keeping cornish crosses for layers?

[muell112]

We have two cornish crosses left (the rest were butchered yesterday). This is our first year with chickens and I'm wondering if anyone keeps them longer term (they are about 11 weeks old now). The rooster is kind of a beast size-wise but the hen is quite a bit smaller and seems fairly agile. Do they lay well or does the fast growth deplete their bodies of calcium too much? What kind of life span can be expected?

 

[lux_interior]

they will probably die of heart or leg problems... They are bred to die early, and that's what they'll do, sorry

 

[aussieheelr]

Hmm I've heard that people who have tried this end up in heartache. They overgrow and end up having cardiac problems and other difficuties. Let us know how it goes if you try.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I have 6 Cornish and they are 7 months old. I have them as pets and are not intended for butchering. Mine are doing great with no problems, no heart attacks, no legs problems. I know this is still the early stages but I am keeping my fingers crossed. I think someone on here had a Cornish for 2 years, so, i think it's possible to keep them around a while. As far as the feeding, you have to let them free range as often as possible allowing them to eat grass and bugs. I feed them 1 time in the morning and the rest of the day is free ranging with maybe fruit as healthy snacks. My girls seem happy and so am I. As far as the life span, I think it just depends. When it's time for them to go, they will go. I hope to have mine around for a while but I can keep you posted if I begin to experience any problems, what problems they are experiencing and at what age.

The Cornish as my best layers. They lay VERY NICE, large white eggs. They lay every day. They are the only chickens that I have that produce double yokes. People that I sell eggs to brag about the double yokers and beg for more of my Cornish's eggs.

 

[muell112]

Wow, double yolks, huh? I had no idea. Now, did you have yours on that feeding schedule since hatching? I've been feeding mine once before work (unlimited food for about 20-30 minutes) and then when I get home (couple of hours). I fed them the broiler crumbles then fatten/finisher as instructed. The do seem to like the egg layer food as well though, and spend a lot of time outdoors pecking around in the grass.

 

[lux_interior]

Quote:
Are yours regular Cornish though, or cornish X? Regular cornish will live fine, it's the crosses meant for meat birds that will not last.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Yes, mine are the Cornish X. This is how i acquired my girls. About 6 months ago, I lost about 10 hens to a mean owl. My cousin felt sorry for me and decided to surprise me with more chickens. Poor thing, he doesn't know anything about chickens at all. He went to a feed store and saw 6 pretty white chickens and decided to buy them. When I got home, I saw the chickens in a pen and I was speechless. At first I thought........there is no way that my cousin bought these birds for me KNOWING that I don't kill any of my animals. After questioning him, he just went to the feed store and said he wanted "those chickens" and the man sold him the chickens. I called the feed store and asked them (as if i had no idea what those birds were) did they have any more of those "pretty white big birds" and he said yes. I asked him what kind were they and he said they were Cornish X. I asked him where did he get them from and how old were they. He said that he went to a chicken farm in North Louisiana and purchased a bunch of them. He said that they were about 8 weeks old and ready to be butchered. So the feed store guy confirmed by suspicions. I felt so sorry for the girls, so I decided to keep them. I figured that it was meant for them to be rescued. So, yea they are the Cornish X. They look like they weigh about 10 lbs or more but they don't have trouble walking. Someone came by and offered by $15.00 for 1 chicken but I refused the offer.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
Well, I got mine at 8 weeks old, so I immediately changed their feeding schedule. Believe it or not, I started them with starter/grower (as if they needed to grow huh?) and then transitioned them to laying pellets at about 16 weeks. I put out laying pellets about 6am in the morning and that is all of the feed that they get for the day. They are housed with my Barred Rocks and New Hampshires. A total of 20 chickens in that group, so i leave enough food for all of them to eat. They are all about the same age, which is why I housed them all together. They are allowed to free range all day long. I have a lots of grass and many bugs for them to chase and eat. I do not feed them any more pellets, corn, etc when I get off from work. When I get home from work, I make sure that they have plenty of fresh water. Now, I do move them to my actual yard for them to free range even more. When I open the gate to where they are, they take off running and try to fly. It's so funny to see them trying to fly. They start dust bathing and just looking for more bugs to eat. They do not get any more pellets when I get home from work. I get free watermelon daily. My neighbor is the local watermelon guy, so he leaves me a bunch of watermelon, so I feed them watemelon or other fruit. I try to give them only healthy snacks like fruit and vegetable. Their fav treat is the watermelon. I don't know if this is helping them live longer or not but so far, I have been very lucky.

 

[nicalandia]

please don´t worry, as long as you keep them free range and don´t give them lots of food they will do just fine, believe me..ask mrs raroo she has 2 beautiful cornisX hens and they are doing fine......I wonder do you want them exclusively for egg leying? or more of a dual purpose bird? I have kept Broiler Sire lines, Broiler Dame lines and the final end product broilerX...in the Broiler Sire line the Hens start laying around 8 or 9 month old, they ley but are not that good leying, for the Dame Sire line the hens start laying around 5 month old and they ley very very well, can you tell the difference between them?sure one is very tall and heavy hen and don´t ley well and the other is a short and heavy hen that leys very well..the end product hens(the ones that you have) their ley will varied, remember that leying egg rate is a polygenic trait and some genes are autosomal and some are sex linked, and your hens only Z sex chromosome comes from their Broiler Sire parent..

 

[Brunty_Farms]

They will be fine, feed them a restricted feed though and low protein. Make them forage for part of the day so they can get their exercise.

The breeders of these birds are identical... they get very big very quick. They are fed a special diet and only can eat at certain times. Obviously the breeders breed, walk, eat, and drink just fine. It's down to a science though... feed, lighting, types of feeders, and so on.

They lay large brown eggs but with out the adequate maintence, they will get fat and lazy. They will never lay as good as a "layer" breed but you should get a few eggs out of them.