My Meaties Are Here!

[ihatedarkroast]

I finally caved after over a year of resisting temptation and got some $1.99 cornish x at Rural King. The hubs is unconvinced this is a good idea as he loathes processing. But he is relieved he won't have to make an extra coop as our current coop is plenty big for more...not that they are gonna live long after feathering out. Currently they live inside our extra bathroom's shower. Haha. Our dog Baxter keeps lying in front of the door on guard just in case an escapee might wander into his jaws but I won't let him have these! The chicks are very sluggish though. Way less active than other chicks I've had. Is this normal for meaties to be so sleepy and calm?

 

[Poultry man123]

I knew someone who had Cornish chickens and they said they were very lazy and sat down a lot, so I think its normal.

 

[ihatedarkroast]

Ah. One chick died suddenly last night. I think it was the one hanging by itself. I seemed healthy though so not sure what happened. It squeezed itself between the feeder and side of the brooder away from the other huddle of chicks so maybe it wasn't feeling well.

 

[Ozarkoak]

Have fun. I love raising CC. They taste delicious are easy to raise and before you know it processing day will be here.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Congrats!!!
I just got CX for the first time and have been documenting my journey in this thread. We should stay in touch since our birds are about 2 weeks apart! People have answered so many of my questions already on my thread, so I'm so thankful for that.

Best of luck with your meaties! I can't believe how fast they grow.

 

[Acre4Me]

Generally, the CCX I’ve had are pretty active for first 2-3 weeks. Not like a flighty breed chick, but like regular chicks. Once they hit 2.5- 3 weeks, they are definitely slower, sit, eat, drink, sit, drink, eat. The chick may have died bc it was stuck, fwiw. They can also overheat pretty easily, which may cause them to huddle away from the light.

Our current batch of 20 CCX is 2.5 weeks old. We put them in an outdoor pen, with heat lamp (and pen is predator proof with a solid roof). They are relying less on the heat lamp. Of course, night temps are 40s, but these chicks handle cool better than heat.

Don’t forget to give them water -lots of water. They drink much more than a regular chick. Good luck with your CCX experience!

 

[ihatedarkroast]

Update:
My meaties are 7-8 weeks now. I can't stop laughing at them every time they wobble around on their tree trunk legs. They have been in with the main flock and out in the coop and yard living the good life except when one of the older roosters bullies them a little.

One of the cockerels developed a bum foot and we processed it yesterday. It weighed over 7 lbs live weight! It's really stunning how fast it grew. I suppose I will soon be processing the rest. We also processed one of our BYM cockerels that had been harassing the hens too much. He was just over 5 lbs live weight at three months older than the CC.

My husband greatly preferred CC experience as it was easier to cull, easier to skin, and had fewer feathers and bigger breast. He just felt bad about culling it because it was not mean like the other roo.

 

[ihatedarkroast]

Here's an update on the meaties.
We have 1 CC hen left to process. She's wheezing a bit and has gotten way too fat, so we'll take care of it this week. ;_; I mean, those are some breasts on them thar birds!

The mystery chick has turned out to be a RIR cockerel as the forum board correctly determined. He is quite feisty but shall continue to live on as my backup roo as long as he behaves himself. At the moment he is quite humble, as Jean-Luc, the BCM head rooster keeps him on his toes. He is also missing his lady CCs he was raised with but has bonded with one of the egg laying pullets. So I think he will have at least one girlfriend when the last CC is gone.