! They make me smile!

My husband and I have decided to do our first run of Cornish X. Our chicks arrive on June 10th. We will have them in a tractor and move that in our pasture each day and I will let them out to free range as soon as they are big enough to not shimmy through the wire fence into my neighbor's yards. I work from home, so as long as I don't have to leave to meet clients, I can be there to supervise most of the time.

I was feeling very uneasy reading all of the negative threads about the Cornish X but this thread really gave me a positive outlook and made me feel so much better about our decision. I will not be feeding 24/7. I will feed twice a day and free range comfortably knowing that I will raise healthy birds that had a good, albeit short, life.

An extra plus, my hubby does landscape maintenance and brings home all of the lovely fresh green grass clippings from his customer's yards that all of the chickens will love when the pasture grass gets drier! I bet a big pile of that yumminess will bring those CXs out to look for goodies!

I'm sure you know this but just a warning, be really careful feeding grass clippings. 1. You don't want to feed your chickens grass that has been sprayed with herbicides or pesticides. 2. Grass clippings can be toxic when they are starting to decay (at least for horses, not sure about chickens) 3. Make sure there are no poisonous ornamental clippings in the load. Some ornamental are very toxic and while a chicken might not eat them when they are growing they might eat them in a clipping pile.

 

[Naturegirl44]

We just received our second batch of Cornish X meaties. Last year we did 6 and this year we ordered 10 from Frey's (but received 11) and we plan to free range them once they reach 4-6 weeks of age. I am excited!! I hated seeing the little ones stuck in the tractor, though we moved them around all day long. I want them to be chickens and run around etc for their short life.

One question.....we had an old man down the road who kept a few meat hens and didn't send them to freezer camp. He said the following spring they laid some eggs. Has anyone ever kept them? Not feed them grower and just let them be? to see what happens? How long would it live I wonder? Just a thought as 1 of our 11 had attached to me and I was thinking of just letting it be a chicken and feed it layer and scratch etc with the layers but my man says it will die of a heart attach after a short time.

Any thoughts on that?

 

[JessicaThistle]

I'm sure you know this but just a warning, be really careful feeding grass clippings. 1. You don't want to feed your chickens grass that has been sprayed with herbicides or pesticides. 2. Grass clippings can be toxic when they are starting to decay (at least for horses, not sure about chickens) 3. Make sure there are no poisonous ornamental clippings in the load. Some ornamental are very toxic and while a chicken might not eat them when they are growing they might eat them in a clipping pile.

Thank you for your opinion. I know what my husband uses on the lawns that he takes care of and am not concerned that they will hurt my chickens. Plus, he has fresh straight clippings every day without anything mixed in with them. That's what we will serve to our chickens.

If decaying clipping are dangerous to chickens, you would think that any compost or mulch pile of grass would be dangerous to them. However, many a chicken has happily pecked and scratched at a decaying compost pile. Horses and chickens are quite different and really not a good comparison.

Some people tend to worry and fear things that others do not. That is your fear and worry, not mine. I spend years of my life in fearful situations and choose to no longer live that way. I am not afraid of Round Up, GMOs or non-organic foods. No disrespect and I appreciate your feedback but I'm pretty sure my flock will be fine. I have done extensive research and armed myself with more information than most newbies do when moving forward with things.

 

[Findtex]

We just received our second batch of Cornish X meaties. Last year we did 6 and this year we ordered 10 from Frey's (but received 11) and we plan to free range them once they reach 4-6 weeks of age. I am excited!! I hated seeing the little ones stuck in the tractor, though we moved them around all day long. I want them to be chickens and run around etc for their short life.

One question.....we had an old man down the road who kept a few meat hens and didn't send them to freezer camp. He said the following spring they laid some eggs. Has anyone ever kept them? Not feed them grower and just let them be? to see what happens? How long would it live I wonder? Just a thought as 1 of our 11 had attached to me and I was thinking of just letting it be a chicken and feed it layer and scratch etc with the layers but my man says it will die of a heart attach after a short time.

Any thoughts on that?

I tried this several years ago, I found at about 14 weeks they got to heavy for their legs and just collapsed of the ground. Has anyone had a similar experience??????

 

[aoxa]

I'm thinking that the end of June is the worst time of the year to start Meaties, but I notice you're in Canada and I'm in Louisiana.

I like the idea of girls also

June is perfect here Not too hot (well usually) and not too cold.

I'm sure you know this but just a warning, be really careful feeding grass clippings. 1. You don't want to feed your chickens grass that has been sprayed with herbicides or pesticides. 2. Grass clippings can be toxic when they are starting to decay (at least for horses, not sure about chickens) 3. Make sure there are no poisonous ornamental clippings in the load. Some ornamental are very toxic and while a chicken might not eat them when they are growing they might eat them in a clipping pile.

I feed grass clippings to my penned birds. I don't use anything at all on my grass. No, decaying grass is not dangerous to chickens as far as I know. I have dried it out and used it for my goats/chickens/rabbits. Don't know about horses though.