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My Cornish X do lay eggs. They lay BIG eggs. They do not sleep in the boxes. They sleep on the ground on hay. You are right as far as the breed seldom lives past "chickhood" but I have a VERY enlightening story to tell you. Pull up a chair..........
About 4 years ago, a relative came to my house and had "6 white" chickens. He had been wanting me to have "white chickens" for a long time. He knew nothing about chickens (obviously) because the "white chickens" that he bought for me were Cornish X. When I saw the chickens, I knew they looked "different". I asked him what breed of chicken it was and he said that he didn't know. He just said that the man at the feed store told him the white chickens were "good" chickens to have, so he bought 6 of them for me. After a few days, I started watching the chickens closely and realized that the "white" chickens were Cornish X. I was like, "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo". I knew that the Cornish X would not live long because of the breed. Well, I immediately began research on the Cornish X as far as their life expectancy. I knew that I couldn't cull them for the meat, so trying to pro-long their life was my only option. Now most people would argue and be upset with me as far as trying to prolong the life of a meat bird that is specifically bred to provide meat and I do understand their point but at the time that I received the chickens, I just couldn't bring myself to cull the birds for meat. Anyway, I researched day and night and I found a few articles and also found very few people who have successfully raised meat birds past the age of 6 - 8 weeks and I read their story. Well after reading their stories, I knew what I had to do. Throughout my reading (and using common sense), I learned the following in order to keep my girls living beyond the age of 8 weeks:
1. Do not overfeed.
2. Let them free range daily or as often as possible to eat bugs, etc.
3. Limit snacks
4. Provide exercise (place feed and throw snacks away from the bird, so that they can walk to the feed or snack to get exercise)
5. Place nesting boxes & comfortable bedding (sleep area) on the ground so that they do not try to jump into the nesting box to lay an egg and possibly break a leg.
6. Do not place them with roosters. The rooster will try to breed, which places too much weight on the bird and can break their leg.
All of this sounds like a lot in order to prolong the life of a bird (that is bred to eat at just weeks old) but once you do it every day, it's a peice of cake. Many people laughed at me and told me a Cornish living beyond a few months was impossible and it couldn't be done and that it was unfair to the bird to live such a terrible live being overweight and will all sorts of medical problems. Guess what? The pic below speaks for itself. Who has the last laugh now?
I love it when people tell me that I can't do something. The proof is in the chicken not the pudding.
This is a pic of my girls at about 3 years old, after having a dust bath. They are now 4 years old.
My Cornish X do lay eggs. They lay BIG eggs. They do not sleep in the boxes. They sleep on the ground on hay. You are right as far as the breed seldom lives past "chickhood" but I have a VERY enlightening story to tell you. Pull up a chair..........
About 4 years ago, a relative came to my house and had "6 white" chickens. He had been wanting me to have "white chickens" for a long time. He knew nothing about chickens (obviously) because the "white chickens" that he bought for me were Cornish X. When I saw the chickens, I knew they looked "different". I asked him what breed of chicken it was and he said that he didn't know. He just said that the man at the feed store told him the white chickens were "good" chickens to have, so he bought 6 of them for me. After a few days, I started watching the chickens closely and realized that the "white" chickens were Cornish X. I was like, "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo". I knew that the Cornish X would not live long because of the breed. Well, I immediately began research on the Cornish X as far as their life expectancy. I knew that I couldn't cull them for the meat, so trying to pro-long their life was my only option. Now most people would argue and be upset with me as far as trying to prolong the life of a meat bird that is specifically bred to provide meat and I do understand their point but at the time that I received the chickens, I just couldn't bring myself to cull the birds for meat. Anyway, I researched day and night and I found a few articles and also found very few people who have successfully raised meat birds past the age of 6 - 8 weeks and I read their story. Well after reading their stories, I knew what I had to do. Throughout my reading (and using common sense), I learned the following in order to keep my girls living beyond the age of 8 weeks:
1. Do not overfeed.
2. Let them free range daily or as often as possible to eat bugs, etc.
3. Limit snacks
4. Provide exercise (place feed and throw snacks away from the bird, so that they can walk to the feed or snack to get exercise)
5. Place nesting boxes & comfortable bedding (sleep area) on the ground so that they do not try to jump into the nesting box to lay an egg and possibly break a leg.
6. Do not place them with roosters. The rooster will try to breed, which places too much weight on the bird and can break their leg.
All of this sounds like a lot in order to prolong the life of a bird (that is bred to eat at just weeks old) but once you do it every day, it's a peice of cake. Many people laughed at me and told me a Cornish living beyond a few months was impossible and it couldn't be done and that it was unfair to the bird to live such a terrible live being overweight and will all sorts of medical problems. Guess what? The pic below speaks for itself. Who has the last laugh now?
This is a pic of my girls at about 3 years old, after having a dust bath. They are now 4 years old.
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