Please tutor me to raise Cornish X for my freezer

[Winsor Woods]

My chick starter is 21% Some stores sell chick starter with only 18%. It varies by area. Next time ask your store clerk if they have "turkey starter." The turkey starter at my ranch supply store is 28% The owner calls it "rocket fuel."

Dan

 

[kathyinmo]

I know my feed store has Game Bird Starter, but it is like 30% protein. I am thinking that would be toooooo much???

 

[vatterpa]

Dumor is 20%

 

[SteveH]

Quote:
I've read that some bump their protein up with the catfish feed and I bumped some 21% up to 24% for the first week with kitty food just to get them going strong . The meaties did well on 24% , the straight cornish got pastey butt . 30% would be a waste of money IMHO , but you could mix it 50/50 or a little less with 17% or 18% .

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

I fed mine Purina medicated chick starter for about two weeks then Purina flock raiser. They have done extremely well, good growth, no issues. For treats they (25) get daily 2/3 cup each of corn, barley, BOSS & hard red wheat. Not enough to really affect the protien levels but enough to encourage them to get them off their butts to forage a bit.
I also feed table scraps and greens but the ignore the greens pretty much, I mix yogurt in with the table scraps once a week..
I also put ACV in the water once a week, Poli Vi Sol in the water once a week.

 

[kathyinmo]

We do have Purina available here, so I think I will go ahead and get the Flock Raiser.
I am really worried that I am doing this too late, and that it is gonna be way toooooo hot for them.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

well, give it a go! honestly I'm happy mine are about done and that I'm not going to be facing that issue . . .

 

[kathyinmo]

They are on the way here. I should be getting a call from the post office in a few hours, to go pick them up. I am really nervous and worried. It was 90* here today. I just foresee disaster happening. I know I should not have started this so late.

I have made a couple "open air coops," to house them in. They are actually kinda like yours Katy, except made with 2x4s and covered in hardware cloth and topped with corrugated tin. They are in a very shady area, with trees all around. They are 8' x 8' and I plan to have 25 in each one. I do plan to let them free range, and not just stay in there all the time.

Do you think this plan will work? Oh, I hope so.

 

[pongoid]

My inexperienced 2 cents. I bought 6 chicks, 3 BSL and 3 Corn X straight run.
Came on this site and found out what a headache Corn X's can be.
I bought 3 replacement chicks of varying breeds.

The CornX's are 10 weeks now and they have done well in a chicken tractor and I only fed them chick starter once a day and let them forage the rest of the day. No health problems other than a hen that seems to get things stuck in her crop and she gets the hiccups and turns blue but usually recovers.

Turned out I had 2 roos and 1 hen...so I butchered a roo today and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

I will kill the hen tomorrow and maybe save the last rooster for a little while.

They are bossy and pretty piggy when it comes to the other chickens trying to eat or drink.

I was worried about killing, not because I haven't done that before (a lab grunt so I have killed alot of animals for science) but because these were going to feed my family and I was so afraid of contaminating the meat in some way. And I was a bit squeamish for my 3 yr old daughter who loved the chickens. Turns out she didn't care at all.

 

[kathyinmo]

Well, they made it here. One DOA, leaving 51 live birds. They immediately started drinking and eating, and have yet stopped to rest. Don't they sleep the first couple days, like other new chicks do?