Who said Cornish Xs start dropping dead at 10 weeks old?????

[al6517]

Sure they can live well past what is often thought is their life span. Special feeding does help and if they free range they do better as they can excercise and get a less high protein diet. I have several that have lived for 2 years + and are still doing well, Laying well and I have even hatched quite a few egg's from them. Some of us meat bird guy's have experimented with breeding and hatching these monsters and some of us have had some very Promising results as to size and growth rates.

AL

 

[HEChicken]

Hmmmm...I wondered about this too and this Spring got a single Cornish X to raise with my layers. He was treated just like them - ate the same food at the same time, and after their brooder time, when it was time to go outside, he went with them and free-ranged right alongside them. I thought that because he was eating and exercising like a layer, he would not gain weight as fast and would live longer. Sadly (because he was very sweet and friendly), he dropped dead at.....10 weeks. I looked out the window and saw him lying in a corner of the yard not moving and knew it was over for him long before I got to him. So, although your experience has been different, mine did follow general wisdom.

 

[al6517]

I think the most important aspect is to decide before you get them what will you want to do with them ??. If at the start you think you want to hold some back as layers or Roosters, you must start the care regimine ASAP. I also feel strongly that some folks will be unable to implement this grow out plan on these Cornish X's as it seems at times to be a little unfair. I say this because for a very long while feed and water has to be witheld on schedule and ranging encouraged, some folks may a problem with that.

WTS I have chicks out of my Cornish X's that are adults now and are also laying.

AL

 

[Urbanfarmerkc]

I'm curious... are yours the slow growing kind or the others? If you had the slow growers maybe that made a difference. Mine were the really fast growing kind and they freaked me out completely especially when some of the roosters broke their legs. I swore I'd NEVER raise them again.

Now I just raise heritage and process them at about 15 to 16 weeks of age. A little tougher but delicious. I also feel better about them because I'm promoting more of the rarer breeds...

Dave

 

[Liamm_1]

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lol, I had to chuckle here. Did you say promoting? I thought you said processing?

 

[al6517]

Mine were the fast growing jumbo Broilers, It was a plan from the start because everybody said it couldn't be done. Weeeelllll I don't do.......... can't be done LOL.

AL

 

[ruth]

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I think mine were the "fast growers". Initially we kept them in a cage and while we didn't provide food at all times, they were fed well and often and grew quickly. I would even let them out a little each day since they were growing so fast and getting crowded in their pens. When one was so fat he could barely walk and did just drop dead while trying to walk a little ways, we processed two of the biggest ones. They were about 10-12 weeks old and after cleaning, weighed 5 pounds. Then I decided to turn the rest of the dozen loose. It was dead of summer and high heat temps and I just couldn't watch them in their small pens and they were dirty and panting all the time. I had already separated them with only 2 -3 to a pen but they would just eat and poop and sit in it and they were a mess. Once I opened the pens and let them do as they pleased, they started acting like all the other chickens and running around the farm. They continued to grow but weren't having trouble walking and weren't laying in their pens panting like they were dying anymore. I still thought they would begin "dropping dead" at some point but have been very pleasantly surprised to find that not only did they not drop dead, they are laying these huge eggs. I guess I shoud incubate some of the eggs. They won't be pure Cornish Xs (if there is such a thing) since it seems all the other roos have their way with these gals and I've never seen the Cornish Roo do anything but I do have a large breeder pen I could put them in and see what happens.

It has been a learning experience for us. We've learned that we just aren't Meat Bird Material yet. In fact, one of the Cornish hens has had a terrible case of bumblefoot and I've been treating her and doctoring her for a long time. I can't get her feet healed and one is so swollen she can't walk on it, so yes, I'm actually hand-tending to a crippled Cornish hen and "babying" her.

 

[ruth]

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Hi Colby - good to hear from you. I wish I could say we've gotten a lot done on the house. We've tried but seems like for every board they pull off there are 10 more rotted behind it. Progress is going backwards on most things. Come see us again if you're ever in the area.

Monique

 

[guitari609]

Ruth,

I think it has a lot to do with the way they are kept. Mine this year were kept in Salatin-style pens and on 24/7 feed, and I DEFINITELY watched them start dropping dead at right about 10 weeks. I lost about 8 out of 40 in the week between 10 weeks and the time I processed at 11.5 weeks. The interesting thing is that they were always the ones that seemed to be the biggest and healthiest, so I take it to mean they were having heart attacks, as is often sited as the cause.

I'd be interested to know where you got yours from? And do they roost?

I'm doing full-blown free-range and cutting them off from feed during the evenings, but am still a bit torn over whether to use typical cornishx's or one of the colored birds marketed towards free-range set ups.

 

[ruth]

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Mine came from the local CO-OP and that's about all I know about them - other than they are white as seen in the picture I posted. They don't roost only because they are too big and fat to roost. They sleep on the ground. They do find their way back to the coop each evening and go in the open pens (which we close up at night) and while all the other chickens get up on the roosts, the Cornish sleep on the ground. They also don't use nest boxes so I've made hay nests on the ground where they lay their eggs. For awhile they were sleeping outside by the feed bins (large trash cans where we keep the feed) so they're no dummies - they sleep right next to the source so first thing next morning, they are first in line.

We have 6 dogs that roam the farm so many of our chickens prefer to sleep outside in the bushes or under the carport - that way they can steal dog food and also be able to run free first thing in the mornings without having to be let out of the coops. I guess this is why I felt so bad for the Cornish when we initially got them and followed the recommended method of raising them. None of our other birds or livestock are confined to pens or cages and they looked so sad as they watched everyone else run around the farm.

For what it's worth, DH says he's going to process some roos tomorrow (Sat.) - we shall see. I can do everything but cut the head off - it's the actual killing part I can't bring myself to do. I can hold it till it bleeds out, scald it, pluck it, clean it, cook it, eat it - just can't take that first step of taking its life. I even made a killing cone thinking I could do that since it looks a lot easier and less messy than the beheading approach so maybe in time I'll get there but I just can't do the axe thing.