My Cornish X experiment

[GoodwinFarm]

Last year I lost every one of my meat birds to a fisher (like a weasel). I have them in a tractor and thought they'd be safe cause they were completey enclosed with hardware cloth. The animal dug underneath the edges and killed all of them, only eating a couple. I solved the problem by having a completely enclosed plywood box at one end of my tractor. At night, I shoo the birds into the box and lock the door. They don't get any food in there, but that's ok, my birds are still huge at the end.

I feel your pain, Jacob. It's so disheartening to find dead birds. Good luck finding a solution for the predators, I'm sure you'll work it out.

 

[JacobH]

I have a 3 sided box at the end that they sleep in. It must have lured them out somehow. I knew to begin with I should have enclosed it on 4 sides with a door. Just didn't think anything would happen. Especially after 6-7 weeks of nothing..

 

[LindaB220]

Well...walked out to 11 dead bodies this morning. So frustrating. Something just reached through and ripped the heads off. Didnt eat a single bite. They were all spread around the edges of the tractor. Whatever it was did it for sport. Idiot.

Honestly, I don't even care about money. I'm really more upset that we lose that meat for our family. That's the whole point, was to give our food a better life. Oh well, it happens I guess.

Here's what I'm buying for this very same problem. THIS payday.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/20822530

 

[JessicaThistle]

Have you considered having a hot wire around your fence? I'm lucky to have a neighbor that trains horses and has an electric fence around her perimeter and we had one too that wasn't hot. She let us link to her electric fence. We wired around our tractor and just attach to her fence. The hot wire is attached to the tractor and as I move the tractor along I move the cord along with it.

 

[The Old Yolks]

My 3 week old meaties. I have raised these now for 6 years and have no complaints about the breed. They serve the purpose they were created for. Excellent feed to growth conversion and ready for processing in a very short amount of time.

 

[duluthralphie]

My 3 week old meaties. I have raised these now for 6 years and have no complaints about the breed. They serve the purpose they were created for. Excellent feed to growth conversion and ready for processing in a very short amount of time.

Those look large for 3 weeks, How are you raising them?

What feed? How long at a time do you feed them?

What is the date you have in mind for sending them to freezer camp?

Do you free range them at all?

 

[Double Kindness]

I'm starting to think about electrifying my fences too, dumb squirrels are vexing my chickens.

My 25 dp meaties surround me every time I go outside and they follow me around the yard. I got 2 meat rabbit does in a hutch on the one side of my barn without chickens lol. I'm planning for muscovy ducks, cortunix quail and marans in the spring.

I keep trying to suck up to my bf and show him everyone's pictures of their cornish x and now I know there's a feed store an hour drive from me that has 50 1 week old cornish x and I'm wearing him down I think.

Saturday morning I'll call the feed store to see if they have any still and wake him up with fresh baked pumpkin cinnamon rolls to get him more receptive to my further suggestions to go get just 15 cornish x chicks please please please.

He loves chicken tv as much as I do.. and if they are already a week old they can hang in the barn in a brooder box built from closet doors for a week before mingling amongst my 24 dp meaties that are about 8 weeks old right now.. since they already have an enclosed pen with shade. We could easily build a little secure hutch for them to go into at night.

It all depends on getting him to agree to drive an hour each way round trip, but since there's really no additional work needed to be done as I have everything ready.

Has anyone dealt with ideal hatchery? Or know of anyone that takes paypal for cornish x to ship Monday? As that's another way to get 15 cornish x into my yard as I'm picking up a dozen white bresse that are shipping Monday, so 1 trip to the post office to pick up 2 boxes of 12-15 or so white chicks, my bf will be none the wiser. As it looks like another 8 weeks anyways to go with my dp meaties, but it would be a good side by side comparison right? Same environment, food etc, just starting different times.

I do worry about my dp meaties ganging up on the cx, but if there are 15 of them to 24 dp, that might be fair numbers.

We need to get a post hole digger to borrow, to start digging holes for my ayam cemani, white bresse & haffie coop/run before winter decides to come back and stay for a nice while. Where the dp meaties are now, the 1 part that is sectioned off as we enclosed a small area then enclosed the raised garden bed a few weeks after that and they have full run of the area, but the ppl sized door can be closed after the dp meaties and cx gone, can house the chicks in the barn now if needed and or muscovy ducks in the spring.

Next summer I hope my garden is far better/bigger/prolific and to get a stockroom/pantry started in my basement.

You guys make me think that I need ti really do this, as I want to eat well and I have started to really not be able to tolerate to eat "food" from the store. It tastes so wrong and chemically to me. Eating should be a pleasure not a chore. Plus my animals make me very happy, and I prefer this crazy chicken lady happy to the person I used to be a year ago by far!

We're starting to talk about where we want to look in Colorado for a place to set up to be off the grid and self sustainable with big greenhouses, hemp farm, goats, cattle, poultry, rabbits everything!

Thanks for sharing your experience, I mighf have to look into hoover hatchery for my spring birds.

 

[akhomesteader]

Sometimes, less is more. I have been raising free range chickens for 30 years and found that the Cornish Roaster is great for free range growing. Also, once you get them past the danger stage of heart attacks and leg problems(which are less common in the roaster) you can breed them with the dark Cornish to produce a nice plump utility breed that is a good winter layer, good mother and setter, naturally predator aware and dresses out nicely for great meat production.

Weighing chicks and monitoring them the way you are describing is overkill. There is no benefit from it. The free range birds are definitely a 100% improvement in taste and quality.
Try this test. Buy one from the store, and cook it along side the one you free range. Put them in the 'fridge and the next morning the store bought one will be covered in fat, while the free range will still look good and lean, but still have the same amount of meat. Free range is the way to go, and if that's not possible, then large enclosure with scratch grains and grower fed sparingly, is a gret second best.
Good luck
Chicken Tin (Alaska)

 

[KCMOLisa]

The Old Yolks - Yours look WAY bigger than mine do at 3 weeks. My biggest one is probably around 1 3/4 pound right now, if that. Do you let them free range or restrict feed?

I think mine are burning a lot of calories because every time I look out, it looks like they're training for the chicken Olympics! Seriously, they love running and flapping all over the place and especially running at each other and chest bumping.

 

[duluthralphie]

I just weighed mine tonight. They are between 5 1/2/ and 6 1/2 lbs....

That is right on target, I think!


The ones I weighed were not happy about it.