I have a cornish!!?? has to be culled, how did he get in my flock?pics

[momoftwinsinwi]

I sent some pic's to "Silkie" (Diana) and she said that yes, in fact I do have a cornish and he should be culled....right about now (based on his age) of 8 weeks. Kinda of sad about this...but I don't want him to have a heart attack or something and if he's going to go, I think I'd rather enjoy him for dinner than finding him dead. Here's some pic's I took this afternoon, my flock is 8 production reds (1 of which is a rooster) and 8 CA whites -you'll notice Big Bertha aka "Farley" immediately...look at the tree trunks for legs vs the other chickens!! LOL

 

[Bubba]

Thats to bad hes a good looking bird.

Bubba

 

[mlheran]

I'm afraid I don't have any advice for you about him, but I have to say I've never seen a CornishX looking so clean and healthy (except on BYC, of course)! Good job!

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, it's amazing how clean and healthy he looks! I would eat him but you can always try and keep him alive. People have done it. I bet he got in your flock on accident by getting mixed up with the cali whites. They do look awefully similar as chicks, their difference only starts to show at like 3-5 days where it's already been shipped to you.

Since he is so healthy though... you can take a chance and keep him for another few weeks or up to a month and have like a 10 lb table bird! My guess now is that he is a 6 lb table bird... so about 8-9 lbs alive. Table weight is about .75-.8 of live weight. If you do butcher, don't forget to withhold feed overnight... else the removal in internals will be very messy. Keep an eye on his health and judge when is best to do the deed.

 

[momoftwinsinwi]

I think I'll keep him around a while, see how he does. Thanks everyone!

 

[theOEGBman]

8 weeks isnt a death sentence for Cornish X!!

Mine is about a year old! He's getting a little slow now, but he's still doing ok. I do not limit his food either.

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, 8 weeks isn't a death sentence, as long as the bird is healthy it can live longer. It's just that a majority of them don't make it very well past that age. I do believe someone had a broody cornish x hen once who successfully raised a batch of chicks. It can be done but it depends on the bird and it's health. 8 weeks isn't a rule, but often you can begin experiencing losses around that time, especially when weather is hot as they are heavier and harder to cool down. It really just depends on why you are keeping the birds.

 

[V Chic Chick]

I see he is holding his beak open in all of those pictures . . . I don't know how hot it is where you live (I have NO knowledge of US geography, beyond NYC, Florida, California and Texas) but he is either really struggling with the heat or he is having trouble breathing due to his weight.

Anyway, if you do decide to keep him then the golden rule is ration his food. Cornish X literally eat themselves to death, so you do have to ration their food a lot . . . MizDiz from the boards had one that lived to about a year old, so she might be able to give you more advice.

 

[momoftwinsinwi]

His crop, today, looked too big but I was not ready to "cull" so I said "lets's wait a day". He's such a great bird, well see what he does,,,or doesn't do, I'll keep ya'll updated and thanks for being there!

 

[silkiechicken]

Good luck!