Problems, Problems, problems

[Peruvian]

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x2.

The difficulty will be that once they have leg problems it might take a few weeks for them to get back to walking. Can you keep them in a separate tractor or pen to avoid them getting trampled by the other birds or run over when moving the tractor?

 

[LazyGirl]

Basically I just pick them up and put them out of the pen when i move it each day. 2 are at the point where their legs are layed out behind them so I don't know if they will walk again or not.
So if I increase protein, will that make them grow even faster or slower? At this point i feel i should ditch the homeground stuff even tho it's organic and just go with the feed store stuff??
I guess i raised this batch as an experiment...I sure am learning the hard way!
I will continue to move the pen each day, and in the am, I let them all out while ii move it. Maybe i will just let them range for an hour or so like MissPrissy suggested.

 

[MissPrissy]

They are eating more than they need. They are growing faster than their legs can develop to support their hulking body mass. You don't have to change the feed just stop letting them eat so much. These birds will literally eat until they can't pack another crumb in their crop and still have the urge to eat.

How old are the lame ones that can't get their legs under them?

If they are at least 4 weeks old you can go ahead and process the ones with leg problems and you will have what you find the in the grocery store as a 'rock cornish game hen'. Tender, young and good eating. Catch the phyical problems before it escalates to the point they die from their faults. That is a waste of meat and the money you have in them.

Cut back on their feed by not letting them eat at night. If you continue at this pace not only will you have more birds that can't walk and their bellies will rot on the ground from laying in one spot for hours you will come out and find chickens have died from the stress of their hulking bodies. Usually they die of heart attacks. Once they die you cannot eat those chickens and have lost even more money.

Feed them 8 am - 8pm. After that only water until the next morning. You will be doing them a favor as well as yourself.

I raised 27 last fall. In the end they were eating 25lbs of feed a day on a restricted plan. That is a lot of feed. With the rising cost of feed right now you can't afford to let them die on you.

 

[dangerouschicken]

They are now 7 weeks old, and 4 we've put down, and 4 more aren't able to move.

How big do they need to be before you will eat them? 7 weeks is old enough, and big enough to eat. Why would you "put them down" when they are edible?

CC have leg problems, period. When their legs go out, eat them. Unless they are under a month old, I'm not sure why you wouldn't.

If you want gigantic meat birds, expect them to have trouble with their legs.​

 

[MissPrissy]

I disagree that they always have leg problems. I raised the jumbos last year and did not have any problems.

I have raised a few of the regular meat chickens over the years and never had leg problems.

I think alot of inexperienced people have raised them and not taken care to prevent problems and now everyone likes to preach how many leg problems they have.

I know many people who have raised them and not had troubles with them.

It has as much to do with management as is does the breed.

 

[snowydiamonds]

The key is restricted diet as MsPris says and also exercise, they need the will to survive and don't put the food where they can easily get it, make them walk, flap, run and if you don't like the hours suggested that they will be fasting, make your own hours such as 9pm to 9am or midnight to noon to allow fasting and only water. They must "fast" and have lots of water at all times. Fasting means no food for a certain length of time.

 

[dangerouschicken]

Well, I'm just going by what I read, and that is that CC are prone to leg problems.

My main point is to eat them!

 

[MissPrissy]

I agree 100%. If you have to cull them eat the meat. They are fine. At 7 weeks I would cull everything that is having issues and put that meat in the freezer now.

 

[LazyGirl]

Thanks for all the info. I will definitely cut back. They are allowed exercise, sunshine, and forage.
I had to cull the other 4 before they were a month, and we weren't prepared to butcher them. Sorry!

I agree with what everyone says. It is all about management, and I thought I was doing everything right by doing the forage tractor idea and grain, but I guess I had heard that you can feed 24/7 or 12/day. These birds just have a smaller margin of error due to the breeding. We all want the modern juicy chicken so the breed can have problems, but I am sure with the right management they should live healthy lives. That's what I am going for!

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

My 23 are now 6 weeks old and no leg problems to speak of yet.
Sure they are ugly and smelly but we've already eaten two of them and they were outstanding.
They're in the shade outside in an out chain link dog run with hardware cloth over it that is 12 X 6 feet bed down heavily with fresh straw every other day, I was going to build a tractor but we got hit with a big bill we weren't expecting and it ate up my tractor money, thus I used a dog run already exsisting on my property but beefed up for security.
Anyway, I've said on another thread that I haven't had any problems with them so far and I will continue to say that and even almost rave about the birds. They are docile and friendly, but man can they put away the chow! They're eating almost 20 pounds of grain a day right now along with 5-6 gallons of water.
I'm feeding my guys all turkey starter which is 24% protien (I do actually have 4 turkeys in there with them).
I would say they are around 5 pounds. I do withold grain overnight now. Even though I have the 8 week day circled on the calendar in red as their processing day I think I might let mine go a little bit longer unless I start to see problems. My guys grew slowly in the beginning because I never until recently gave them grain overnight and then it was only for about two weeks to catch up a little.
A few of my guys are looking pretty darn near bald too but I think right now it's not a bad thing with it being 95 almost today. They are surprisingly active to me too. They do run, and "fight" with eachother and try to fly.
I still think maybe I just got beginners luck...