My broilers didn't completely feather out.

[Elke Beck]

At nine weeks they should be huge and ready for the freezer

The bus for Camp Kenmore will be at my house this weekend. I just got the plucker attachment for my drill, so I hope to get through the two CX plus a couple of Red Rangers (also 9 weeks old) that are becoming enough of a nuisance that I am willing to take them being a little scrawny rather than growing them out.

 

[CoopDeViIIe]

The bus for Camp Kenmore will be at my house this weekend. I just got the plucker attachment for my drill, so I hope to get through the two CX plus a couple of Red Rangers (also 9 weeks old) that are becoming enough of a nuisance that I am willing to take them being a little scrawny rather than growing them out.

Hey do you have a picture of the CX and the Red Ranger together for size comparison? I am finishing a batch of CX now and will start some Rangers soon and I am curious how long I will need to raise them to get them near comparable size with the CX.

 

[Elke Beck]

Hey do you have a picture of the CX and the Red Ranger together for size comparison? I am finishing a batch of CX now and will start some Rangers soon and I am curious how long I will need to raise them to get them near comparable size with the CX.

I don't have recent pictures. I will try to get some before I butcher this weekend.

Don't expect anything to compare to the CX. There is nothing that can grow as fast and put on as much meat. The Red Rangers do grow fast, and they will produce a big, meaty carcass, but it is not going to be as fast or as big as a CX.

The Red Rangers are taller and more "normal" chicken shaped than the CX. They have less breast meat and more on the legs than CX, but they don't have the scrawniness that dual purpose birds do. The best comparison for the CX is a bowling ball made of meat, where the Red Rangers are more like really hefty Rhode Island Reds. But it all tastes like chicken!

 

[CoopDeViIIe]

I don't have recent pictures. I will try to get some before I butcher this weekend.

Don't expect anything to compare to the CX. There is nothing that can grow as fast and put on as much meat. The Red Rangers do grow fast, and they will produce a big, meaty carcass, but it is not going to be as fast or as big as a CX.

The Red Rangers are taller and more "normal" chicken shaped than the CX. They have less breast meat and more on the legs than CX, but they don't have the scrawniness that dual purpose birds do. The best comparison for the CX is a bowling ball made of meat, where the Red Rangers are more like really hefty Rhode Island Reds. But it all tastes like chicken!

Interesting. My CX are being processed just short of the 9 week mark, and I plan on taking the Rangers to 11 weeks. I'm hoping the Rangers at 11 weeks can get close to the weight I get from the CX at 9.

 

[Elke Beck]

Here are pictures of a few of my mighty meaties at just over 9 weeks.

First, here are a CX and a Red Ranger pullet. You can see the size difference, but the real difference is when you pick them up. The CX is probably about 2 pounds heavier. The Red Ranger cockerel photo bombed the picture -- there's one in every crowd!


This picture has one of the largest Red Ranger cockerels and the remaining CX cockerel. Again, the appearance is less dramatic than the feel of picking each bird up. The CX is probably 3 pounds heavier.


And, finally, here is a picture of the CX from above. You can see how broad he is. To give you some sense of scale, the openings in the plastic fencing next to him are about 1 inch across.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Here are pictures of a few of my mighty meaties at just over 9 weeks.

First, here are a CX and a Red Ranger pullet. You can see the size difference, but the real difference is when you pick them up. The CX is probably about 2 pounds heavier. The Red Ranger cockerel photo bombed the picture -- there's one in every crowd!


This picture has one of the largest Red Ranger cockerels and the remaining CX cockerel. Again, the appearance is less dramatic than the feel of picking each bird up. The CX is probably 3 pounds heavier.


And, finally, here is a picture of the CX from above. You can see how broad he is. To give you some sense of scale, the openings in the plastic fencing next to him are about 1 inch across.

Are the CX and Red Ranger the same age? I know they take longer to get to harvest, but was wondering about their age. I have some coming in 2-3 weeks, and was wondering what you think of them in a side by side comparison with the CX

 

[CoopDeViIIe]

Great pictures. You can def. tell how much broader a CX is. I weighed a couple of my CX last night, the biggest one I grabbed was 7lbs. They are 7 1/2 weeks old.

 

[Elke Beck]

Are the CX and Red Ranger the same age? I know they take longer to get to harvest, but was wondering about their age. I have some coming in 2-3 weeks, and was wondering what you think of them in a side by side comparison with the CX

They came in the same shipment as day olds, so at most there is 24 hours difference in age. Right now the Red Rangers are mostly bone, but the CX is solid meat. OTOH, I have the feeling that if I do not kill the CX cockerel tomorrow, he will probably not make it much longer. It is starting to warm up, and he is really struggling with the heat.

You need to have realistic expectations for Red Rangers and the other slower growing meat bird varieties, or you are going to make a lot of negative comparisons to CX's. They will produce a nice, meaty carcass, but you are not going to get the same growth that you will with CXs. OTOH, since they are older when processed, they will have more flavor, and for me flavor is more important than getting a huge quantity of bland meat.

 

[Elke Beck]

Here's what the big Cornish X looked like after the deed was done. The carcass weighed almost 7.75 pounds, not including giblets, neck and feet. The soda bottle is there for scale. He is on a regular dinner plate, and you can barely see it.

 

[missnu01]

Wow. That's one heck of a chicken Dinner.
We have to process 8 chickens tomorrow or tuesday.
7 CX and one barnyard bantam rooster that while nice to people and attentive to the hens he is tearing them up pretty rough...We have more roosters than hens, but one rooster is a really big old White Rock rooster. I love him so much. All my other chickens I could eat in a moment, but not him...He is not very protective of the ladies, unless there's another rooster "tryin' to hit that"...He is also a very easy breeder. Never causes the hens issue even though some are just bantam sized. This new little guy is rough though. He hops on and enjoys the ride, where as the hens will get down and hold still for the big guy...Either way, Too many roosters and not yet enough hens...
I mean we have more that will come of age before too long, but right now we only have 9 adult chickens (that aren't meat birds) and 2 of them are roosters. So we have 7 hens and 2 roos...We have 17 laying breed chicks that are in the main coop now, but nowhere near adult size. Most of them are pullets...A few cockerels in there as well though, so...more to eat here in a few months or so...Whenever one starts being a nuisance...
I'm looking forward to getting the meat birds out of here. They are 4 times more trouble than the other chickens...probably because they just have to stay in my big brooder box because we originally planned on getting the meat birds and some layers, then in a few months after the CX were gone we would get ducks and turkeys, but when we got ready to order the CX every hatchery that ships them and has decent prices didn't have any, so we just went to the feed store...but because we just went to the feed store we ended up getting the CX, some layers, and ducks...
So what was going to be the meat bird coop became the duck coop and the meat birds are just stuck in brooder box limbo. It's 4x4 and we only have 9 CX so they aren't out of room, but I don't have room to put any large feeders or waterers...So every few days I re up the ducks and chickens, but the CX I have to feed everyday, and I have to water them multiple times throughout the day...I'm tired of doing it already...and we have 1 that is having some limping issues...All the others are fine, but they are close to 10 weeks now.
I hold them while my husband kills them and then we clean and pluck them together, or in stages if we are doing more than one. Which we will be...
Either way he is often gone, and when he is home we are trying to do some of the hundred projects on the house we have started and then not finished...or trying to I don't know what all, but we just keep putting everything off to start something else...
My husband loves planning and charting and shopping for home improvement projects, but soon after starting his masterpiece he becomes bored and starts looking for "the next big thing" and that is how I think this mess seems to happen to us.
Either way Tuesday will be the day even if I have to do the whole thing myself...We might be able to get to it monday, but the kids have a music thing at their school...then again after standing for a couple hours in a sweltering gym with 100 people crammed in a space for 40 I might feel like killing something so we might get to them on Monday...just depends.