new to cornish rocks...info please!!!! lol

[LabMama]

ok so I wanted to get some chickens and keep them as pets.. came home & my husband surprised me with 6 little chicks...I asked what kind he said I dunno I jsut know they will be white when they get older & he threw away receipt...now they are about 2 months old...big old fat chickens I have to feed them at least 3 times a day...I am almost 100% sure they are cornish rocks...now I find out I have to kill them & eat them or they will die soon of health problems & I wanted pets

& I have gotten attached

they are soooo sweet. so im wondering when do they have to be slaughtered? will it be completely bad of me to keep them & let them die of natural causes? i liek ti pick them up and hold them & love on them, I read in here they can get injured easily what to do? I am attached but want to do the right thing please help lol.

 

[LabMama]

& on top of that turns out i have 5 roosters & 1 hen & all survived!

 

[Rin]

If they're already two months(8 weeks) they're already in that zone of "time to slaughter" and you could TRY... but its a really cruel life for these mutant birds. They were created /purely/ to grow fast and die young. You would need to restrict their feed so they don't eat themselves to death (which means they will need to feel hungry /all/ the time) and you will need to almost force them to exercise by scattering feed/scratch so they work for their food.

Most people can only get them to live about a year or two... but rarely some have had luck getting a regular chicken life span out of um. I just wouldn't do that to the animal personally. I find it more cruel to make them live that long vs serving their purpose.

EDIT:
and its especially bad they're mostly roos... hens CAN lay eggs but roos just fight and harass the female to death; especially that ratio. Though not sure with cornish x's, I've not let mine live long enough to ever see if they'd harass the hens among them.

 

[eastercreek]

Can you post pics? Are you sure they are Cornish x's or are they white rocks or some other large white bird? How much do they weigh?

 

[Rin]

Quote:
That too, theres a lot of white chickens of daunting size XD

 

[Zaxby's2]

Quote:
I have actually heard of someone on here who put asprin in his cornish rocks' water, and this kept them from experiencing problems. I don't know about that but we have a cornish rock hen that's a year and 1/2 old, and she is a healthy bird.

She's sweet, and has actually flown to me from over 20 ft. away(that is once she found out food was involved ). She has survived falling off a chicken truck, a dog attack, and a disease that went threw our flock. She lays medium sized light brown eggs, and since we don't feed her extra, she lives a happy life amongst our other chickens. That being said, cornish rocks can be kept as pets, but there is still that chance of them being less healthy, and if a bird is suffering, he/she may need to be put down.

I would probably try keeping them, but be aware that some might need extra care. Good luck with your chickens!

Oh, and

 

[LabMama]

thanks for all of your info!!!! I will try to post pics im new to all of this though lol bear with me..ill probably do it tommorow since its dark here now. But I did find someone who will trade me my chickens for 6 chicks...i forgot the name but she said there all egg laying hens.

...im just scared to get rid of my babies....

 

[LabMama]

hey I got the pics of my chickens...how can I put them on here?

 

[LabMama]

 

[LabMama]

ok here are the pics I finally figured it out sorry for my confususion lol...do you think these are cornish rocks?