My Cornish X experiment

[LindaB220]

Wow this thread really took off

The birds are bare by design

Minimal amount feathering to make it easier for plucking they are even breeding them in warmer countries with no feathers
since they do have issues with warm weather

Pluck a normal chicken and you will see the difference it is night and day for the amount of feathers

I've been raising these birds now for a few years and learn much about their traits

All my meat birds I order get treated like the rest of my Americana flock
You get some poor doers in a batch and not to worry it is normal

This season I ordered some birds and had a 70% lost complained to the hatchery and they replaced them
with no issues with plenty of extras they still did poor not sure if it was who they do business with or just
a bad breeding cycle with the breeders

My understanding there is only about a handful of breeders for meat birds but plenty of hatcheries

All my birds get fed once a day and then forage for the rest of day with the other birds they just take twice as long to get to weight

I also have a project going on 5 years now crossing these meaties with my Americana's I am now in the 3rd generation and seeing much progress

I have a few meaties I kept for breeding going into their 2 winter with no problems

These birds lay less eggs than a normal chicken but are doing fine and breed without problems

Without getting into a long story about my project I hope to have a Americana Meat bird breeding consistent this spring

I did this project because I like the colored eggs and wanted more meat on the Americana so I decided to see for myself if this could be done

Keep us up to date on your project birds. Love the idea.

 

[duluthralphie]

My babies after 14 hours without food rushing out of the brooder/tractor to eat..


As you can see they are not as hungry as you would expect, I put it down to the way I raised them, limiting feed and feeding times, Forcing them to forage.

Sorry about my sloppy socks and shorts, I did not plan to be on video when I went out to do chores. Had I known I would be on video, I would have worn a tux.

Narration is provided by my 4 year old granddaughter..

 

[The Old Yolks]

My chicks were 3 weeks and 3 days when I took that photo. Their butts are bare because they haven't yet feathered and most likely wont before they go to butcher. They are right on schedule for growth, I'm not sure why you would think they were "too big" for their age. Perhaps it is just the photo or the fact that there are 50+ of them grouped together. I have no reason to try to mislead anyone. I feed them 18% medicated chick starter for the first 10 days then switch them to a 27% poultry feed. They are fed at 6 a.m. then allowed to free range the rest of the day. I take them off lights at 3 weeks and slow grow them the last 3. I have lost fewer birds to heart problems doing it this way. I have been raising these birds for several years and thought it would be fun to share with others who have as well. I hope everyone enjoys raising and eating their own food.

 

[KCMOLisa]

Quote:
I don't think anyone said they were too big. I said they looked way bigger than mine at three weeks, which is true. Mine will be four weeks in a couple of days and they still look slightly smaller than yours, but they have grown a ton in the last week. I think your chickens look great! Your setup looks really nice and clean, and they all look healthy. I love seeing the differences in how everyone raises them and the differences in how they grow!

I did observe something interesting in regards to supplemental light. I have been using a brooder heat plate with my 25. I never gave them extra light even from Day 1, and they were in an outdoor brooder box on my porch. When it got dark, it was pitch dark for them and they had light when the sun came up. When they were about 4 days old, we had a cold snap and it got down into the 30s. I was worried about the heat plate not keeping them warm enough so I put a heat light out there for that one night only. I checked on them a bunch of times throughout the night, and they were awake and running around, eating and drinking all night. I was shocked because the nights that it was dark and they had no extra light, they were always completely silent and asleep when I checked on them. They didn't even touch their food at night when I left it in there if it was dark, but the night I had the light on, they ate almost a whole chick trough of food. That story doesn't really have anything to do with anything. I just thought of it when you said you gave them light for three weeks. Now I want to experiment with light versus no light at night to see what the differences are.

 

[duluthralphie]

My chicks were 3 weeks and 3 days when I took that photo. Their butts are bare because they haven't yet feathered and most likely wont before they go to butcher. They are right on schedule for growth, I'm not sure why you would think they were "too big" for their age. Perhaps it is just the photo or the fact that there are 50+ of them grouped together. I have no reason to try to mislead anyone. I feed them 18% medicated chick starter for the first 10 days then switch them to a 27% poultry feed. They are fed at 6 a.m. then allowed to free range the rest of the day. I take them off lights at 3 weeks and slow grow them the last 3. I have lost fewer birds to heart problems doing it this way. I have been raising these birds for several years and thought it would be fun to share with others who have as well. I hope everyone enjoys raising and eating their own food.

I too have found slowing the chicks down has decreased health problems. I do not feed mine in the morning. I do it for two reason, which could both be wrong, first so they will run to the "coop" at night when I offer them food. And secondly, to force them to forage during the day. Even so I find them laying around in the afternoons, so I assume they are foraging enough to take a bread.

I think in the long run I will end up with a larger bird.

 

[The Old Yolks]

Their only water source is in their pens which encourages them to return to their pens but if they decide they don't want to come back into the hoop coops at night I use the dogs to move them. Generally though they behave like chickens and seek the safety of their roosts (very very low ones) at night. Thank you for the compliment about my setup. I try to keep them in a clean and healthy environment. I don't like stinky pens. They require very little of my time for their care that raking and bedding their pens only adds 30 mins a week to my schedule.
I have tried the free range only method and they just didn't finish out well for me. I don't think there is a truly wrong way to feed them as long as they are getting fed. Their ability to utilize their feed and convert it to meat is amazing. We raise Large New Hampshires as well and they do marvelous on a free range only diet. We usually butcher them at 10 months after the last culling. They make super fryers and at almost $0 expense for their care its a nice balance to the meaties cost. Keep us posted on your birds growth progress duluthralphie, I'm anxious to see your outcome.

 

[Betsy57]

My chicks were 3 weeks and 3 days when I took that photo. Their butts are bare because they haven't yet feathered and most likely wont before they go to butcher. They are right on schedule for growth, I'm not sure why you would think they were "too big" for their age. Perhaps it is just the photo or the fact that there are 50+ of them grouped together. I have no reason to try to mislead anyone. I feed them 18% medicated chick starter for the first 10 days then switch them to a 27% poultry feed. They are fed at 6 a.m. then allowed to free range the rest of the day. I take them off lights at 3 weeks and slow grow them the last 3. I have lost fewer birds to heart problems doing it this way. I have been raising these birds for several years and thought it would be fun to share with others who have as well. I hope everyone enjoys raising and eating their own food.

So after 10 days they get no more medicated feed or corid/Amprolium in their water?

 

[The Old Yolks]

Mine do not. I can't answer for others. My feed has Amprolium it. I haven't ever had a case of coccidiosis (knock on wood). This method has worked for me thus far. If others have different ways of raising theirs I would love to hear them.

 

[duluthralphie]

So after 10 days they get no more medicated feed or corid/Amprolium in their water?

I (knocking on wood also) have never had any problems with any sicknesses. I do not give mine any medication or medicated feed. I know I am running a risk, but I take it for medication free meat. I know by the time I process the drugs would be gone, or most of it. I still go without though, besides my wanting medication free meat, people are willing to pay a premium for it. ( not that I try to make money, but selling some helps offset feed costs)



My method is called " a wing and a prayer method".

 

[duluthralphie]

Tonight we had chicken TV time in the field behind the farmstead. I have been having it there a lot lately in a attempt to get my chickens to actually walk around and eat grasshoppers. (My DPs not my CX's) They are too lazy to actually feed themselves, they wait for me to feed them. I do not feed my DPs at all during the day, only at 5-6 pm. This forces them to forage, well, in theory. In actuality, they just beg more for food from me every chance they get.

The field is about 75 yards from the Brooder/tractor the CX's sleep in. I have them in a large pen, but have been feeling safe enough to leave the gate open for them to wander about. Today was the first day the CX's actually mingled with the DPs, turkeys and Guineas. 5 of them actually made it the 75 yards to the field to eat during chicken TV time! I was so proud of them!

I had to reprimand a couple of chickens though that were bullying the CX's. The CX's look full grown to the other chickens I am sure, but at just under 2 months they still have chick personalities. The chest bumping and posturing scared them. They ended up running back to their pen, before feeding was over. Even the ones free ranging it came running when there supper time came. All but one put themselves to bed. The one was stuck on a side of the fence with no gate, so I had to go get him. He was quite heavy. I am afraid any day now will be camp day for most of them. I keep saying tomorrow, but keep putting it off.

I need 10 birds cleaned by Saturday as I have a customer taking them to Arizona for the winter. I might use some DP's instead of the CX's. He wants 3-4 pound birds, I think all of mine will dress out over 5 now. They really grow when they hit this age, even with restricted feed.