Smell of Meat birds

[ChocolateMouse]

Cornish crosses do eat more and poop more than a layer hen. 5 CX in the same space as 5 layers will smell worse. However, they are physically larger chickens and the same could be said of putting 5 layer hens in a space meant for 5 bantams or large quail.

Cornish crosses are what I like to think of as a giant-breed animal. Like draft horses or Great Danes, in order to be healthy and active they require special care and have shorter lifespans. Restricting feed to two 20-minute meals a day after 4 weeks, feeding a wet food like fermented feed, using a large mobile tractor or raising them in a large space with food and water on opposite sides of the pen, even raising them with a few heritage breeds mixed in makes a world of difference. I have had CX live for years with this treatment.
If you feed a normal person high calorie food constantly with no exercise their heart and legs will eventually give out too. There are specialized foods for giant breed dogs so their growth doesn't outpace their bones and organs. It's not shocking at all that CXs require the same care.

CX are definitely the least costly bird to raise, but also the closest to grocery store meat. If that's what you're looking for just do some research and roll with it. If you want a firmer, stronger tasting bird or a bird with less specialized needs then get freedom rangers or heritage breeds.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

That first picture is a group of CX I raised out to 12 weeks for eating in a tractor on wet feed. The second is my CX "Bertha" at 2 years old. She died at almost exactly 3 years old and she layed about 2 eggs a week for one of those years. She was may favorite and always came charging across our 100' lawn at breakneck speeds every time she saw me, even in the snow.
When you use good husbandry practices, CXs are just big, fat, hungry chickens. Over-all they can be pretty normal birds.

 

[Mrs. K]

Today is week four. I have my original coop and run for my CX's, I have 15 and they are doing fine. I do feed soaked feed twice a day. Today was the first day it got hot here, and they were slow moving. This is my first time doing this, and I worried a bit, but I went down at 7:30 pm, it had cooled off and they came a running! I have the run bedded in old hay, the coop in pine shavings. I stired them both up tonight for the first time.

I am (knock on wood) having very good luck with them. They grow unbelievable, I have 4 week old layers pullets too, too totally different birds. But chickens none the less.

I am feeding 3/4 gallon of wet feed twice a day about 12 hours apart. I am not noticing any smell.

Mrs K

 

[JiminyChristmas]

ChocolateMouse, well do e with Bertha. I kept over two hens from last fall's meat crop. One died at around 16wks, the other is alive and well and lays nearly DAILY! She's in a breeding pen with my light brahma, Pete. Wev'e hatched one out at 4wks now, and have several more due to hatch today. The first chick is a dusty color with thick legs and very heavy. Very interesting to see what she's throwing out.

 

[JDN]

ChocolateMouse, well do e with Bertha. I kept over two hens from last fall's meat crop. One died at around 16wks, the other is alive and well and lays nearly DAILY! She's in a breeding pen with my light brahma, Pete. Wev'e hatched one out at 4wks now, and have several more due to hatch today. The first chick is a dusty color with thick legs and very heavy. Very interesting to see what she's throwing out.

Please keep us updated I’d be interested to see what the long term product is!

 

[JiminyChristmas]

This is our first offspring next to a bresse hatched the same day. I couldn't get better pictures as it is 95deg and I didn't want to stress them too much. Little ones are 3 days old, the three bigger yellow chicks, along with some mutts, some marans, and some hmong for comparison.

 

[JiminyChristmas]

To the OP, sorry for the derail. My CX go straight from the brooder to the tractor. Move once a day, then twice a day as they grow. Poop dries daily and does not stink.

 

[RiverOtter]

I loved raqisingmine, and will do it again as soon as I've got the space. They are fat, happy things, like pigs.
I also raise pigs, and they are the same in that yeah, if they're in a small area, they are nasty. But so's everything. Heck, MY house is a mess since I moved from a regular one to a tiny one - everything needs a certain amount of space to stay clean and comfy, and what's good for one thing might not be enough for something else.

Where everyone seems to go wrong is with the idea "This brooder/coop/run was big enough for my layers at X age, the CX will be fine!" Quickly followed by "Eyew, yuck, these CX are nasty!!"

A month old Cornish is a 2+lb bird. Would you have kept your layers in that brooder when they weighed 2# each? Heck no!! They were out in the coop by then, and probably long before.
You can't go by age, you have to go by size. Most folks just aren't ready to deal with that. Give them the space that a bird that size needs, and the care that a bird that age needs, and you'll be fine and find they are fat, happy biddies

 

[ButteCA]

I have two of those Cornish cross chickens bumming it up around my yard. The previous owners left them behind. They are the saddest chickens I’ve ever seen.They all ways have poop covered butts,they can hardly walk and they have feathers missing. I know they are meat chickens but the way they were kept the only thing I’m considering is putting them out of their misery.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The objectionable smell of CornishX birds comes from them eating large amounts of high protein feed. Any excess protein (Chemically Nitrogen) in their feed is expelled in the manure and combines with moisture to make ammonia.

Remember that these super growing chickens all had a mommy and a daddy and the hatcheries, that produced the eggs, that made your meat birds managed to keep their brood flock in good enough condition to breed and lay eggs. You can do so as well but you may need to UNLEARN a thing or two about keeping chickens.