When to butcher Cornish-X meaties????

[kristen_k]

I used a cabela's meat scale and a 5 gallon bucket which weighed 2 pounds. I gently put the chicken in the bucket at 7 weeks old, weighed around 8- 8.5 lbs. Chickens dressed weight came out at 4 and 4.5 lbs

Kristen

 

[Roccomanchickens]

I just got 38 cornish x with 12 replacements on the way this week. My plan is to process in at least 2 groups so that we have different sizes of finished birds. If your goal is feed conversion (how many pounds of feed it takes to make 1 pound of meat) you may have to pay more attention to their weights by weighing them frequently and keeping track of the feed you are using. If you are only interested in how big the finished bird is going to be, follow the recommendations of the other posters regarding live weight/dressed weight. My thought was that I would "thin the herd" so that I didnt' have 50 giant eating machines all at the same time.

 

[quercus21]

I usually process our birds at 7 - 8 weeks. The birds that wont fit into the shrink wrap bags are quartered, the small birds that will fit are kept whole for roasters.

 

[DuginMT]

We just butchered our two jumbo cornish rocks at 5 1/2 weeks. Dressed weight was 3 lb 14 oz and 3 lb 7 oz. On meat bird feed and scratch for last 3 weeks. They should be tasty!

 

[cafrhe]

7-8 weeks depending on weight and how hot it is. Some of my birds get pretty big by 7 weeks and in July & August you run the risk of the biggest of them suffering in the heat. Mine have a tractor and also free range. This summer, my plan is to process as close to 7 weeks as possible unless they turn out smaller than last year. I get a range (dressed weight) from 4.5lbs up to 7+lbs

 

[jacobhawaiifarm]

My bird is about 10 weeks now, seems like they are packing the weight. Does anyone here process the chicken later than 7 weeks? Seems like everyone is processing at 7 weeks. I was thinking 12 week...is that too late?

 

[MikeTodd]

We processed last year at 11 weeks and had 6-7lb dressed birds. We also made 60 quarts of stock!!!!

 

[CluckerCottage]

My meaties are at 10 weeks now-- they should have gone to the butcher last week!
Looking for a new butcher now as ours is MIA!
The heavier they get, the more risk of going down on their legs and dying of organ failure.
Good luck with your birds!

 

[meowsandy]

We start processing at 8 weeks old. I pick the biggest, and any that have pale combs, limps, or obvious issues. I have 5 that are 10 1/2 weeks old and we are letting them go to see how big they will grow. We do restrict feed to 12 hours a day and free range our birds. After 9 weeks old I started seeing a much higher rate of health issues, but no deaths, as I butchered any that weren't active quickly.

I've read that if you want to grow past 10 weeks, you really need to restrict food intake from the beginning.

 

[cafrhe]

Processing is about weight for me. I do sell them and many people want a 5ish lb bird. Also when you have a live weight over 8 lbs, it is very hard on the bird, especially in the heat. My birds get pretty big by 7 weeks (at least they did last year), so that is why my process date is around 7 to 7.5 weeks. I didnt like how big they got closing in on 8 weeks. They were not comfortable.

I have dressed weights from 5lbs to 8lbs. Some of the males got huge! I also free range from their tractor and feed fermented feed.