I think i screwed up need quick help please!!

[greyfields]

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no no no

 

[living2ride]

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No kidding! What a deal!

 

[living2ride]

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No, a cornish is one breed.
White rock is another.
A cornish-x or a cornish-rock is a specialized cross between the two breeds (I think the cornish has to be the rooster if I remember right...).

With specially selected birds, this cross produces birds for meat that grow at a ridiculously fast rate and get quite huge. I grew out about 15 birds last year to try it out. AMAZING growth rate.

I fed the entire time with the meat chicken ration sold at Farm and Fleet. Mine had feed in front of them 24/7, but I've since learned that that is being wasteful, because after a certain amount of food, their bodies aren't using it to grow anymore, they are just converting it directly to poop, and that by removing the food at night, they will still grow just as big - and cost me less to feed. Sounds like a good plan, and I'll be trying that this time. Plus, it will be less likely to draw rats and mice that way.

Last year, we had ours processed at 8 weeks and I weighed each bagged chicken when it was done. They were between 4.5 and 7.5 lbs. after processing, and they were delicious.

This cross has been developed to eat. If you don't process them between about 6 & 9 weeks, the majority of them will get so big that their legs will no longer support them and /or they will die of heart attacks. There's always someone out there that had a cornish-x for years and years that layed eggs for them and was the best chicken ever. But that's not the norm. Also, not just any old cornish/rock cross will produce a good meat bird. Hatcheries are using stock that they have tested and developed over many, many years.

It's a whole different ballgame than raising laying birds. I found it strange too, so I did all kinds of looking things up and asking questions before I gave it a try. It just seems weird that it would be so different, but it is. I was also afraid that it would be too hard for me to have them processed, but by that time, they were so big and gross and stinky that I was actually glad to see them go. Besides, I knew that they were going to die one way or another. So it was easier to do than I had expected. This year I'm going to do 30 birds.

 

[greyfields]

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In theory this is right. But, the "Cornish" and "Rock" look nothing like the purebreed versions of the birds. The parent strains are in themselves hybrids and broilers are made doing double crosses.

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This is conjecture. I've never read a scientific paper proving this, but direct me to one if you can find it.

From the other perspective, Cornish Crosses are programmed genetically to do nothing but grow. They will grow even in the face of a nutritional defficiency by robbing their bones and organs as needed to keep up. So, the other perspective is to keep food in from of them as often as possible.

There are also different broilers out there which have better genetics and won't suffer from the same issues the jumbo Cornish Crosses will.

 

[living2ride]

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I no longer remember where I heard/read it, but I'm going to experiment with it this time around. They will still have feed in front of them for a full 16 hours a day, and it might not cost me an arm and a leg (or a beak and a wing...

) to feed them around the clock. I think it's worth a try. If they seem weaker, or they don't grow as well as they did last year, I just won't try it again the next time. However, I've talked to two different individuals who have done this the past few years, and they've had good results from it.

 

[noodles]

so where would i find these birds??

 

[MissPrissy]

I got my jumbo cornish from McMurray.

 

[leokat75]

Well I feel better, mine are doing GREAT by all reports.

I did 5 Cornish X, first time for meat birds at my house.

One died at about 7 weeks, but it was alway behind the others, I wasn't shocked.

The other 4 are 12 weeks old and going to the processor Saturday. They are HUGE. But no heart attacks and no leg problems they still chase each other around.

I had a set amount that I fed them daily. What ever amount would run out about "sun down". I was not liking the "lazy pig chickens", so half the food daily is scattered and they have to get off their behinds and find it. This also lead to them actually free ranging a bit. Most effective with that was I shove handfuls of greens in the wire of their pen twice a day. (It has 2x2 openings, so I just shove enough that it sort of hangs there and they have to pull it out. If I put it about eye level they started getting curious. Within a day or two they were eating the greens first before going after the grain. Now I HAVE to put the greens out before reaching into fill their food bowl otherwise they riot.

Can't wait to see what these taste like.

Kat

 

[MissPrissy]

Excellent job, Kat!

 

[living2ride]

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That's encouraging! I just could not get mine to eat greens or veggies or anything. Even well chopped in the food processor. I tried everything, and it just drew (more) flies. I'm going to try again with the batch I just got today and try giving the greens before the feed too. Thanks for the info.