So I have heard some things about Cornish X's

[eKo_birdies]

i don't tractor my birds, rather free range them, so they have interaction w/ one of my laying flocks. maybe they followed their example? it is weird..

the rangers DEFINITELY love their greens... and you can sure taste it as well!

 

[cpchicks]

I'm raising 5 CXs just to find out what it's all about. I'd like more information on the 12 on 12 off system. My birds are 3 1/5 weeks old. The 5 of them were given meat builder crumbles free choice and weighed 2 3/4 lbs when they were 3 weeks old. Isn't that a little too heavy for their health? I started letting their feeder get empty and I'm trying to encourage them to go outside but they're not very active. They find a cool place and lay down. At 3 1/5 weeks they are 3 7/8 lbs. My question is, how much food should I be giving them per bird? I'm thinking 12 hours of free choice is too much for them. They gorge themselves. If someone has info on the ideal rate of gain and the amount of food to accomplish this I would appreciate it.
Thanks in advance,

 

[chix4smokin]

if you feed 12 hrs a day in the day light they will tell you how much they need. it takes time to get a feel for it. It varies alot but your flock will tell you. In the am you will think they haven't eaten for a week!

 

[cpchicks]

What do you think about their weights? If I let them eat all they want all day I think they will continue to gain a pound a week. Just worried about heart attacks.

 

[mstricer]

Quote:
I make mine walk to their feeder. It is at least 20 ft from their pen at first and as they get older it gets further away due to me moving the pen only. Its made mine exercise and they don't have that much fat on them. I drop their feed from 27% to 18% at 4 weeks.

 

[Sjisty]

I tried the Cornish X's twice, both times with six birds. We free-range our flock and leave food down 24/7. We didn't have any problems with the meaties as far as walking, heart attacks, etc. What I noticed is that those six birds stank more than my other three coops put together! I was cleaning their coop daily but it was always nasty, even though the guys were outside free-ranging during the day! Also, I'm too soft to process them myself and the only one I could find in our little town wouldn't pluck them - he skinned them and gave them back to us not well cleaned, charging us half the birds! Out of the 12 chickens, the guy who processed them for us kept six. The six we got back were delicious, except we had no skin, so we were limited on our methods of cooking them. Food cost and processing cost for substandard results made us decide to go back to grocery store chicken, so that experiment didn't work for us. If I ever find someone in Brooksville to process them (or if I ever grow a backbone), I would love to try it again.

BTW, our guy told us the meaties had crops full of grass.

 

[mstricer]

processing them is not that bad. if you have someone that can do the killing cut, then there dead and you do the cleaning that is what we do at our house.
I don't house the CX's with the reg chickens due to the poop. we just rotate the tractor around the yard. I started with 11 and now I have 24 FR and 22 CX's that have around 4 weeks to go and would like to get more CX's

 

[cpchicks]

I don't dare fill the feeder in the morning or they would never leave the coop. I've been sprinkling about 3/4 lb of feed (for five CXs) out on the ground to entice them to go outside in the morning. Then, a couple of times during the day I give them a little more to get them up off their butts to move around. I put another 3/4 lb in the feeder at night. I weighed a couple of them last night. They are at 41/2 to 4 7/8 lbs. I bought them on Aug 20, and I think they were about 5 days old so that makes them just about 4 weeks old. I think I'll keep doing this since they are gaining fine. In my original post I was asking how much feed they need per day to keep gaining. Mine are getting approx. 1/3 of a lb each and I'm satisfied that they are gaining well, but not so much that I have to worry about heart attacks. I'll keep sprinkling their food farther and farther away from the coop. I'm raising them with four chicks that will be replacement hens that are three weeks older. I was hoping the CXs would follow the others around and learn to forage but the four are off like a flash when I open the door and the CXs stumble out the door just as far as the food. Funny to watch. At least they are spending the day out on the ground and not pooping in the coop all day.
Anyone else keeping track of how much food their CXs are eating at 4 weeks?

 

[mstricer]

Quote:
Mine have to walk to get food and water. I fill the feeder which is about 30 lbs (18% protein broiler withdraw) I only feed them in there pens for the first 4 weeks, then I moved it farther and farther away It is about 40 ft away from their pen and I only have the feeder out from 630 am to 630 pm. Mine do a lot of foraging. The last rooster I butchered had a gizzard full of grass and bugs. (I did take his food that day) Having other foragers around them should encourage them to do the same. Just move the feeder away from the coop and they will figure it out. I have some girls that weigh about 8 lbs now that run flapping wings at me thinking I have a treat, its funny to watch them. Good Luck Michele

 

[Nofi's Nest]

My first batch of cx's are 4 weeks old. Mine are in a tractor. I also give them electrolytes for three days in a row every other week. No problems so far. Good luck.