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[Country girl 73]

Hi I'm country girl 73 and I'm new to the group. We have 21 cornish rocks that are 7 weeks old, 8 bantams that are the same age. At what point can you tell which are roosters and which are hens??

 

[Michael OShay]

Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided join our flock. With your bantams, unless they are a more difficult breed to sex like Silkies, they can probably be sexed around 6-7 weeks. You can post their pics on our What Breed or Gender is This? section at https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/15/what-breed-or-gender-is-this and let our experts there take a look at them for you. You can tell the gender around 5-6 weeks with your Cornish Rocks, although it shouldn't matter with them since they are hybrid meat birds raised to be butchered at 7-8 weeks anyway. In fact, if you wait to much longer butcher those Cornish rocks, they will begin having all kinds of serious health problems due to their abnormal growth rates. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your flock.

 

[silkiecuddles]

Hi, welcome to BYC!
I think by 8-10 weeks you should be able to tell. Male's tail feathers will probably be longer, and their feet and combs larger.

If you have questions, that's what I'm here for!

 

[Country girl 73]

Would it be bad if I let my cornish go to 10 weeks before I butcher them??

 

[silkiecuddles]

I think 8-10 is the average for butchering them. I think the older the are that bigger they'd be, but if they're too old they may become tough.
I've never raised meat chickens before, so I'm not positive on the above.^

 

[N F C]

Hello, welcome to BYC!

From what I've read, usually around 8 weeks is all the longer you want to go with the Cornish Crosses because as @Michael OShay said, they grow so big so fast, they can develop health issues if they get older. Oh course, if you're schedule looks anything like mine, it could take a while to process 21 birds so maybe by the time you get them finished, some will be almost 10 weeks old.

Good luck and nice to have you here!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! X3, you can let the Cornish go longer, but you run the risk of them developing health problems/ dying of heart problems... You might like to check out the meat bird forums https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/21/meat-birds-etc

 

[Michael OShay]

Would it be bad if I let my cornish go to 10 weeks before I butcher them??

They can go to 10 weeks, but that's about the absolute maximum for good quality meat. After that, the meat will begin to toughen up pretty rapidly.

 

[drumstick diva]

Meaties are feathered pigs, if you wait to long, they will eat themselves to death (literally)

 

[Country girl 73]

Thanks for the input.. we are going to start culling them this weekend.