I need to seperate my birds huh?!

[ashleymama42]

So I have 3 egg layers and 4 cornish cross.. and one RIR roo (6 mos old)
He sleeps on all of them at night.. the egg layers are 12 weeks, the cornish cross 8 weeks.. needless to say the cornish cross are 3x the size of my EL's and my rooster is trying to have his way with them.. They are all so good together at night and most ofthe time, but he is terrorizing these chicks here and there.. (about 4-5 lbs each now, so HUGE chicks) who do I seperate? the Cornish or the Roo? or do I leave them be? Whats the best way to handle this situation?

 

[Brunty_Farms]

The best way to handle this situation?..... In my opinion and past experiences they are ready to be butchered. At 8 weeks this is prime time to butcher if you wait much longer these little tanks will consume quite a bit of food!

 

[Teach97]

I am with the chicken for dinner idea...

 

[ashleymama42]

I wanted to wait a couple more weeksuntil about 10-11 weeks of age..

.. I have read other posts that said at 8 weeks, after bleeding out they were half their weight.. we are a family of 9, and I need a bigger bird or I have to cook them all for one dinner!!

 

[Brunty_Farms]

No that's not true. You can acount for approximatly 70% of live body weight for the dressed chicken.

So if you have a 6 lb bird at 8 weeks your looking at 4.5 lbs of chicken to cook.

If you do want to wait.... then yes I would seperate and grow them on a turkey grower.

 

[greyfields]

The rooster isn't going to seriously affect their rate of growth. What affects growth is when the Cornish X's become sexually active. At that point, they'll stop gaining as they spend their days and nights trying to figure out which end of the hen is the correct one, causing much chasing and consternation.