Newbie With Cornish Hen Questions

[2hensndaddy]

Hi All,

My husband and I are just getting started raising chickens. Our first endeavor will be dark cornish hens. We want to grow them out to 6-8 weeks and slaughter them. My main question is how long will they need to be in the brooder before heading outside? I have read until they are fully feathered out and that they are sometimes left in the brooder until they are fully grown (ready for slaughter). FYI we are located in NC so we are still in the heat of summer and plan on getting the chicks relatively soon.

Also, can quail and cornish hens co-habitat? I did not know if there are disease issues or if they make good pen mates. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[fried green eggs]

& Hi from Michigan! I can't answer all your questions but maybe a few. Meat birds grow pretty quick compared to layers. You won't want to keep them in the house that long. LOL. You can move them out of a brooder after a couple weeks but, they will need to be kept warm enough at night with a brooder heat lamp and out of drafts. You will also want to read info on keeping birds cool for hot days. There is a forum on this site for information on raising Meat birds and another on Quail. This site is Great to get all the information you need. You can go to whatever forum nav that relates to your question and type in a question under in the Search. It will bring up hours of reading information on the topic relating to your question. Good Luck!