Cornish rock butcher time?

[Hargraves]

Oh okay. Wow thanks. Once they hit 5 weeks, they'll be free range outside wiith the others. My older hens hardly eat the feed we give them cause they would rather eat off the yard I guess. I spoil them with mealworms in the mornings. Try to take care of them so they'll take care of us! As of right now, I'm thinking both Cornish chicks might be male but I'm not positive. 1/3lb daily, right?

 

[hellbender]

I beg to differ. Cornish X rocks should be butchered at about 8 weeks of age and one certainly can feed them to death. GOOGLE IT !!!

 

[vinnytheweed]

Yes it is a /3 pound .
Hell bender :Yes you CAN feed them to death but if you feed the responsibility and don't over feed them they will live I have 48 week old chornish X so Google is not the answer to all

 

[hellbender]

Yes it is a /3 pound .
Hell bender :Yes you CAN feed them to death but if you feed the responsibility and don't over feed them they will live I have 48 week old chornish X so Google is not the answer to all

Google is good enough for those who have NO experience and are getting misleading information from folks who might be telling them what they want to hear.

 

[cluckey]

I had a Cornish X in a mixed random batch. We didn't know what she was until she was 8 weeks. We hadn't had chickens before and had only gotten these for egg laying not meat. So this took us by surprise. I had named her Big Bird...I just couldn't butcher her. So she lived with my other hens free ranging. She lived just over a year and I would NOT recommend it. She was a sweet chicken, but lazy, fat and not very clean. She pooped all down herself causing inflammation on her butt. She had to come in for butt baths regularly and had to spray ointment on her butt every day. She would range a bit about 10 feet from the coop at most, where as the other chickens would roam all over the property. When it was hot out she sat in the shade panting. And as she got closer to a year she stopped coming out of the coop. I found her a few times sitting on my broody hen in the nesting boxes. One day I noticed she had a hard time breathing and kept closing her eyes, like she was too tired to keep them open. The next morning, she was dead
They can live longer than the 8 weeks with a "healthy lifestyle change" but I would never do it again. I dont think she suffered, but she was not healthy like my other chickens. Butcher them when they are at prime weight. Letting them grow much bigger after 8 weeks, they start to put on fat rapidly and your meat quality suffers. They tend to just drop dead from heart failure. Hope that helps.

 

[Hargraves]

Oh wow. I'm sorry. That is sad!! We won't be keeping them that long. Just gonna get them taken care of at 8 weeks.

 

[DelcoChix]

My daughter raised the Cornish Crosses for Her 4-H fair market projects for the last 6 years (except 2015-no birds at the fairs in Ohio). Raised 12 the first year, 20 the next five and didn't lose one before their time.

We raised them separate from the layer/production birds and they did require a bit more care especially with the heat when we put the fan on. We did not limit their feed, they don't eat at night so it was not non stop eating but if their food ran out it was scary how they gorged themselves when it was refilled.
With the fair as the goal my daughter had them on a program with food and water at opposite ends of their pen once they outgrew the brooder. The food was on a raised platform at one end, water at the other.
They would have been content to simply eat, drink and poop never moving if permitted. We did take them outside into a makeshift pen in the yard a few times, no easy task with 20 as they got larger! Just wanted them to have fresh air and grass under their feet in their short lives. To be honest the older they got the less they were interested in going outside. Just walked a minute, then plopped down. No interest in the grass or bugs around them.

Alll of the fair kids got their meaties on the same day from the same hatchery so they competed on a level playing field...choosing their top three birds for the fair. The birds all went to market exactly 8 weeks from hatch date, and we'd take the extras to be processed as soon as possible after, 8 weeks and three days old. They were huge birds!
Since they are a hybrid they turn feed into protein/meat at a fast rate, growing fewer feathers as a result. Can have leg issues and heart attacks because of the rapid growth.

Learning from her/our experiences I have come to some conclusions regarding these Frankenbirds.
1) We will raise them again. The shorter time means better return on feed and labor.
2) I'd like to also try the Freedom Rangers and compare the two. They can free range much better but take at least a month longer to reach decent processing weight.
I'd like to compare cost with taste and labor.
3) They will be processed at 6-7 weeks. Would not wait 8--they barely fit into my large crockpot!
4) Raise them in the spring or fall. August-September is tough but no option with fair.
5) Build a chicken tractor so they'd be outside more/all the time, but protected.

I've read of folks who've kept them alive for extraordinary lengths of time but that would be a challenge that I'm not up to. They were created/developed to eat all the time,grow rapidly, grow huge and be butchered before health issues develop.
Good luck!

 

[DreamsInPink]

Thank you for posting this. I have 6 Cornish Cross that are 7 weeks old. I am not going to be able to get mine done at 8 weeks. It'll probably be more like 9 or 10 weeks. But I've also not been pumping them full of feed. They are somewhat rationed... I give them enough to last till bedtime and then they are fed in the morning. I haven't weighed mine yet. I just got a scale today. I'll probably try to get them weighed in the next couple days.

 

[rottlady]

my first experience with Cornish X meat birds was when someone gave us 25-30 8 week olds. Back in the 80's I had no clue they were different than regular chickens. I fed them twice a day like the other chickens and they wandered about outside but at 12 weeks old they started dying from what looked like heart failure or becoming crippled/unable to get to their feet. We ended up having to kill them all and THEN I found out that is what happens to most of them if you try to keep them for ever. SOME do live ok but most do not. Their meat production outstrips their heart's ability to function and/or their skeleton's ability to support them

 

[Mike Theiss]

Six to eight weeks and these birds get heavy. If hot weather comes it feed them a bit less and give plenty of water. After six weeks cut back on food. They are meat birds not feathered friends.