Love this Forum! New to Raising Chickens

[RaisinChicks7]

We are on our second flock of meat and laying birds. I wanted to post about our first flock. The first flock of meat birds, I’d have to say, were a disaster. They were Cornish X, very well cared for. They were SR and we had 25 of them. We lost both roosters. They died at 3.5 weeks from unknown causes. It appeared they were not passing feces. Both passed within days of each other. Minimal feathering and very dark abdomens. Another smaller one, died in my arms. She had a seizure and was gone. Just before 4 weeks old. We culled the rest between 6 and 8 weeks and kept 2, as they were too small to kill. They lay beautiful eggs for us now and are at least 12 lb each. They lay early also at 3.5 months old. Shockingly so. We call one of them our disabled chicken because she’s so big we have to help her sometimes back into the coup. They were hatched Oct 26, 2021 and they do gain 1 pound a week until they’re about 5 weeks, then it slows to about 3/4 pound a week. Our average bird, dressed was 3.8 lbs to 4.2 lbs and they are excellent tasting. The other thing I noticed was the inconsistency of size with the Cornish X. There were really tall ones that were more aggressive and shorter stout ones that were docile. Very strange mixture of statures and attitudes. I will not be purchasing Cornish X again as it was too heartbreaking to see what happens to the weaker ones and overall I don’t feel they are a good breed for anything. The reason I say that is, even free ranging, these birds struggle to move and enjoy life. The 2 we saved are very sweet birds (Dora the Explorer and Nora her companion) however I don’t know how long they will live and remain healthy. After them, I won’t be doing it again. Lesson learned. Hope this helps anyone contemplating keeping Cornish X to see how it goes - even though they’re adorable.

 

[Grammy60]

Hello and welcome to BYC So happy you have joined us.

 

[rjohns39]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us

Where did you get your CX from, not all hatcheries are created equal. What did you feed them? FWIW I've had my best luck with McMurray's CX. I fed them 18% protein through out their life. I found that feeding them twice per day, starting week 4 all they can consume in 45 minutes, cut my mortality rate down to less than 5%. I raise mine in a tractor and move them daily. My best batch had an average carcass weight of about 5.5lbs. I harvest at 8 weeks.

 

[RaisinChicks7]

Hello and welcome to BYC So happy you have joined us.

Thank you so much! Happy to be here.

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.

 

[N F C]

Thanks for joining us!

 

[RaisinChicks7]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us

Where did you get your CX from, not all hatcheries are created equal. What did you feed them? FWIW I've had my best luck with McMurray's CX. I fed them 18% protein through out their life. I found that feeding them twice per day, starting week 4 all they can consume in 45 minutes, cut my mortality rate down to less than 5%. I raise mine in a tractor and move them daily. My best batch had an average carcass weight of about 5.5lbs. I harvest at 8 weeks.

We bought them from Meyer Hatchery. All arrived alive. We fed them Knights chick starter 21% protein 12 hours on 12 off after 2 weeks because they were eating constantly and we wanted to slow down that weight gain. Most were healthy but a few were sickly. We also had one with splayed leg that became arthritic very quickly. It looked like she was bitten, possibly a bug bite, it swelled up and stayed that way. I put natural ointment on her joint and ranged her leg which helped but couldn’t fix the problem. Sweet bird and a little survivor. We culled her at 8 weeks because she was very small at 6.

 

[RaisinChicks7]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.

Thank you!

 

[Dr Evy]

Welcome to BYC. We’re so glad you joined!

 

[luckycluk]

Thank you so much! Happy to be here.

We are on our second flock of meat and laying birds. I wanted to post about our first flock. The first flock of meat birds, I’d have to say, were a disaster. They were Cornish X, very well cared for. They were SR and we had 25 of them. We lost both roosters. They died at 3.5 weeks from unknown causes. It appeared they were not passing feces. Both passed within days of each other. Minimal feathering and very dark abdomens. Another smaller one, died in my arms. She had a seizure and was gone. Just before 4 weeks old. We culled the rest between 6 and 8 weeks and kept 2, as they were too small to kill. They lay beautiful eggs for us now and are at least 12 lb each. They lay early also at 3.5 months old. Shockingly so. We call one of them our disabled chicken because she’s so big we have to help her sometimes back into the coup. They were hatched Oct 26, 2021 and they do gain 1 pound a week until they’re about 5 weeks, then it slows to about 3/4 pound a week. Our average bird, dressed was 3.8 lbs to 4.2 lbs and they are excellent tasting. The other thing I noticed was the inconsistency of size with the Cornish X. There were really tall ones that were more aggressive and shorter stout ones that were docile. Very strange mixture of statures and attitudes. I will not be purchasing Cornish X again as it was too heartbreaking to see what happens to the weaker ones and overall I don’t feel they are a good breed for anything. The reason I say that is, even free ranging, these birds struggle to move and enjoy life. The 2 we saved are very sweet birds (Dora the Explorer and Nora her companion) however I don’t know how long they will live and remain healthy. After them, I won’t be doing it again. Lesson learned. Hope this helps anyone contemplating keeping Cornish X to see how it goes - even though they’re adorable.

Welcome glad your here. After 7 years I’m still learning. I’m sorry you had such a heartbreaking experience. I’m soft hearted, so far I haven’t been able to kill any to eat, but I have gave a couple to a neighbor for there stew pot.