Problem with cornish rocks

[blessedmamato3]

Hi all,

We have about 9 cornish chicks for meat and a variety of others for eggs. They are all 2 weeks. The cornish chicks are quite plump, which I expected, as they are supposed to dress out at 6lbs at 6 weeks. However, the cornish chicks are all panting, while the others aren't. They also lay around a lot and seems to occasionally have trouble holding themselves up. They run around and play fine, but they just seem like they're having a hard time with all the chub.

Ideas? Should I separate them from the rest and feed them less?

 

[mnferalkitty]

If you feed them less they won't grow as fast. What you are describing is what broilers do they grow fast and fat so they have problems moving around

 

[TheJadeChicken]

I agree. That is pretty normal for those breeds of chicks. Them not being able to hold their weight. It is due to their legs not being fully developed and strong enough to hold all that weight. I have 2, a rooster and a hen. When they were little, I didn't let them have free run of the food bowl. I didn't plan on using them for meat. They are about 1 year and half old. And going strong.

 

[blessedmamato3]

Thanks to you both! We had broilers last year, but they weren't nearly this big. It's insane! LOL I'm glad to know it's normal. Is there a point that I need to be concerned about ascite?

 

[WishboneDawn]

I'm going to disagree here. I think that's normal for the breed only when they're raised a certain way. Now I realize I'm rather cocky here being as we're only halfway through our second batch of Cornish X's but my experience has been so different I think it disproves some of the common thoughts about these birds.

We keep them under the light indoors for about 2 weeks. I throw chunks of sod in their enclosure for them to play on and dig through. At three weeks we turn their lights off at night and by the end of 3 weeks we put them outside in a temporary coop (daytime temps here were around 50 when they first went out, lower at night). Once they're out in the coop we feed them only 3 times a day, morning, noon and evening (right now we fill chick feeders but in a week or two we'll just dump a few juice pitcher worth of feed on the ground). The rest of the time they are great about running around and foraging (last year they were free ranged all day but this year, to keep them out of our layers food they're in a big enclosure). They are very fit and have a wonderful time hunting for food. We have 3 Red Star chicks, 1 RS roo chick and a couple of leghorn chicks in with them and I have honestly not noticed a huge difference in the activity level of my meaties compared to them. Maybe comparable to the difference between our our very active grown leghorn and our RR.

|They run a lot, rest only in the hottest part of the day and are strong and healthy.

Last year we took them to 10 weeks and they dressed out at 6-8 pounds each. We lost 2 last year (one was doomed as it had issues from the day we picked it up) and none so far this year (they're about 5 weeks now). My husband thought the leg meat was a little tough compared to the store-bought chickens we were used to but that was about it.

I keep meaning to write a post laying out exactly how we raise them but I've been waiting until our third batch is done (we're doing two this year) so I have a bit more experience to offer). If it's helpful I can put that up sooner.

 

[debir1966]

Wishbone Dawn: I can't wait to hear about your experienes free-ranging your meaties. I just ordered 10 meaties (5 Cornish Rock and 5 Black Broilers). I ordered the black broilers because I am hoping one is a rooster and we will limit his food intake to keep him from overgrowing as we would like to keep him as rooster for our hens (we plan on hatching our own meat chicken crosses from our dual purpose laying hens and a meat rooster).

Anyway, back to your post - we want to free range our meaties as well! I would like to compare growth-rate/food intake between a batch raised in confinement and a batch raised free-ranging, so I am very interested in your opinions and experiences with your free-ranging meaties! Will be looking forward to your post!

 

[blessedmamato3]

All my mature hens are free ranging. I would love to incorporate the littleins, but that could be ugly. I'm planning to make a tractor of sorts and get them outside in the next week. It's hot here, so there shouldn't be an issue with it being too cold. They never have the light on, as they avoid it. I shut it off after day 4. The garage temp varies from 80-90.

So, should I be concerned that they are a bit lethargic? My hubby can divide the brooder in half and keep the meat birds on the other side, so we can ration them. How much should they be eating at this point? We've been filling the chick feeder about twice a day. So, when we separate them, what should they be fed?

 

[blessedmamato3]

We've separated the meat birds from the others. If anyone has any suggestions as to how much to feed the cornish chicks, please let me know. I don't want to under feed them. Thanks!