Well, if nothing else....

[RAREROO]

I agree she looks like a meat bird. The reason why I think he told you some are kept for laying eggs is the ones that are kept to go into the breeder houses to produce eggs to hatch more broilers. They lay off white - light brown eggs.

 

[catdaddyfro]

Quote:
Yes I say a cornishX meat type also. And Mr. C is not right about the using some of them as layer/breeders because this is a hybrid type production bird. In other words its a cross of two different breed chickens to get the traits for this type of performance. My friend in Ark. has two layer houses for Tyson broilers and I' ve worked in them and the hens are nothing like what these hens turn into, they look just like average ol' WR hens the roos that's a different story they look more like Wt. Jersey Giants on steriods not saying they use "riods" just saying.

If she/it(looks roo-ish to me) lives to be of laying age she'll be so big and you'll have so much in feed in it that it'll never be profitable to keep for egg production these hens can easily get upwards of 20+lbs. and the roos around 30+lbs. this is very hard on their joints much less their organs and yes a lot do just kill over with heart problems or just smother from the stresses that they are put through in their young lifetime.

I've had a lot of experience with this type bird. I was raised on a broiler farm from birth till I graduated H.S. We had 4 houses that held 20 to 22 thou. birds for 6weeks for 17 years so I've been around a few broilers in my lifetime. I've even tried raising some of these when I was younger for layers and believe you me if it weren't for the fact that I could get feed from the broiler houses I'd had a small fortune in the 5 amazons that I ended up keeping, they absolutly dwarfed my BR roo that I had gotten for them as a partener. Finally my grandad talked me into getting some production type egglayers and I'm still raising layers and selling eggs 25 years later, got out of the broiler operation, got a real job so I didn't have to work so much/hard.

Anyhow the best advice I can give you is limit the rations to a minimum and no High protien feed and hope that its legs aren't to far gone to carry it around. Maybe it'll work out for ya. Oh yeah, they lay light brown/cream colored eggs. If not, they make an exellent roasting bird at about 12 to 16 wks. old. So good luck.

catdaddy

 

[fiberart57]

Hello,
If you'll allow an amateur to join the conversation, there was a post a couple of weeks ago from a member who had a Cornish/Rock cross who was kept on a strict diet and was two years old. She didn't define "strict" diet but I imagine like it was suggested to keep the protein and corn to a minimum and more greens she might live longer than expected which would be good news if you're wanting her as a "pet".

Mary

 

[Tala]

I just stumbled across some hope for you!!!!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=266472

maybe pm them and see exactly what they did to get her to live!

 

[RAREROO]

Quote:
Yes I say a cornishX meat type also. And Mr. C is not right about the using some of them as layer/breeders because this is a hybrid type production bird. In other words its a cross of two different breed chickens to get the traits for this type of performance. My friend in Ark. has two layer houses for Tyson broilers and I' ve worked in them and the hens are nothing like what these hens turn into, they look just like average ol' WR hens the roos that's a different story they look more like Wt. Jersey Giants on steriods not saying they use "riods" just saying.

If she/it(looks roo-ish to me) lives to be of laying age she'll be so big and you'll have so much in feed in it that it'll never be profitable to keep for egg production these hens can easily get upwards of 20+lbs. and the roos around 30+lbs. this is very hard on their joints much less their organs and yes a lot do just kill over with heart problems or just smother from the stresses that they are put through in their young lifetime.

I've had a lot of experience with this type bird. I was raised on a broiler farm from birth till I graduated H.S. We had 4 houses that held 20 to 22 thou. birds for 6weeks for 17 years so I've been around a few broilers in my lifetime. I've even tried raising some of these when I was younger for layers and believe you me if it weren't for the fact that I could get feed from the broiler houses I'd had a small fortune in the 5 amazons that I ended up keeping, they absolutly dwarfed my BR roo that I had gotten for them as a partener. Finally my grandad talked me into getting some production type egglayers and I'm still raising layers and selling eggs 25 years later, got out of the broiler operation, got a real job so I didn't have to work so much/hard.

Anyhow the best advice I can give you is limit the rations to a minimum and no High protien feed and hope that its legs aren't to far gone to carry it around. Maybe it'll work out for ya. Oh yeah, they lay light brown/cream colored eggs. If not, they make an exellent roasting bird at about 12 to 16 wks. old. So good luck.

catdaddy

This is true. I've done a little work in broiler breeder houses too. The hens do look like BIG White Rocks and some of the roos are not far from being turkeys. But the high protein feed and exstensive breeding they have had, causes the birds who are actually raise for butchering to be huge meat balls in just a few weeks. I proper diet can extend the lives of these bird but they are bred to die,basicly, The broilers would survive long if they weren't buthcered at a young age and the breeder houses only keep breeders for one season. I hatched eggs from the breeder house and raised them just like I do all my chickens and they still grew to a very large and heavy size, and when I crossed a hen with a Buff Orp roo, I hatched a BEAUTIFUL Buff/white hen and she got to be very heavy too. When the breeders went out to the processing plant every season their would always be several espapees and the owner said if we could catch them, we could have them. They didn't really make good farm chickens, didn't lay that great and they were exstreamly messy and stinking, and glutonous eaters, we just butchered most of them ourselves. So I don't think she would be worth keeping for long.