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emorems0 said:
Guess I shouldn't have assumed... my neighbor saved two male CX and she is actually getting fertile eggs from her hens now! They were the smallest of her crew which isn't great selection for producing big offspring, but it apparently helps them to be able to get the job done despite their large breasts! She has a broody girl and is letting her sit on 4 eggs, I'm really curious to see what she gets :)
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Chickens.
 
Yesterday, before we started butchering, hubby went outside to do something. About 5 seconds after he walked outside, he knocked on the window to ask me if I left the meaties out.... We had a massive jailbreak on butcher day lol. I guess they decided it was time to escape! Over half of them made it out. We left them free range for a while and worked on the ones that were still in the tractor instead. It was pretty funny though.

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Auroradream26 said:
Yesterday, before we started butchering, hubby went outside to do something. About 5 seconds after he walked outside, he knocked on the window to ask me if I left the meaties out.... We had a massive jailbreak on butcher day lol. I guess they decided it was time to escape! Over half of them made it out. We left them free range for a while and worked on the ones that were still in the tractor instead. It was pretty funny though.

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How has your experience been raising the CX birds for meat? Are they worth the hassle to feed, care for, and butcher, rather than buying chicken at the store? How big are the CX after butchering, and how is the meat quality? I really want to have almost all of my food grown myself. I have been butchering extra roos in my flock but they are Buff Orpingtons and scrawny.
 
FluffyButt789 said:
How has your experience been raising the CX birds for meat? Are they worth the hassle to feed, care for, and butcher, rather than buying chicken at the store? How big are the CX after butchering, and how is the meat quality? I really want to have almost all of my food grown myself. I have been butchering extra roos in my flock but they are Buff Orpingtons and scrawny.
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We enjoy raising them. They are a lot of work though. When they're really young, they're horribly messy in the brooder since they poop nonstop. Once they're outside though being raised in a tractor, they're not bad at all. We would move the tractor once a day and at 7-9 weeks old, they were eating 3 large bowls of FF a day and 3-4 gallons of water daily. The meat is very good IMO. Their size really depends on how long you let them go. Right now, the ones we're butchering are 9 weeks old. They fit in to a 1 gallon zip lock bag. Some are really tough to get in but they fit. They average 5 lbs dressed out, give or take. Normally, we would let them go a bit longer but we're going on vacation in less than 2 weeks so we need to get them done now. We had a few that we left go to about 16 weeks before butchering and they were 10-12 lbs dressed out. We like raising them and having them around. The only pain is the brooder stage and hauling food and water to them multiple times a day.
 
Auroradream26 said:
We enjoy raising them. They are a lot of work though. When they're really young, they're horribly messy in the brooder since they poop nonstop. Once they're outside though being raised in a tractor, they're not bad at all. We would move the tractor once a day and at 7-9 weeks old, they were eating 3 large bowls of FF a day and 3-4 gallons of water daily. The meat is very good IMO. Their size really depends on how long you let them go. Right now, the ones we're butchering are 9 weeks old. They fit in to a 1 gallon zip lock bag. Some are really tough to get in but they fit. They average 5 lbs dressed out, give or take. Normally, we would let them go a bit longer but we're going on vacation in less than 2 weeks so we need to get them done now. We had a few that we left go to about 16 weeks before butchering and they were 10-12 lbs dressed out. We like raising them and having them around. The only pain is the brooder stage and hauling food and water to them multiple times a day.
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Thanks! This is great info. Love how they got outta Dodge in the other pictures. I had a breakout on my day of processing as well, but I was able to corral them all. That's what I call fast food!
 
AnneInTheBurbs said:
Thanks! This is great info. Love how they got outta Dodge in the other pictures. I had a breakout on my day of processing as well, but I was able to corral them all. That's what I call fast food!
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When I was ready to get them back in, it was pretty easy. I opened the door and put the food in. They all marched in to the food dish lol.

Just got an email that my poults from Porter's are on their way!
 
FluffyButt789 said:
How has your experience been raising the CX birds for meat? Are they worth the hassle to feed, care for, and butcher, rather than buying chicken at the store? How big are the CX after butchering, and how is the meat quality? I really want to have almost all of my food grown myself. I have been butchering extra roos in my flock but they are Buff Orpingtons and scrawny.
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X2 on what Auroradream said about hers, for us I felt it was worth it and we raised ours on sand until old enough to be out in the movable tractor. Having the bones/necks/feet to be able to make broth is an added bonus. You can't beat the CX feet for broth...

Auroradream26 said:
We enjoy raising them. They are a lot of work though. When they're really young, they're horribly messy in the brooder since they poop nonstop. Once they're outside though being raised in a tractor, they're not bad at all. We would move the tractor once a day and at 7-9 weeks old, they were eating 3 large bowls of FF a day and 3-4 gallons of water daily. The meat is very good IMO. Their size really depends on how long you let them go. Right now, the ones we're butchering are 9 weeks old. They fit in to a 1 gallon zip lock bag. Some are really tough to get in but they fit. They average 5 lbs dressed out, give or take. Normally, we would let them go a bit longer but we're going on vacation in less than 2 weeks so we need to get them done now. We had a few that we left go to about 16 weeks before butchering and they were 10-12 lbs dressed out. We like raising them and having them around. The only pain is the brooder stage and hauling food and water to them multiple times a day.
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