Letting my broody raise 20 meaties. Now I have a rooster raising 50 CX chicks~new batch!

[Beekissed]

This batch are smaller at this age than my last batch were so I'm thinking about mixing a little layer mash in their whole grain mix to beef it up just a tad. They are extremely healthy! They are constantly on the move...you can see the one in the pic looks a little sleepy? That is because I took him from a well-earned nap that most of them seem to have at least once a day...a short catnap to recharge the batteries and then out there like crazy birds again on the never ending search for food.

The only time I can catch one of these little imps is to sneak up while they are napping or take them off the feeding trough when I feed...even then they are kinda wary. They are very fast movers!

 

[gg706]

I want to keep this thread alive! It is such a good one!

 

[Beekissed]

I'm at the 5 wk mark and I can hardly get these birds to come into the coop for a feeding....some of them do but most stay out and forage. I have very little feed consumption going on but each night the CX are going to bed with bulging crops. You can feel them in your hand and it isn't "greens"....there has to be a thousand bugs and worms in there! Hard, bumpy things...have to be the bugs.

I've decided that I will pen them into the coop next week and just make them eat some feed for a couple of weeks until they are too big to get out of my electric paddock fence and then let them out into it again. I can't keep these boogers inside that fence and they are all over 2-3 acres from daylight to almost full dark!

It is a pure-D miracle that none have been snatched by a predator...heck, who would know if they had? Doing a head count is impossible with how much they move! Last count had me at the amount I should have but only the end will tell if I lost any.

I'll try to get some pics today if I can get close enough to a group to get a close up...they are fast.

So far I've used approx. $41 in feed for these 50 CX at the 5 wk mark. Five more weeks to go before processing and I expect feed usage will increase when they are penned....if I dare go in there without a club!

 

[Beekissed]

Got 5 wk pics today. Kept them penned until the afternoon and then let them out, which is why you see plenty of them still in the fence...it takes them about 5 min. to seep through the squares and take off up that hill and into the woods.

 

[ReikiStar]

Got 5 wk pics today. Kept them penned until the afternoon and then let them out, which is why you see plenty of them still in the fence...it takes them about 5 min. to seep through the squares and take off up that hill and into the woods.

Love how you're raising your CX chicks! They will have had a great chicken-like life and you'll have way healthier BBQ in the future.

 

[Beekissed]

I love it for that reason and I also love how cheaply I'm raising a lot of meat. I also enjoy destroying the stereotypes around this breed...they aren't lazy, they aren't prone to die for no reason, they aren't stinky or gross. They are just chickens that have a high metabolism that people are exploiting. If they can be raised without discomfort, without eating until they are so miserable they cannot stand up, then why not do it?

So far I've used $41 in feed....about the same as I would have if these were DP birds.

 

[vfem]

My cornish x are now 2 1/2 weeks old and doing great. They have outgrown the pen so we building a tractor coop from scraps this weekend if the weather allows for it. They're eating GOOD that's for sure.... which brings me to a question.

How many ounces per bird should they eat a day, or should they really just eat until their hearts content. Right now they are going through 2 lbs of food a day give or take what the duck eats as well. I throw a handful of scratch in their since mama needs some grub, and 2 hard boiled eggs a day.

They literally DEVOUR what ever goes in there. They also wipe out 2 quarts of water a day. Don't know if its just the meaties or that duck may be making a mess and knocking water everywhere!

Anyways, was hoping to find some real weights I should be concerned with.... Thanks!

I'll share pictures soon, I've been sick and dragging so forgive me for not keeping up on these guys on here.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm sorry you've been feeling sick.

That whole feeding thing is the issue with CX....they will pretty much eat whatever you put in there. If you want them to gain fast, you usually provide 12 hr continuous feeds and 12 hr without....there is some schedule out there that will tell you how and how much.

I never much paid attention to anyone else when it comes to how much to feed...I generally treat them like I would a baby. Full belly, plenty to drink, clean and dry? Yes? Well, then you're okay until it's time to feed you again! Take a nap or play now.

No, you just ate and shouldn't be hungry just yet, so you'll have to wait until it's time...no you will not die of starvation until it's time to eat again!

Yeah..I know...I'm crazy, but I've raised three big boys that are healthy and tall~ big enough to throw me around~ so there must be something to it.

 

[Beekissed]

It is 8:20 on a cloudy, rainy day and almost too dark to see and my CX are still ranging and foraging all over these acres....I've given up on trying to get them into the coop by dark and just have started going and closing up things by flashlight. A good half of these birds ate only a little this morning and haven't been back to the coop all day since...they could care less about grain based feeds when the earthworms are coming out of their tunnels after the rains we got today.

 

[vfem]

Oh I know the feeling, all day with the wetness happy chickens EVERYWHERE! Bugs everywhere!!!

Still gotta build the tractor coop... growing like nuts!!!