My lazy Cornish X's

[toddntiff]

So I just got Cornish x's for the first time, they are a week old today and these little guys (or girls) are LAZY!!! They eat, sleep and poop and do it all over again! The RIR's and EE's we got the same shipment are running all around and will grab some food in passing but stay pretty busy. I've read that the cornish are like this but just didn't really believe it until I've seen it! I put their food up a little so that they can't just lay in front of the dish and eat it but that they actually have to get up to get it and that seems to help.
Crazy little chicks!!!

 

[chad]

Yeah, you look up "lazy" in the dictionary and there's a picture of a Cornish X right next to it. (Cf. "stupid.") FWIW, the last batch of Cornish I did, I fed them a game bird crumble instead of a broiler mix. They gained just as fast, and yet seemed to have a bit more ambition. It got so I'd open their pen, spread their feed on the grass, and they'd come out eagerly and get it. BTW, they're just as tender and tasty as the birds I raised on broiler feed, too.

Nothing can be done about the stupidity, unfortunately...

 

[silkiechicken]

They sure are lazy. As for stupid, maybe. I think they have great personalities becides they are so calm. Too bad they eat themselves to death. OH well, they taste sooo goood!!

 

[patandchickens]

I dunno, mine do play and mock-fight with each other and stuff. Not as much or for as long as 'real' chicks, but still, a reasonable amount.

And man, when I open the door to let them out into their run in the morning, the ground like to 'bout SHAKES with the thundering horde waddling out there like the devil's at their heels

Pat, going to process the first 5 or so at the end of the week (right now they are 5.5 wks and 5.5 lbs)

 

[mylilchix]

My crew is 4 weeks now and I swear they only get up to eat and drink. They are the laziest things I've ever seen. I have 2 feeders in with them. I can't raise one of feeders because they knock it to the ground every time I try to, so they lay next to it to eat. I find these guys to be pretty disgusting and can't wait to eat them!

Sonja

 

[blueskylen]

ours are a week old now, and are still cute peeps.
i have them in 2 large boxes - 25 to a box - and yesterday it put the boxes side by side and cut an opening big enough for one chick at a time to go thru to the other box. they are having a ball going back and forth- one time i look, and they are all in one box- and then a few minutes later they are all in the other box.
but boy do they stink - i started spinkling DE in with them before adding the wood shavings and it has cut the smell a bit. I'm afraid that next week they will have to go out to their new coop - will block off a portion of it and have 2 lights for heat - i think that they will be fine, as it is not too cold yet.

i haven't been feeding them between 8pm - 7 am. maybe I should be? i want them to get big, but not so big that they die before butchering - as I have read here that a good many do. i was thinking that i would start 24 hour feeding at about 6 weeks to add weight then.
what do you think?

 

[Peruvian]

Quote:
I feed mine 24hrs/day for the first 2 weeks. Then I start to take away their feed at night. This is a little more aggressive than the Welp Hatchery suggestion, but it seems to work.

 

[quercus21]

I let my birds have all the food they want between 6pm ans 6am. I start this schedule from the time I receive them till the time I process them. I have them in a tractor pen. The pen is moved when I remove the food from them so they have fresh grass/bugs to enjoy. I suspend their water and food for both my eggers and meat birds. Doing this keeps the water and food cleaner and it makes the meats stand to eat. If I don't they'll lay right down in front of the food and not move. Out of 46 birds, I lost 1 to flipping and 1 to trampling(?). If it doesn't rain tomorrow the last 7 of them will be processed. This will be the last until next spring.