Spring vs. Fall Harvest comparison

[tjcib]

We just harvested and bagged our 2nd batch of Cornish Cross. They were all roosters from Hoover Hatchery. Here is a screenshot of the stats. It is crazy the difference between the two harvests!!!!!

A few items of note:

• In the spring we tried the 12 hours of feed and 12 hours off feed as recommended by a number of publications
• In the fall we free-fed
• We also went a little longer in the fall. We were really worried about quality of life in the spring because it was our first attempt. But once we knew what we were looking for/at, we upped the feed and let them grow longer since we could see that they remained healthy.
• We used a Suscovich tractor on our front lawn
• We had a few freak cold nights (in the 30s) the first week they were out of the brooder this fall, but the 50-chick brooder plate with an extension cord took care of business.
• It was hot as heck in May/June here, which we think inhibited growth as well

 

[Ridgerunner]

Interesting. Not an apples to apples comparison of spring versus fall with the different feeding methods and the extra 10 days. Not exactly what I'd have expected either. Thanks for posting.

What do you plan to do next year?

 

[tjcib]

Interesting. Not an apples to apples comparison of spring versus fall with the different feeding methods and the extra 10 days. Not exactly what I'd have expected either. Thanks for posting.

What do you plan to do next year?

Yeah, normally we would only change one variable, but we wanted bigger birds more than anything.

I think we will stick with the free-feed method. But we may harvest just a bit sooner. I feel like they peaked in growth during that last week. But they were destroying my feed supply. As fun as it is to harvest 7-pound birds, a 5 or 6 pound bird serves our family too... It might make things a bit more efficient.

 

[Acre4Me]

We’ve done spring and fall Cornish cross. We greatly prefer fall bc butchering in Oct/early Nov is much more pleasant than in the summer. We usually free feed, and butcher at 7.5 weeks (53-54 days).

 

[tjcib]

So the only thing I am REALLY displeased with is my exsanguination on this batch. I have no idea what I did differently between the two batches. In the first batch, every bird came out bright white. But this time almost every bird has that hue of incomplete exsanguination. A few even show some of the veins through the skin.

Could the increased size of the bird result in a less effective bleed out?