OMG!! Getting chicks! UPDATE: Heard from the chicken dr.

[the simple life]

The are fed regular broiler feed, 20 percent protein. The problem is they grow too fast too quickly and "flip" have heart attacks and bad legs etc.
Alot of people started feeding them for only 12 hours a day to slow down their growth, they fill the feeders in the morning and take them away at night or they will literally eat themselvs to death.

They aren't exactly genetically altered, they are a cross between a cornish game bird and a plymouth rock.
They are crossed but are not genetically altered.
There are a few breeders in this country but most all cornish x come from those lines, the hatcheries use all the same breeders.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Thanks for explaining the breeding better than I could.
These chicks are actually bred by poultry company and hatched in the poultry company's hatcheries.

 

[jenjscott]

The fact is, they aren't growing like they're supposed to, so maybe they won't be so bad to get over big etc.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
That's my thinking too.

Okay, DH said no to me brooding them in his harley shed (away from my current flock), but he didn't really mean no. It was a "I'm going to say okay, but not right this minute" kinda no.

So this weekend I'll be digging out my brooder supplies.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Well you DO have 3 weeks to work on him.

 

[joletabey]

gritsar,
You go for it- they will be culled for being too small, so it sounds like you can save some little lives and get some more eggs in the future!- Good luck!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Yep, I've been busy making plans in my head since last night. The only complication that I can see is that it's wintertime. I sure wish it was summer so they could be outside sooner.
DH is going to let me use his harley shed for awhile. I'll have to ask the neighbor what temp. they've been kept at when I get them. We have the materials needed to make them a temporary pen until they are old enough to free range. Once they are free ranging, I plan to only give them a little feed in the evenings and let them depend on what they find foraging for most of their feed (to limit their weight, this is what DH's mom did).
The only thing I dislike about the commercial birds that our friend has is that his have dirty bottoms all the time; but his are kept in a pen. I'm hoping it won't be such a problem when they are ranging on grass.

 

[squeakyballs]

Quote:
Hahaha! That sounds like my kind of logic!

Thank you for rescuing chickens, you have a heart of gold

 

[Ridgerunner]

You need to find out if they have been vaccinated for Laryngotracheitis. If they have beed vaccinated for this, they will give it to your Brahmas. This is important to find out!!! That's the only one I know of that vaccination makes them carriers.

As far as raising the meat birds as layers, I have not done it and fully expect to see several posts on here about your efforts. I sincerely hope they are good posts, but I am not optimistic on this topic. But then, as an engineer, I don't see the glass as either half full or half emnpty. I see the glass as too big.

Hopefully your experienced advisors will help you pull this one off. I think a lot will depend on the actual strains used to breed these birds. Good luck!!

 

[the simple life]

I don't know why you would think people would give her a hard time, who would care what she does with her birds?
There are several threads about people who have succesfully raised a meat bird as a pet over in the meatbird section, its just that it is not always easy to do so people may give her advice on the best way to do it.
For instance from what I read over there on the threads and I did read all 125 pages of the meatbird section this past month is that they are not good foragers, that is why people who want meatbirds that will free range buy the freedom rangers or the colored rangers instead.
This is why I am going to mention to gritstar to make sure they are actually foraging enough to forgo any food during the day, just watch them and see what they do when you let them out of the pen.
Some people have reported that they had some good free rangers but they did not actually forage for food, they would walk around but not dig for bugs and feed themselves.
There is someone here who has a huge cornish x that he liked and never had processed with the rest of his birds and this one acts like a regular chicken from what I have heard, he is huge but he gets all over the place.
If you know OEGman from this site he has one, he posted a picture of his on the easygarden site.
Its a case by case basis on how well they each do.