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making the best of raising cornish rock cross | (Read 1806 times) |
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paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 5600
missoula, montana
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August 03, 2009, 01:19:40 PM |
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The first time I raised cornish rock cross, I was not prepared for ... how different it is to raise them. By harvest time I had a 30% mortality rate! I was sure I was somehow inadvertantly torturing these birds! After doing a lot of checking around, I found out that most people experience at 30% mortality rate. This breed grows so fast many suffer
from broken legs and many have heart attacks. These birds grow so fast that there is a period of time at about six weeks of age when their feathers are in, but not completely and they look half plucked. This breed has no real interest in eating bugs, they would rather just hang their head into the feeder all day.
As they approached their harvest date I told myself I would never raise these again. They are just too freaky. And the way they die at the drop of a hat is just too depressing.
Harvest day came. And we ate one. It was the tastiest chicken of my life.
So here's the upsides: Other breeds are generally harvested at about five months (21 weeks). These are generally harvested at about 8 to 9 weeks and when you harvest them, they are bigger. Half the time of having to care for them - that right there
makes for half the hassle, half the predator problems, half the weather problems, half of ... a lot of things. The feed to meat ratio is excellent. And did I mention the flavor?
There are people that raise cornish-rock-cross and get a mortality rate under 5%. I have been able to get it down to 15% and have a lot of ideas on getting it in line with those that get less than 5%.
The first thing I've done is to never keep more than 25 cornish-rock-cross chickens in a pen (paddock) at a time. When it rains or gets cold they want to pig-pile on top of each other and the chickens at the bottom die.
(something I have not tried yet) If they are in a paddock, cut back on their feed. Some people insist that you feed cornish-rock-cross twice a day, but make sure they run out of feed at least a few hours before you bring new feed. This keeps them from getting too heavy, too fast. I really don't like the idea of depriving a chicken of food since a chicken naturally eats every two hours. But ... in a paddock there is gobs of food if they just go and get it. So my thinking is that on the fourth week to feed them every twelve hours but just enough so that in three hours the food is gone. If they want more they will get it from the forage. And observe how it goes. If they do forage more, I might cut it back to once a day. I prefer the idea of leaving them a week's worth of food while they are in a paddock and they can eat all they want - but they prefer the forage. But the cornish-rock-cross doesn't seem to want to play that way.
Enticing them from early on with bugs. When they are chicks they are active and they LOVE bugs! But when they get older they just want to hang their head in the feeder and not chase bugs. I raised a bunch of meal worms and fed them to the chicks with the idea of feeding them meal worms once a day for the first three weeks and then, hopefully, they would forage for their own bugs! Every time I brought them bugs they went wild for them. But I never got around to the part of monitoring how they did in the wild. My bad.
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Joel Hollingsworth
Posts: 1623
zone 10: Oakland, CA
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August 15, 2009, 11:50:30 PM |
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I have read that they forage better with other breeds around to set an example:
http://www.homegrownevolution.com/search?q=chickenzilla
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"the qualities of these bacteria, like the heat of the sun, electricity, or the qualities of metals, are part of the storehouse of knowledge of all men. They are manifestations of the laws of nature, free to all men and reserved exclusively to none." SCOTUS, Funk Bros. Seed Co. v. Kale Inoculant Co.
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Joel Hollingsworth
Posts: 1623
zone 10: Oakland, CA
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August 17, 2009, 02:21:53 PM |
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I wouldn't be surprised at all.
In fact, the blog I linked to featured a lone Cornish Rock laying hen in a thoroughly mixed, but very small, flock...so, a very special situation indeed.
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"the qualities of these bacteria, like the heat of the sun, electricity, or the qualities of metals, are part of the storehouse of knowledge of all men. They are manifestations of the laws of nature, free to all men and reserved exclusively to none." SCOTUS, Funk Bros. Seed Co. v. Kale Inoculant Co.
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paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 5600
missoula, montana
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August 18, 2009, 11:57:00 AM |
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That is brilliant!
Of course, layers can be a bit harsh to "new birds" - especially if they are smaller.
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Jami McBride
Administrator
Posts: 815
PNW - Oregon Zone-6
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August 29, 2009, 11:47:05 PM |
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I have been wanting to give these a try, but now..... sigh.
Question :
I wonder if there would be a way to weigh the buggers and cull them in small groups when they reach a certain weight....? Seems like they die when they are reaching a size/weight that is not noticeable except by their own bodies.
I would like to hear what those people with only 1% loss rate are doing.
What did you do with those that died?
~Jami
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"All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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Jami McBride
Administrator
Posts: 815
PNW - Oregon Zone-6
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August 31, 2009, 01:24:21 AM |
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Thanks for the info Leah ♥
Looks like I'll have to work on my nerve - LOL
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"All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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Jami McBride
Administrator
Posts: 815
PNW - Oregon Zone-6
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September 01, 2009, 11:20:13 AM |
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One more thing ....
I've heard you have to feed these guys different than chickens, and reading Paul's preference for paddock-free-ranging - what, if anything, were you all feeding these birds?
I love the idea of a totally natural/wild diet for all animals. If we are going to eat from them their diet becomes very important, any ideas on this?
Thanks
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"All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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 articles by paul wheaton: [diatomaceous earth] [lawn care] [Sepp Holzer] [cast iron] [flea control]
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. I won't eat anything that I don't kill. even if I I think I know why it died and that it was benign. the idea of eating a sick animal doesn't appeal to me irregardless of the reason it was sick.
. the one I allowed to mature would never go out and scratch and scrounge for anything. if fact. I suspect he died of starvation because when I stopped feeding the goats anything but hay for the winter. he died. I think the only thing he ate was what he could steal from them. I know for a fact I saw him choking down alfalfa pellets sometimes. never seen that before. but I think also think I got one of the lines that produced a serious broiler bird for commercial operations.
