We've never had meat birds before, but are going to try this year. Our local elevator's deadline for ordering is 1 April. Before I do I was wondering whether there is a fairly high survival rate. That is, if I want to end up with 20 birds in my freezer, should I buy 30? Or will all 20 probably make it? Does the sex matter? Thanks in advance! Frog
My experience with cornish x has been good so far. We got 11 birds 2 weeks ago and have had zero losses at this point. I had a friend who had this breed last year and did have a few losses, but it was because she waited too long to butcher them. She was trying to get them to 12 weeks old, which was a mistake. She lost 2-3 birds to heart attack because she waited so long.
I have great success Cornish X. May loose 1-2% but never very many. They are fast growing, eating and pooping machines. They drink alot of water. I like cleaning the coop every other week or so to keep the smell down. They have a very buttery smell. If you want large birds, order roosters. You dont need to order them from your feedmill. Meyer Hatchery has a great web site and will ship them usps. They travel just fine and the post office takes good care of them!
As long as you dont wait too long before butchering them you should be fine. The only birds Ive ever lost are when I let them grow really big and then one or two will have their legs go out. I think as long as they have enough movement from walking around they tend to have really good survival rates.
