My Experience with Cornish X

[wvhomesteader]

Not sure yet. As long as they're healthy and doing well I am going to grow them out.

 

[CommonRookie]

I wish I had a solution to the dirty but problem but it hasn't been an issue for mine. If they don't have somewhere to go they're probably just sitting in it. Mine were quite dirty before putting them out of the brooder but they cleaned up quickly with room to roam. I also think some of it is based on their diet. Do your birds have solid stools? Mine were pooping mostly goo for a long time but they are now passing solid waste.

 

[CommonRookie]

I got 25 from moyers a week ago, what temp do you guys keep the brooder at for them? I've looked online and can't find anything. I don't want the guys to get heat exhaustion or be too cold

I started at 95 degrees and walked it down until I killed the lamp entirely at 2.5 weeks. I live in South Carolina though and paid more attention to the birds than the thermometer Just watch them, if they are huddled under the light it's too cold or crammed into corners away from the light it too hot. They are pretty good at letting you know.

 

[CrazyChickLady7]

Who says Cornish X are ugly. Prettiest dressed bird i have seen.

 

[CommonRookie]

this is one of the average boys from the first batch. He's five weeks today. There are a couple over 4lbs but he's the only one willing to pose for a photo. I'm enjoying weighing them as they grow to get an idea what they look like. Hens from this batch are about 2.5 lbs on average right now. Wishing my straight run had more Roos!

 

[lazy gardener]

To the posters who have birds with messy butts: I strongly recommend that you put your flocks on fermented feed. It will make a HUGE difference in the output of your flocks. You'll see a rapid change from the gooey squirts to solid well formed poops, that also are no where near as smelly. You'll also find that you don't need to fill the waterers as often b/c the birds will get a lot of liquid needs met by the FF. And, you'll also notice that your feed bill will go down, and your birds will grow faster. There's an excellent article which was just posted in the thread about FF for meat birds.

 

[Proverb31mama]

Do you mind me asking what hatchery you got yours from? I have heard different hatcheries have different characteristics in their birds and it sounds like the hatchery you got them from is producing good birds.

 

[wvhomesteader]

I use Meyer

 

[CommonRookie]

I got these from hoovers. They arrived a day late and we lost 16 of 40! I blame this on the postal service but hoovers was quick to replace them with the next week's hatch for free. The second batch all did very well. Hoovers was significantly cheaper than most we looked at. I'll probably go with them again I don't have much to compare them too yet as far at meat birds go.

 

[CommonRookie]

Well, despite others reporting good luck discouraging hawks with fishing line this has proven completely ineffective for me. I've lost 5 in 5 days bringing the total hawk kill to about 10. They are now visiting me daily. The fishing line stopped the killing for several days but the hawks have gotten bolder and decided to plow through the line now. I have tufts of hawk down all over the fishing line and they come back daily sometimes 3-4 times a day. I thought it was the pair of coopers i see all the time but after catching them in the act it is a large male red-tailed hawk and what I assume is his much smaller lady friend. They eat the entire head first, skull and all, and then move on the breast meat. I've managed to keep them from killing the last two days but it's simply by happening to check on the chickens at the right time. Without prevention I am certain they would kill at least a bird a day and probably more. I'm going to add flight netting whole chicken yard for the next batch of birds but I am done sinking money into the flock for now. I've erected the most bizarre scare crow today but I anticipate a few more loses over the next 2 weeks. The most frustrating part is they have systematically killed my biggest chickens EVERY time. Every single kill has been one of my biggest roos.

I see now why my property has so few squirrels and rabbits.