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LingaB said:
How are meat birds stinkier than regular chickens?
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To be clear, the following "meat birds" in question are the Cornish Rock mix birds made 'standard' by the meat industry. They eat quite a bit more, because they grow so much faster. That means they poop more -a lot more, and bigger. They are selectively bred to get to processing weight by 8 weeks, and compared to my Buff Orpingtons, they were easily twice the size of the BO by the end of the second week I had them (bought from TSC at just a few days old). In my experience, they were frantic about eating and drinking (extra feed = extra water consumption too), and would just mob me, pecking hands etc. in the frenzy, whenever I opened their pen. At a couple of weeks old, they were already so rough with their feeders and waterers that they would separate the base from the jar not long after I put it in their brooder, so that was extra mess and waste. Once in a coop with a run, they weren't much better. The grass didn't have time to get eaten before it got covered in poop and the whole run was a stinking, icky mess. In case you're thinking free-ranging might be better then, think again. They aren't bred for that -their muscles self-destruct when given too much exercise (search "green muscle disease" on BYC). That's not impressive to find when you've invited family over for a home-grown roast chicken dinner. My Cornish Rocks may have been raised humanely without pesticides/antibiotics/etc., but they have been selectively bred to be very unnatural for a chicken. When watching them grow, it is easy to see how birds are actually much more closely related to dinosaurs than originally thought!
 
^^ So there you have it, the reason I switched to a dual -purpose, gentle breed like the Buff Orpington and got an incubator to hatch my own. I was so very turned off by the whole mutant-bird experience; it totally defeated the purpose (for me) of raising my own birds for eggs and meat. Let's just say that I'm not necessarily against selectively breeding animals for certain traits or even against all gmo's, but those Cornish Rocks can't survive long past adulthood (as a general rule; they usually succumb to heart failure from carrying the extra weight) or breed naturally. That's just not right in my book.
 
Yes, I was referring to the cornish X chickens. We are raising our first laying chickens right now and want to do cornish X soon, so we can stock our freezer. The eating/pooping = stinky makes total sense. I feel a little stupid for asking the question now. LOL
 
LingaB said:
Yes, I was referring to the cornish X chickens. We are raising our first laying chickens right now and want to do cornish X soon, so we can stock our freezer. The eating/pooping = stinky makes total sense. I feel a little stupid for asking the question now. LOL
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Oh, please don't feel stupid. It's kind of like childbirth; you can read about it and hear about it all you want, but somehow you just aren't quite prepared for the reality of it. Can you tell I was a little scarred by those darn birds?! I don't have a problem with the processing; it's the growing of those things that gets to me!
 
Here's a picture or two of the mutants with my BOs :
400

400
 
I am in Central Georgia. My husband and I and daughter are raising 15 BO's and 5 Bantams assorted. This is my first time raising chickens. However, my husband raised chickens many many years ago before we met.
 
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