Farm Cornish Cross adventures 2023

[Border Collie Dad]

Got 16 Cornish Cross for McMurray around 4/4.
All arrived healthy.
They are in my basement under lights.
They eat Kalmbach 22% non-GMO starter.

I've lost two, so far.
Today was the latest.

I'm wondering about the high mortality rate of these birds.
They're great meat birds but the costs seem to be almost prohibitive.

I suspect I will lose more by the time they get to 6 or 7 weeks.
They will need to move outside in a couple weeks at the most.
I have a tractor.

 

[BUZZ]

Got 16 Cornish Cross for McMurray around 4/4.
All arrived healthy.
They are in my basement under lights.
They eat Kalmbach 22% non-GMO starter.

I've lost two, so far.
Today was the latest.

I'm wondering about the high mortality rate of these birds.
They're great meat birds but the costs seem to be almost prohibitive.

I suspect I will lose more by the time they get to 6 or 7 weeks.
They will need to move outside in a couple weeks at the most.
I have a tractor.

Out of 32 we lost 5 and out of our cobuyers 32 he lost 2 and had to butcher 2 at 7 weeks due to leg issues . Last Saturday we processed the remaining 55 .

 

[Border Collie Dad]

They are pretty fragile

 

[bbbuddy]

I always feed them regular chick starter and only 12 hours per day. No problems.

 

[Profit of Doom]

I have a tractor.

And….?

 

[Luddite]

And….?

I believe he was referring to the 2 wheeled screened little chicken tiny houses.
Allows them to be moved around to new pasture with the safety of a coop.

Not the 4 or 6 wheeled implement that needed to be invented about 250 years earlier.

 

[Profit of Doom]

That makes sense. Chicken tractor I know about.

 

[WalknTrot]

Are you pulling their feed at night? 12 hours with, 12 hours without. It's real important that they aren't on free feed 24/7.

Losing 2 out of 16 is a hit, , but I've had years when I have lost a few and other years when I haven't lost any. With these guys, the older they get, the more you have sunk into them and they're far from cheap to raise.

3+ weeks in, you are past any shipping stress issues. Hope this last one was just a freak thing. I can't attest to anything with Murray McMurray broilers...haven't ordered from them in years. Usually my CC broilers come from Hoover or Welp.

 

[KMR58]

It’s why we are doing multi purpose birds from now on. I hated losing those big boys so late into it and after feeding them so much. They became expensive dog food And it wasn’t worth it.

 

[marsofold]

Black Austrolorps are big birds, forage well, gentle personalites, and hold the world record for egg laying.

 

[Border Collie Dad]

I see people talk about Red Rangers.
Seems they are a little slower growing than the Cornish.
Imagine like the slow whites

 

[WalknTrot]

I see people talk about Red Rangers.
Seems they are a little slower growing than the Cornish.
Imagine like the slow whitesa

A friend of mine raises them. IMHO much slower than Slow Whites, and not nearly the meat in the end.
She doesn't butcher until around three months, and they are maybe the size of grocery store fryers...3-3.5 lb. dressed..

 

[Border Collie Dad]

A friend of mine raises them. IMHO much slower than Slow Whites, and not nearly the meat in the end.
She doesn't butcher until around three months, and they are maybe the size of grocery store fryers...3-3.5 lb. dressed..

Thanks for that info.

 

[Border Collie Dad]

Tomorrow is butchering day.
Unless I lose some overnight, I have 12 living from an original 16.
Best I can tell, they are around 50 days old.

I just looked at the cost and it looks to be a little over $19/bird.
That's a little inflated because I fed 6 sex link out of the feed costs

I'm not very satisfied with McMurray's responses to my inquiry regarding the mortality rate and, probably, won't get from them again.