Will Cornish X live normal lives if you don't kill them ever?

[KatieH]

But if you're restricting their feed, then don't they feel as if they're starving constantly? I fail to see how that's more "humane" than a quick death. Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean that you SHOULD.

I just have cornish roasters and no way would I ever force them to live beyond their intended life span. They've had a happy life, why ruin it by starving them?

 

[Bossroo]

Some of us are born to be thin beanpoles and can eat copeous amounts of food and still stay thin. Some of us are born to carry some excess weight, but have to watch what we eat or the pounds pile on. Some of us are born to be huge so we have to be on a constant diet or we become obese. I fall in the middle group so I have been on a constant diet for 50 years to fight being overweight . I am quite sure that most of us are on some sort of a diet at one time or another of our lives as I see too robust individuals on a daily basis. We as parents of our kids, provide for their nutritional and physical growth needs and constantly say no to candy or a twinkie for their benefit. We are looking after their best health interests, afterall. Since chickens also fall into similar physical groups due to individual and/or breed physical standards, similar needs for food intake or food restrictions apply. Since chickens don't have the brain capacity to put themselves on a diet as they all are constantly looking for food, we as their caretakers do that service for them which is a humane thing to do..

 

[deerman]

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The cornish X are not . putting fat on thats the problem. They have been bred to have alot of body mass, NOT FAT.
Cornish X are not obese.

To compare to people. It would be like the rare people that are giants, and keep growing, Yes they dont live long either...

In Dogs the giant breeds don't live as long either, maybe 9 yrs at best.

 

[OhioEggs]

Regardless of how well they live, check your county's regulations. Our county requires ALL birds to go on the truck to the packer. The buyer is just paying a premium.

 

[jaku]

My birds have restricted feed, and they aren't starving. Nothing that eats 12 hours a day, then has it's food taken away at night could be considered "starving." Also, if they were starving, they wouldn't have beautiful meaty carcasses at butchering time. Just because they WANT to eat 24/7, doesn't mean they need to. Furthermore, this is a moot point- who cares, really? If one was TRULY concerned about being "nice" to their animals, they probably wouldn't cut their heads off, drain their blood, gut them and eat them. I can buy that from the folks in the other sections, some of whom put diapers on their birds and let them run around the house like people, but not here. Calling the mere existance of an animal like Cornish X "cruel," simply because they like to eat, doesn't make sense. Being cruel to your birds would be setting them on fire to see what happens- restricting their feed to only allow them to eat STRAIGHT THROUGH 50% of their day doesn't count in the same category.

 

[Buster52]

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Unless I am grossly misunderstanding you here, Jaku, I don't buy that reasoning. I don't believe for one second that you are anything but kind to your birds when they are alive, all the way up to the point when you put that knife to their throats. In fact, I would wager that is at least one reason why you restrict feed... because you believe it improves the quality of life for your birds.

I know discussions like this can push people to the extremes of their positions, and something folks should always be careful of.

 

[BirchHatchery]

To DeerMan An Katie The cornish x are not very diffrent from their parents their parents are large birds and kept on a strick diet and live to the end of breeding doin this with the cornish x is no diffrent if i get a year out of them i will be happy. in 16 weeks i will post pics of all 10 of my cornish rocks when they hit breeding age to proove most you wrong! GOOD LUCK WITH TRIEN TO PROVE ME WRONG i no for a fact i can do it

 

[enola]

I have a Cornish X hen that is 14 months old now. I prefer to call her diet "controlled", instead of restricted. She mates normally, lays 5 eggs a week for me, which I put in the incubator and hatch. I have been breeding her to a Cuckoo Maran rooster. The chicks are producing a very desirable carcass at butchering time, which is at approximately 8 weeks for cockerels and 10 weeks for pullets. All of the chicks have had white feathers.

Her "controlled" diet consists of laying pellets, oats, hay replacer pellets and trimmings from vegetables that make my dinner. She loves tomatoes, cucumbers and hand picked clover. She does not have a pecking problem caused by her diet.

She is definately "full bodied" but she is far from obese. She has no discernable breathing or leg problems so far. She does not act any more starved than my other laying hens. Actually, the main difference between her and my other hens seems to be her intelligence level, which is fairly low......

I am planning on keeping one of her pullet chicks to produce more "meat type" chicks. I have my eye on one that is growing faster than the other pullets.

I have some customers of Asian ancestry that have expressed some interest in broilers with "dark" meat on the whole carcass..... (Just another project for me !)

I am planning on keeping her until she shows signs of deteriorating health. Then she will go into my crock pot ! I sure hope she will fit.....

 

[jaku]

Quote:
Unless I am grossly misunderstanding you here, Jaku, I don't buy that reasoning. I don't believe for one second that you are anything but kind to your birds when they are alive, all the way up to the point when you put that knife to their throats. In fact, I would wager that is at least one reason why you restrict feed... because you believe it improves the quality of life for your birds.

I know discussions like this can push people to the extremes of their positions, and something folks should always be careful of.

Absolutely- but like I said, if I were being "kind" to my birds, I would let them sleep indoors, bathe them, and NOT kill them. We can't forget that these are farm animals, for the sole purpose of eating. If you do something obviously cruel or torturous to even a farm animal, you are a broken person who should be removed from society- BUT, that's a far cry from keeping birds and simply restricting feed. We're not having an honest discussion in the meat birds section if we call it cruel to restrict feed to 12 hours per day, but have no problem slitting an animal's throat and watching it's life drain out. At least the people who let their birds sleep in bed with them are LIVING what they're saying.

I mean, my two year old screams and cries for candy like he's starving ALL DAY. If I don't give it to him, is that cruel? Or is it cruel if I give him whatever he wants because he doesn't know any better?

 

[deerman]

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Dont see you proving anything, like i said i have raised them over a year old. They still get huge, still have problems. Been there done that!!!