Processed my first Cornish X today - seven out of the 14 that have survived. I started with 30, one died while still in the brooder, then I lost 14 at once after I had moved them outside and a cold front blew through Memorial Day weekend.
Another one, who I was calling Game because she was so much smaller than the others, died inexplicably a couple of days ago. My only guess is that she succumbed to the heat, but...?
I would have done all 14 but Sears didn't deliver my new refrigerator last week as promised, so I didn't have enough space to refrigerate them all. Two of the seven were cut up and went straight on to the charcoal grill with some mesquite thrown in for good measure - yum!
Although this was my first time processing chickens, I had done a couple of turkeys last year and have butchered various game birds and rabbits over the years. The first two didn't spend long enough in the "sauna" so were a little hard to pluck. But we dunked the rest for a little longer and the feathers came right out - it was a breeze! I'll definitely be doing this again. I fed them fermented feed as suggested in another thread part of the time and I was really pleased with the results. The only reason I didn't feed them fermented exclusively is because the one fermenter I made couldn't keep up with their needs. Temperatures here get really cool at night; even now, with 100 degree daytime temps it is still 60 overnight. That's only been the last couple of days; before it was getting into the 40's at night which makes for some slow fermenting! So I'm going to make at least 3 fermenters for the next time.
