Life Span in Cornish White Cross

[BirchHatchery]

my cornish rooster Big John is 2 years old and he breeds the leghorn hens like crazy he was kept on a strict diet for first year and free ranged as much as possible today he lives with the hens and is probly 15 pounds or more and runs around and eats all the time now i started with 10 5 hens and 5 roos all the hens died and all the roos lived once the roos got around a year old they got so violent to echother you would of thought they were Gamefowl so i culled all but the biggest one

 

[mstricer]

Not trying to sound mean but, how can a 15 lb bird breed with a small leghorn like crazy. I was having problems with mybig Marans roo mating with the smaller birds. Doesn't he squish them?

 

[BirchHatchery]

i dont no but i see him every day the leghorns squat for him Nature always finds a way

 

[mstricer]

Have you tried hatching those eggs to see if you can get a nice DP. It might go quicker and be meatie. Worth a try. I hatched out some FR/Marans and they were big and yummy.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Sounds like a Calvinia !

Sorry to hear about her buddy.
Best of luck with your meaty hen.

 

[00 Turok]

@ kuntrygirl... I'm new to chicken raising. Got started into it 2 weeks ago when I found some peeps by a road side. Because they are growing so fast... ragerkid2 ... thought I had meat birds & it looks like they are cornish cross. I've just learned that they only live for about 12 weeks, but then I stumbled on to your post how yours lived to be 4 years. I have 2 chicks & they are 2 weeks old now & I'm feeding them chick starter.

Any details you could give me in addition to what you told Hucklekree for his cornish x ? Like what adult feed should I get for them? I'd like to give them a longer happy life than 12 weeks.

 

[fried green eggs]

@ kuntrygirl... I'm new to chicken raising. Got started into it 2 weeks ago when I found some peeps by a road side. Because they are growing so fast... ragerkid2 ... thought I had meat birds & it looks like they are cornish cross. I've just learned that they only live for about 12 weeks, but then I stumbled on to your post how yours lived to be 4 years. I have 2 chicks & they are 2 weeks old now & I'm feeding them chick starter.

Any details you could give me in addition to what you told Hucklekree for his cornish x ? Like what adult feed should I get for them? I'd like to give them a longer happy life than 12 weeks.

Hi, This is a old post. You should send her a PM as she might not see your questions here. Start limited feed now if, you want them around for long and healthy. Good Luck.

 

[kuntrygirl]

@ kuntrygirl... I'm new to chicken raising.  Got started into it 2 weeks ago when I found some peeps by a road side.  Because they are growing so fast... ragerkid2 ... thought I had meat birds & it looks like they are cornish cross.  I've just learned that they only live for about 12 weeks, but then I stumbled on to your post how yours lived to be 4 years.  I have 2 chicks & they are 2 weeks old now & I'm feeding them chick starter.

Any details you could give me in addition to what you told Hucklekree for his cornish x ?  Like what adult feed should I get for them?  I'd like to give them a longer happy life than 12 weeks.

I will send you a PM. Thanks

 

[bluere11e]

Quote:
Good luck with yours. Keep us posted.
Did these hens lay many eggs?

 

[kuntrygirl]

I have had some that lived to be a little older 4 years old.

The girls were dust bathing on this day.

My girls were too big to fly on the roost.  I sometimes would put them on the roosts, if at coop closing time, their eyes were sparkling with envy to get on the roost.  I would lift them up and place them on the roost.  I had to take them off and place them on the ground the next morning.  Sometimes, they just chose to sleep on the ground in their chicken house.  I made their ground sleeping arrangements as comfy as possible.


I took my time and studied the breed to find out how I could keep them around longer.  Of course there was very little information to no information out there because no one really keeps this breed around a long time.   There are a few other people on this forum who have raised Cornish as pets and I am one of them.  My girls had an excellent chicken life.  Anyone who knows me know that my animals have 5 star status in terms of health, nutrition and living arrangements.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

This is what I did that allowed them to live so long.

1.  Do not overfeed.

2.  Free range as often as possible (daily if you can).  Free ranging also promotes exercise.  They have to walk and run to get those juicy bugs.

3.  Place feeder several feet away from them, so that they have to walk (exercise) to get their food.

4.  Feed healthy snacks (fruits

Did these hens lay many eggs?

 

They layed a few eggs a week and they layed double yokers.