Farm My Cornish Cross

KMR58

KMR58

Veteran Member
Watch them closely. We had two we wanted to keep 10 weeks and they both died during the night of heart attacks. They looked perfectly healthy that night when I put them away. I was only feeding them during the day - 12 hours - so they didn't get overfed. I took away their food and water at night. In future I will butcher at 8 weeks.
 
Txkstew

Txkstew

Veteran Member
Let us know how much each bird cost up til butcher if you have kept tract so far. Whole Tyson birds in the store are up to $10 now.
 
KMR58

KMR58

Veteran Member
Txkstew said:
Let us know how much each bird cost up til butcher if you have kept tract so far. Whole Tyson birds in the store are up to $10 now.
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This makes me laugh. Not at you but at this statement. I would sell mine for about $25 each. They only eat non-GMO organic feed and vegetables. They get loved on and get only the best of the best. They don't compare to store bought birds.
 
S

summerthyme

Administrator
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Txkstew said:
Let us know how much each bird cost up til butcher if you have kept tract so far. Whole Tyson birds in the store are up to $10 now.
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We do this every year, as we raise 200 birds on pasture for sale. This year, our cost per bird, counting the $1.66 each for the chicks) was $8.72 to get them to 6# dressed weight. We sell them for $15 per bird, either whole, or cut, vacuum sealed and frozen, but without the necks and backs.

So few customers wanted the necks and backs (even with free broth and soup recipes included!) that we started keeping them for dog food. Works for us!

If we'd butchered 10 days earlier, we'd have gotten "fryer" sized birds, and it would have cost $7.35 each.

we didnt lose a single bird after shipping losses (18 out of the first 100 shipped were dead or dying when we unpacked them. ZERO deaths out of the 126 in the second batch) Last year, we had a Fisher get into the pen, and we lost 4, 4 week old birds. They were fed whole to Dixie, so that mitigated the loss somewhat.

Right now the laying hens are on pasture, and are eating less than 2 ounces of layer mash a day... I watch them, and they're actively hunting grasshoppers,, crickets,, mice,, snakes and eating tons of seeds. We'll move them into the orchard and main garden after harvest to clean up and keep pests down.

Summerthyme
 
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Txkstew

Txkstew

Veteran Member
I think Joel Salatin gets $24 a bird a while back. May be more now. He says the meat doesn't compare to store bought. We probably eat 30 birds a year or more.
 
B

Border Collie Dad

Flat Earther
My 4 Slow White hens have either stopped laying in their nests, are eating the eggs or laying elsewhere.
Yesterday, I started keeping them inside the fence to eliminate the possibility of laying somewhere else
 
S

summerthyme

Administrator
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Border Collie Dad said:
My 4 Slow White hens have either stopped laying in their nests, are eating the eggs or laying elsewhere.
Yesterday, I started keeping them inside the fence to eliminate the possibility of laying somewhere else
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How old are they? Are you seeing extra feathers on the ground? Now is the time to start supplementing light, if you want them to lay through the winter.

Ours all molted through the summer, and are back to about 18 eggs from 24 hens. There are at least half a dozen puliets who should start laying in October. We're going to butcher the old roosters and the older laying hens... feed is just too darned expensive to feed birds that aren't optimally productive.

I've still got half an acre of sunflowers to finish harvesting. I hang them on a 20 foot tall chain link fence that encloses one end of the pavilion. Last night, I caught a chicken trying to jump from the rim of a garbage can high enough to steal sunflower seeds. She wasn't successful, but at least it looks like they'll eat them!

Summerthyme
 
B

Border Collie Dad

Flat Earther
summerthyme said:
How old are they? Are you seeing extra feathers on the ground? Now is the time to start supplementing light, if you want them to lay through the winter.

Ours all molted through the summer, and are back to about 18 eggs from 24 hens. There are at least half a dozen puliets who should start laying in October. We're going to butcher the old roosters and the older laying hens... feed is just too darned expensive to feed birds that aren't optimally productive.

I've still got half an acre of sunflowers to finish harvesting. I hang them on a 20 foot tall chain link fence that encloses one end of the pavilion. Last night, I caught a chicken trying to jump from the rim of a garbage can high enough to steal sunflower seeds. She wasn't successful, but at least it looks like they'll eat them!

Summerthyme
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They're last year's birds.
Haven't noticed any feathers but the rooster keeps the girls pretty naked.
Hadn't thought about lights yet but will now.
 
Cardinal

Cardinal

Chickministrator
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KMR58 said:
This makes me laugh. Not at you but at this statement. I would sell mine for about $25 each. They only eat non-GMO organic feed and vegetables. They get loved on and get only the best of the best. They don't compare to store bought birds.
Click to expand...
Someone needs to start a "How do you spoil your chickens" thread.
I feed mine cottage cheese or yogurt and blueberries.
 
Walrus Whisperer

Walrus Whisperer

Hope in chains...
summerthyme said:
How old are they? Are you seeing extra feathers on the ground? Now is the time to start supplementing light, if you want them to lay through the winter.

Ours all molted through the summer, and are back to about 18 eggs from 24 hens. There are at least half a dozen puliets who should start laying in October. We're going to butcher the old roosters and the older laying hens... feed is just too darned expensive to feed birds that aren't optimally productive.

I've still got half an acre of sunflowers to finish harvesting. I hang them on a 20 foot tall chain link fence that encloses one end of the pavilion. Last night, I caught a chicken trying to jump from the rim of a garbage can high enough to steal sunflower seeds. She wasn't successful, but at least it looks like they'll eat them!

Summerthyme
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They will eat sunflower seeds. Whole. I always grew a few on the fence line and harvested them for the chickens to have something to do in the winter.
 
O

Old Gray Mare

TB Fanatic
Border Collie Dad said:
Had two drop dead today.
They are approx. 40 days old; less than 6 weeks.
I've been pulling the feed every evening.
I leave the water in.

Any thoughts?
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Drafts? Damp? Disease? Cornish Roc crosses have bad genetics, weak legs. They're designed to eat, sh!t and die. Leave off butchering too long and they get so fat their legs can't support them for long. I've had them drop dead with no apparent reason but not two in one day.
 
KMR58

KMR58

Veteran Member
Border Collie Dad said:
Had two drop dead today.
They are approx. 40 days old; less than 6 weeks.
I've been pulling the feed every evening.
I leave the water in.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
These birds are very fragile and their organs just give out without warning. I had a couple that did that and they became dog food because I just wasn't sure how long they had been dead. I pretty much count on a few not making it to 8 weeks and try not to push the butchering past that.
 
B

Border Collie Dad

Flat Earther
Wow! Lost two more birds this morning.
That only leaves me 10 out of the original 15.

They are 7 weeks old.
I pull their feed at night.
I have them in a tractor that I move every day.
Temps at night have been in the 30s.
Are they too cold?
 
S

summerthyme

Administrator
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Border Collie Dad said:
Wow! Lost two more birds this morning.
That only leaves me 10 out of the original 15.

They are 7 weeks old.
I pull their feed at night.
I have them in a tractor that I move every day.
Temps at night have been in the 30s.
Are they too cold?
Click to expand...
Probably. I've never tried to raise them outside except in midsummer. Technically, the advice for baby chicks is to start them at 95 degrees Fahrenheit, then reduce the temps by 5 degrees every week until it reaches 70 degrees, or ambient outside temps.

Even though CornishX feather out quicker and size up much quicker than other breeds, they still are babies.

Weigh one of your birds (the dead ones will be easier!) If they weigh 7 pounds or more, butcher them now... a 7 1/2# bird will dress at 5#. Cockerels should be there at 7 weeks... pullets might take a bit longer.

I once lost 14, 2 1/2 week old CornishX to weather in one night. We were using an old horse trailer, suitably modified (closed in with chicken wire, a float waterer attached inside) and because our weather had turned crappy for June, I hung a Buddy heater from the roof for night.

It rained hard that night, and the dumb birds (NOTHING is as dumb as a CornishX!), instead of snuggling in the deep straw under the heater, they huddled next to the closed tailgate... where rain drove in and soaked them. I was sick as I pulled the pile of dead birds out.

Summerthyme
 
B

Border Collie Dad

Flat Earther
Border Collie Dad said:
Wow! Lost two more birds this morning.
That only leaves me 10 out of the original 15.

They are 7 weeks old.
I pull their feed at night.
I have them in a tractor that I move every day.
Temps at night have been in the 30s.
Are they too cold?
Click to expand...
McMurray wasn't much help.
I did switch them to 17% about a week ago.
 
W

Walrus

Veteran Member
Border Collie Dad said:
Wow! Lost two more birds this morning.
That only leaves me 10 out of the original 15.

They are 7 weeks old.
I pull their feed at night.
I have them in a tractor that I move every day.
Temps at night have been in the 30s.
Are they too cold?
Click to expand...
I think you've hit on the reason there.
 
B

Border Collie Dad

Flat Earther
Final report.
Butchered 10 birds Sunday 10/16.

I think I'm pretty pleased, overall.
Only had one rooster.
I think the five who died were all roosters

Here are the weights dressed out:
7.5
5.1
4.9
5.9
5.6
5.1
6.6 (?)
6.1
5.3
5.9
That's 58 lbs. of meat
With cost that's $4.83/lb.

That is a little high because I fed 3 Slow Whites and McMurray's "mystery bird".
I didn't butcher those.
And I fed 5 who died most of the time.

I think I learned a couple things.

Get them a couple weeks earlier if raising late summer/fall.
Butcher at 7 weeks.

Last year I butchered slow whites that were 9-11 weeks, IIRC, and they wereawful
 
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